506 
PLINY's T^ATURAL HISTOllT. 
[Book XYII. 
case the vine b}^ over-luxuriance should happen to exhaust 
itself. Close to it there is another bud left, no bigger than a 
wart; this is known as the furunculus,"^^ and is kept in 
readiness in case the reserve shoot should fail. 
The vine, if enticed to beaF fruit before the seventh year 
from its being planted as a slip, will pine^^ awa}^, become as 
slim as a bulrush, and die. It is thought equally undesirable, 
too, to let an old stock-branch range far and wide, and extend 
as far as the fourth stay from the stem ; to such a branch the 
name of dragon^^-branch is given by some, and of juniculus by 
others ; if these are allowed to spread, they will run to wood 
only, and make male vines, a& they are called. When a vine 
has become quite hard, it is an extremely bad plan to use it 
for reproduction by layers. When the vine is five years old 
the stock-branches are twisted, but each is allowed to throw 
out some new wood ; and so from one to another, care being 
taken to prune away the old wood. It is always the best 
plan, however, to leave a reserve shoot ; but this should always 
be very near the main stem of the vine, not at a greater dis- 
tance, in fact, than that already mentioned.^^ If, too, the 
stock branches should throw out too luxuriantly, they must 
be twisted, the object being that the vine may put forth no 
more than four secondary branches, or even two only, if it 
happens to be a single cross-railed vine. 
If the vine is to be trained to grow without any stay at all, 
still it will stand in need, at first, of some support or other, 
until it has learnt to support itself : in all other respects the 
mode of proceeding will be the same at first. When pruning, 
it will be necessary that the thumb-branches^^ should be ar- 
ranged in equal numbers on either side, in order that the fruit 
may not overload one side of the tree ; and we may here remark 
by the way, that the fruit by its weight is apt to bear down 
the tree and counteract any tendency to increase in height. 
The vine, unsupported, when more than three feet in height, 
begins to bend, but the others do not, until they are five feet 
30 The pilferer, "or Httle thief," apparently, 
31 This, Fee observes, is not in accordance with the fact. 
32 " Draco." Male vines appear to have been a kind that threw out no 
stock-branches, but ran to wood. 
33 Than three buds, as already mentioned in the present Chapter. 
3^ " Pollices." Branches, so called from the resemblance, being cut off 
above the first eye. See Columella, De Ke Eust. E. iv. c. 24. 
