492 
PLI^fT S KA-TUll^L HISTOliY. 
[Book XYIL 
for the purpose of ensuring a supply of moisture to tlie 
parched fibres. 
In all places the rule is to make a circular trench three 
feet in width at the foot of the tree ; this, however, it is not 
possible to do in meadows, where the roots, in their fondness 
for the sun and showers, range near the surface far and wide. 
Such, then, are the general observations that we have to make 
in reference to the planting and grafting of trees that we value 
for their fruits. 
CHAP. 32. (20.) — wnxow-BEDs. 
It now remains to give an account of those trees which are 
planted for the sake of others — the vine^ more particularly — 
and the wood of which is cut from time to time. Holding the 
very first rank among these we find the wiUow, a tree that is 
always planted in a moist soil. The hole, however, should be 
two feet and a half in depth, and the slip a foot and a half 
only in length. "VYillow stakes are also used for the same 
purpose, and the stouter they are the better : the distance left 
between these last should be six feet. When tliej are three 
years old their growth is checked by cutting them down 
within a couple of feet from the ground, the object being to 
make them spread out, so that by the aid of their branches 
they may be cleared without the necessity of usiug a ladder ; 
for the willow is the more productive the nearer its branches 
are to the ground. It is generally recommended to trench 
round the willow every year, in the month of April. 8uch 
is the mode of cultivation employed for the osier willow.^^ 
The stake willow^'^ is reproduced both from suckers and 
cuttings, in a trench of the same dimensions. Stakes may bo 
cut from it at the end of about three years mostly. These 
stakes are also used to supply the place of the trees as they 
grow old, being fixed in the ground as layers, and cut away 
from the trunk at the end of a year. A single jugerum of 
50 The maple, linden, elm, and arundo donax, are still employed, as well 
as the willow, for this purpose ; the latter, however, but very rarely. The 
account of its cultivation here given is borrowed from Columella, De S,e 
Rust. B. iv. c. 30. 
61 The Salix viminalis of Linnaeus, or white osier. 
^ The Salix alba of Linnaeus. These stakes, or props, are for the sup- 
port of the vine. 
