468 
Pliny's nattjeal histoet. [BookXYII. 
the purpose, the name given to which is novenaiius/'^^ being 
three feet in depth, and the same in breadth or even more ; 
into this the young tree is put, and the earth is moulded up 
around it to the height of three feet every way. These mounds 
are known by the name of ^^arula"^^ in Campania. The 
intervals are arranged according to the nature of the spot ; but 
where the country is level, it is requisite that the trees should 
be planted wider apart. Poplars and ashes, too, as they ger- 
minate with greater rapidity, ought to be planted out at an 
earlier period, or, in other words, immediately after the ides of 
Eebruary.^^ In arranging trees and shrubs for the support of 
the vine, the form of the quincunx is the one that is gene- 
rally adopted, and, indeed, is absolutely necessary : it not only 
facilitates the action of the wind, but presents also a very 
pleasing appearance, for whichever way you look at the plan- 
tation, the trees will always present themselves in a straight 
line. The same method is employed in propagating the poplar 
from seed as the elm, and the mode of transplanting it from 
the seed-plot is the same as that adopted in transplanting it 
from the forests. 
CHAP. 16. THE HOLES POE TEAIJ^SPLANTING. 
But it is more particularly necessary in transplanting, that 
the trees should always be removed to a soil that is 'similar, or 
else superior, to the one in which they grew before. If taken 
from warm or early ripening localities, they ought not to be re- 
moved to cold or backward sites, nor yet, on the other hand, from 
these last to the former. If the thing can possibly be done, 
the holes for transplanting should be dug sufficiently long be- 
fore to admit of their being covered throughout with a thick coat 
of grass. Mago recommends that they should be dug a whole 
^ From being about nine feet in circumference. 
61 A httle altar." «2 i^^]^ ^f February. 
^3 I. e. each at an angle with the other, in this form : — 
* * *• 
* * * 
It was probably so called from the circumstance that each triangle resembles 
Yy or five. 
This is the reason why a soil of only middling quality is generally 
selected for nurseries and seed-plots ; otherwise it might be difficult to 
transplant the young trees to an improved soil. 
