Chap. 16.] THE HOLES EOll TKANSPLAKTIIS^G. 469 
year beforehand, in order that they may absorb the heat of 
the sun and the moisture of the showers ; or, if circumstances 
do not admit of this, that fires should be made in the middle 
of them some two months before transplanting, that being only 
done just after rain has fallen. He says, too, that in an argil- 
laceous^^ or a hard soil, the proper measurement is three cubits 
every way, and on declivitous spots one palm more, care being 
taken in every case to make the hole like the chimney of a 
furnace, narrower at the orifice than at the bottom. Where 
the earth is black, the depth should be two cubits and a palm, 
and the hole dug in a quadrangular form. 
The Greek writers agree in pointing out much the same 
proportions, and are of opinion that the holes ought not to be 
more than two feet and a half in depth, or more than two feet 
wide : at the same time, too, they should never be less than 
a foot and a half in depth, even though the soil should be wet, 
and the vicinity of water preclude the possibility of the soil 
going any deeper. If the soil is watery,'' says Cato,^^ *^ the 
hole should be three feet in width at the orifice, and one palm 
and a foot at the bottom, and the depth four feet. It should 
be paved, too, with stones,^^ or, if they are not at hand, with 
stakes of green willow, or, if these cannot be procured, with a 
layer of twigs ; the depth of the layer so made being a foot 
and a half.'* 
It appears to me that I ought here to add, after what has 
been said with reference to the nature of trees, that the holes 
should be sunk deeper for those which have a tendency to run 
near the surface of the earth, such as the ash and the olive, 
for instance. These trees, in fact, and others of a similar 
nature, should be planted at a depth of four feet, while for the 
others three feet will be quite sufficient. Cut down that 
stump," said Papirius Cursor, the general, when to the great 
^5 The ordinary depth, at the present day, is about two feet ; but when 
in an argillaceous soil, as Pliny says, the hole is made deeper. If the soil 
is hlack mould, the hole is not so deep, and of a square form, just as recom- 
mended by Pliny. l)e Re Eust. 43. 
This would be either useless, or positively injurious to the tree. 
See B. xiv. c. 14. It seems impossible to say with exactness how 
this passage came to be inserted in the context ; but SUlig is probably right 
in suspecting that there is a considerable lacuna here. It is not improbable 
that Pliny may have enlarged upon the depth of the roots of trees, and the 
method of removing them in ancient times. Such being the case, he might 
