512 
plii^y's natueal histoet. 
[Book XVIL 
held by Scrofa, these being our most ancient writers on agri- 
culture next to Cato, and men of remarkable skill. Indeed, 
Scrofa himself will not admit that it is beneficial anywhere 
except in Italy. The experience of ages, however, has suffi- 
ciently proved that the wines of the highest quality are only 
grown upon vines attached to trees, and that even then the 
choicest wines are produced by the upper part of the tree, the 
produce of the lower part being more abundant ; such being the 
beneficial results of elevating the vine. It is with a view to 
this that the trees employed for this purpose are selected. lu 
the first rank of all stands the elm,^ with the exception of the 
Atinian variety, which is covered with too many leaves ; and 
next comjes the black poplar, which is valued for a similar 
reason, being not so densely covered with leaves. Most people, 
too, by no means hold the ash and the fig in disesteem, as 
also the olive, if it is not overshadowed with branches. "We 
have treated at sufficient length already of the planting and 
culture of these several trees. 
They must not be touched with the knife before the end of 
three years ; and then the branches are preserved, on each side 
in its turn, the pruning being done in alternate years. In the 
sixth year the vine is united to the tree. In Italy beyond the 
Padus, in addition to the trees already mentioned, they plant 
for their vines the cornel, the opulus, the linden, the maple, 
the ash, the yoke-^elm, and the quercus ; while in Yenetia they 
grow willows for the purpose, on account of the humidity^^ of 
the soil. The top of the elm is lopped away, and the branches 
of the middle are regularly arranged in stages; no tree in 
general being allowed to exceed twenty feet in height. The 
stories begin to spread out in the tree at eight feet from the 
ground, in the hilly districts and upon dry soils, and at tv/elve 
in champaign and moist localities. The hands^^ of the trunk 
ought to have a southern aspect, and the branches that project 
from them should be stiff and rigid like so many fingers ; at 
the same time due care should be taken to lop off the thin 
beardlike twigs, in order to check the growth of all shade. 
The interval best suited for the trees, if it is the grower's in- 
tention to keep the soil turned up with the plough, is forty feet 
back and front, and twenty at the side ; if it is not to be turned 
5* All these trees are still employed for the purpose in Italy. 
" B. xvi. c. 68. 56 palmae. 
