I Chap. 27.] PLANTS WHICH GEOW FROM A BEAIS^CH. 485 
several varieties of the apple ; the tree, however, was but 
very short-lived. But, with all our experiments, we find 
it quite impossible to rival E^ature ; for there are some 
plants that can be reproduced in no other manner than spon- 
taneously, and then only in wild and desert spots. The plane*'^'^ 
is generally considered the best adapted to receive every kind 
of graft, and next to it the robur ; both of them, however, 
are very apt to spoil the flavour of the fruit. Some trees 
admit of grafting upon them in any fashion, the fig and the 
pomegranate for instance ; the vine, however, cannot be 
grafted upon by scutcheon, nor, indeed, any other of the trees 
which has a bark that is thin, weak, or cracked. So, too, 
those trees which are dry, or which contain but little moisture, 
will not admit of grafting by inoculation. This last method is 
the most prolific of them all, and next to it that by scutcheon, 
but neither of them can be depended upon, and this last more 
particularly ; for when the adherence of the bark is the only 
point of union the scutcheon is liable to be immediately dis- 
placed by the slightest gust of wind. Grafting by insertion is 
the most reliable method, and the tree so produced will bear 
more fruit than one that is merely planted. 
(17.) We must not here omit one very singular circum- 
stance. Corellius, a member of the Equestrian order at Rome, 
and a native of Ateste, grafted a chesnut, in the territory of 
Neapolis, with a slip taken from the same tree, and iTom this 
was produced the chesnut which is so highly esteemed, and 
from him has derived its name. At a later period again, 
Etereius, his freedman, grafted the Corellian^^ chesnut afresh. 
There is this difference between the two ; the Corellian is 
more prolific, but the Etereian is of superior quality. 
H CHAP. 27.- — PLANTS WHICH GEOW FEOM A BEANCH. 
It is accident that has the credit of devising the other me- 
thods of reproduction, and has taught us how to break off a 
branch of a tree and plant it in the earth, from seeing stakes, 
when driven in the earth, take root, and grow. It is in this 
way that many of the trees are reproduced, and the fig more 
particularly; which may be propagated also by all the methods 
previously stated, with the exception, indeed, of that by cuttings. 
3" The plane and the oak are no longer employed for the purpose. 
2s See B. XV. c. 25. 
