Chap. 16.] 
THE HOLES EOR TEA^fSPLAlS'TING. 
471 
adopting this plan the foliage becomes all the thicker and the 
better able to protect the fruit, which is less liable to fall off in 
consequence, and that the tree is rendered all the better for 
climbing. Most people, however, take the greatest care to turn 
to the south that part of the tree from which the branches have 
been lopped at the top, little thinking that they expose it 
thereby to a chance of splitting from the excessive heat. Eor 
my own part, I should prefer that this part of the tree should 
face that point of the heavens which is occupied by the sun at 
the fifth^^ or even the eighth hour of the day. People are also 
equally unaware that they ought not, through neglect, to let 
the roots be exposed to the air long enough to get dry ; and 
that the ground should not be worked about the roots of trees 
while the wind is blowing from the north, or, indeed, from 
any point of the heavens that lies between north and south- 
east ; or, at all events, that the roots should not be left to lie 
exposed to these winds ; the result of such modes of proceeding 
being, that the trees die, the grower being all the while in 
total ignorance of the cause. 
Cato"^^ disapproves, too, of all wind and rain whenever the 
work of transplanting is going on. When this is the case, it 
will be beneficial to let as much adhere to the roots as possible 
of the earth in which the tree has grown, and to cover them 
all round with clods'''^ of earth : it is for this reason that Cato^^ 
recommends that the young trees should be conveyed in baskets, 
a very desirable method, no doubt. The same writer, too, ap- 
proves of the earth that has been taken from the surface being 
laid at the bottom of the hole. Some persons say,^^ that if a 
layer of stones is placed beneath the root of the pomegranate, 
the fruit will not split while upon the tree. In transplanting, it 
There would be no such result, Fee says. 
''^ This is a useless precaution ; but at the same time, Pliny's fears of its 
consequences are totally misplaced. 
At 11 A.M., or 2 P.M. ; i.e. between south and south-east, and south 
and south-west. 
78 De Re Rust. 28, 
Wet moss, or moist earth, is used for the purpose at the present day. 
80 De Re Rust. 28. It is most desirable to transplant trees with a layer 
of the earth in which they have grown ; but if carried out to any extent, 
it would be an expensive process. 
81 " Tradunt." This expression shows that Pliny does not give credit 
to the statement. Columella and Palladius speak of three stones being laid 
under the root, evidently as a kind of charm. 
