Chap. 46.] PROPER MODE OF MANURING TREES. 
531 
flight, there are no seeds to be found within the fruit : from 
this it would appear that the seeds have been transformed 
into these gnats. Indeed, these insects are so eager to take 
their flight, that they mostly leave behind them either a leg 
or a part of a wing on their departure. There is another 
species of gnat,^^ too, that grows in the fig, which in its indo- 
lence and malignity strongly resembles the drone of the bee- 
hive, and shows itself a deadly enemy to the one that is of 
real utility ; it is called centrina, and in killing the others 
it meets its own death. 
Moths, too, attack the seeds of the fig : the best plan of getting 
rid of them, is to bury a slip of mastich,^"^ turned upside down, in 
the same trench. The fig, too, is rendered extremely productive^^ 
by soaking red earth in amurca, and laying it, with some ma- 
nure, upon the roots of the tree, just as it is beginning to 
throw out leaves. Among the wild figs, the black ones, and 
those which grow in rocky places, are the most esteemed, from 
the fact of the fruit containing the most seed. Caprification 
takes place most advantageously just after rain. 
CHAP. 45. ERRORS THAT MAY BE COMMITTED IN PRUNING. 
But, before everything, especial care should be taken that 
intended remedies are not productive of ill results ; as these 
may arise from either remedial measures being applied in ex- 
cess or at unseasonable times. Clearing away the branches is 
of the greatest benefit to trees, but to slaughter^^ them this 
way every year, is productive of the very worst results. The 
vine is the only tree that requires lopping every year, the 
myrtle, the pomegranate, and olive every other ; the reason 
being that these trees shoot with great rapidity. The other 
trees are lopped less frequently, and none of them in autumn ; 
the trunk even is never scraped,^^ except in spring. In prun- 
ing a tree, all that is removed beyond what is absolutely neces- 
sary, is so much withdrawn from its vitality. 
CHAP. 46. THE PROPER MODE OF MANURING TREES. 
The same precautions, too, are to be regarded in manuring, 
at the base, and deposits an egg in each seed, which is ultimately eaten by 
the larva ; hence the supposed transformation. 
*6 A kind of wasp, probably. 
A puerility borrowed from Columella, B. v. c. 10. 
48 From Columella, B. v. c. 10. ^9 Trucidatio. 
For the removal of moss and lichens, which obstruct evaporation, and 
collect moisture to an inconvenient degree, besides harbouring insects. 
