The historie of the vvorld: commonly called, The naturall historie of C. Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland Doctor of Physicke. The first [-second] tome

CHAP. XIIII.

¶ Of encreasing trees by seed: the manner of graffing one in another: how the fine de∣uise [unspec K] of inoculation by way of scutcheon and emplaister was deuised.

NAture not willing to conceal any thing from man, hath also taught him to engraffe trees with their seed and graine. For oftentimes it happeneth, that birds being hungrie, haue greedily gobled vp seed and fruit whole and sound, which after they haue moistened in their gorge, and tempered it also with the warmth and natural heat of their stomack, they send forth and squirt out again when they meute, together with their dung, that giueth vnto it a ver∣tue of fecunditie, and so lay it vpon the soft beds of tree leaues, which many a time the winds catch and driue into some clifts and cranies of the barke, by meanes whereof, wee haue seene a Cherrie tree vpon a Willow, a Plane tree vpon a Lawrell, a Lawrell vpon a Cherrie trre: and at [unspec L] one time Berries and fruits of diuerse sorts and sundry colors hanging at one and the same tree. It is said moreouer, that the Chough or Daw hath giuen occasion herof, by laying vp for store, seeds and other fruit in creuises and holes of trees, which afterwards sprouted and grew. From hence came the manner of inoculation or graffing in the scutcheon, namely, to cut out a parcel of the barke of that tree which is to be graffed, with a sharp knife made in manner of a shoma∣kers nall blade; and then to enclose within the said concauity, the eie or seed taken out of ano∣ther tree with the said instrument. And in old time verily this was the only maner, of inocula∣tion vsed in fig-trees and apple trees. Virgil teaches vs to open a concauity in the knot or joint of a bud that driueth out the barke, and within it to enclose the gem or bud taken out of ano∣ther tree. And thus much for the graffing that Nature hath shewed.

But there is another way of graffing, which casualtie and chance hath taught. And to say a [unspec M] truth, this Maister hath shewed well neer more experiments, now daily practised, than Nature her selfe. Now the manner of it came by this occasion. A certain diligent & painfull husband∣man,

minding to mound and empale his cottage round about with a fence of an hedge; to the [unspec A] end that the stakes should nor rot, laid a sill vnder them, of Iuie wood: but such was the vitall force of the said Iuie, that it took hold fast of the stakes and clasped them hard, insomuch as by the life therof, they also came to liue; and euident it was to the eye, that the log of Iuie vnder∣neath, was as good as the earth to giue life and nourishment vnto the stakes afore-said.

To come then vnto our graffing, which we haue learned by this occasion: first, the head or vp∣per part of the stock must be sawed off very euen, and then pared smooth with a sharp garden∣hook or cutting-knife: which don, there offers vnto vs a two-fold way to perform the rest of the worke: The first is, to set the graffe or Sion between the barke and the wood: for in old time tru∣ly, men were afraid at first to cleaue the stocke; but soon after they ventured to bore a hole into the very heart of the wood: and then they set fast into the pith just in the mids thereof, but one [unspec B] Sion or graffe; for by this kind of graffing, impossible it was that the said pith should receiue or beare any more. But afterwards they deuised a finer and more subtile inuention to graffe, by cleauing the stocke gently thorough the mids; and after this manner they might well set into it six imps or Sions at once: as being persuaded, that by such a number they might supply the defect of any, if they chaunced to die or miscarry any way. Now when the said clift was made, they held it open with a wedge of wood put between, vntill such time as the impe or graffe be∣ing thwitted thin and sharp beneath were set handsomely close within the rift. In the practise of which feat, many points are to be obserued: first and foremost, it would be considered, what trees will thus sort together and be vnited; namely, what stock will beare this maner of engraf∣fing, and of what tree an impe or Sion will agree well to be set into it: for be ye sure of this, all [unspec C] trees are not alike, neither haue they all their sap in one and the same part. Vines and Figtrees are drier in the mids of the tree, than in the head; and toward the top they are more apt to take and conceiue, and therfore from thence it is good to make choise of impes to be graffed. Con∣trariwise, the sap of Oliues is most frim about the mids, and from thence they afford Sions; for the tops are drie. Moreouer, soonest of all other doe those trees incorporate one into another, if when the stock and graffe haue barks both of one nature, if they blossom together at one time, if they bud and put forth their spring at the same season, and last of all, if their saps doe agree one with another. On the other side, long it wil be ere they take, when the stock is drie and the graffe moist; or when the barke of the one is tender, and of the other tough and hard. Ouer and besides, carefull heed must be taken in this businesse, That the stocke be not clouen in a knot; [unspec D] for the churlish hardnesse therof will not willingly receiue and entertaine a guest, that choise also be made of the smoothest and fairest place in the stocke, where the graffe would be set: Item, That the clift be not aboue 3 fingers deepe; that it be streight and direct; and lastly, that the impe stand so close barke to barke in the socket, that a man may not see between it and the stocke. Virgil will in no wise haue a Sion or graffe to be taken from about the top of a tree, for such are all naught. But this one thing is generally held for certain, That the good imps to bee graffed are those, which be gathered from those armes of the tree that regard the Sun-rising in summer: Item, That all such graffs come from the boughs that beare well: also that they be new tender shoots of the last yeare (vnlesse they are to be graffed in the stock of an old tree, for then there should bee chosen such as are stronger:) moreouer, this is to be regarded, that they be [unspec E] well budded, yea and knotted too, making shew and giuing good hope euen then, that they would bear fruit the same yere, but in any wise the same ought to be of 2 yeres growth at least, and not smaller beneath toward the stocke than a mans middle finger. As for the graffes, the manner is to set them in the stocke with the lesser end downward, when our purpose is, that the tree should spread rather in breadth, than run vp in hight. Aboue all, it would be looked wel to, that they be neat and bright, so as they shine againe; that no part of them be seene either scor∣ched drie with the sunne, or cicatrized (as it were) and blistered. Good hope there is that the graft will take, if the pith or marrow of the sion do fall jump with the joynt, so as it joyne close to the wood and inner barke of the mother stocke: for this is farre better than to let it meet just and euen with the bark without-forth. Moreouer, a carefull eie must be had in thwitting and [unspec F] sharpning the graffe or imp, that the heart or woody substance be not stript all naked and left bare: howbeit gently and with a light hand a man must go ouer it with a fine and sharp instru∣ment, in such sort, as it may go downe into the clift wedgewise, no deeper than 3 fingers bredth: the which may right easily be don, if it be shauen and pared presently after it hath bin dipped

in water. Moreouer, wee ought be well aduised, that wee sharpen not the end of a graffe in the [unspec G] wind, and that the barke goe not either from it or the stock. As for the graffe it selfe, it must be driuen downe into the clift, close to the shoulder where the owne barke goeth round, and from whence you began to sharpen it: but take heed in thrusting and forcing therof, that it stand not out of joynt, ne yet that the barke thereof turne vp in wrinkles: and therfore chosen they would not be which are ouer moist, no more (I assure you) than those that be too drie; for as the ex∣cessiue humiditie of the one looseneth the rind, so the want of vitall moisture in the other, will not suffer it to vnite & concorporat. Ouer and besides, in the working of this feat, men obserue a certain religious reuerence, namely, that the sions be set into the stocke when the moone is croissant (to wit, before the full) and with both hands forsooth, or els all is marred: and other∣wise in this businhsse there is an opinion, that two hands together are put to smaller stresse, and [unspec H] haue better stay of themselues than one alone; and therefore such a moderation is right neces∣sarie: for the more forcibly the graffes be set into the stocke, and the faster that they are setled, the longer it will be ere they take to bear; but surer they be, and continue the longer: contrari∣wise, if they stand slacke, the tree indeed will the sooner beare, but last the lesse while. Further∣more, regard would be had in this case, as well that the clift of the stocke gape not too much (as being ouerwide for the graffe;) as that it be not too little and ouer-streight, for feare that ei∣ther it flurt it out againe, or clasp it and gird it so hard that it kill it quite. This principally we must take heede of at the first, that there be no spill or little chip left behind in the mids of the clift, nor any thing besides the graffe it selfe, to fill vp the place. Some there be, that enter the clift first in the stock, with a bill, and with an osier twig tie and bind vp the very brims or edges [unspec I] therof: which done, they driue the wedges in, to make such an ouerture as is meet; for by reason of the foresaid bonds, they need not feare the gaping of it too wide. Some stocks there be that the very same day that they be graffed in the nource-garden, are without any harme remooued to the place where they must grow. If the stocke wherein you graffe be big and round, the best way is to set the sion between the barke and the wood therof, and to diuide the one from the o∣ther with a wedge of bone, least in enlarging of the barke it channce to breake. In graffing of a Cherry tree stocke, the ouer rind or barke would be taken away before the clift be made. [Now these trees alone of all others may be graffed very well presently after mid-winter.] When the said rind is gone, you shall see therein a certain down, that if it chance to clasp about the graft, it rots the same incontinently. But to return again to our worke of graffing: After the wedge is taken forth whole and sound at the point (which is a token that no spill remaines within) you [unspec K] may be bold to bind the head of the stocke all about. Yet this would be considered by the way (which I had like to haue forgotten) that the best & handsomest graffing, is as neer the ground as may be, in case the knots wil giue leaue and the stock beare it: also that the grafts would not conueniently stand without the stock aboue six fingers breadth. Now when al is done and sure work made (as hath been said) Cato willeth vs to take cley, or the sandie grit of chalk, mixed to∣gether with oxe or cow shearn, to worke and temper all these together in maner of a tough past or cataplasme, and then to lay the same within the clift, & round about to daube all. And verily by this and other such rules which he hath left in writing, it appears plainly, that in those daies the manner was to graffe betweene the barke and the tree, and not otherwise; as also to set the sions in the stocke, not aboue two fingers deepe. As for Apple trees and Pyrries, he prescribeth [unspec L] that they should be graffed in the Spring; also 50 daies after the summer Sun-stead, and again after vintage: but Oliues and Fig-trees in the Spring only, obseruing the age and disposition of the Moon, when she is in the wane and thirstie, that is to say, drie: moreouer, after noonetide, and when no Southern wind doth blow. And I cannot chuse but wonder much at the curiositie and double diligence of Cato, who not content to haue defended the graft with clay or past a∣foresaid, yea and to preserue it with turfe and mosse against the injurie of rain and cold, to haue bound it about also with little knitches of soft osier twigs sliued in twaine; must giue charge besides to couer it with Oxe-tongue (a kind of herb there is so called) i. Buglosse: and yet hee hath not done, but the same must be bound with wispes and wreaths of straw and litter aloft. Now adaies men make no more adoe, but thinke it sufficient to stop and close vp barke and al, [unspec M] with earth or cley and chaffe tempered together, thinking it sufficient, the graft beare out two fingers breadth aboue. They that wait vpon the Spring season for to graffe, are many times dri∣uen to their shifts for want of time, by reason that all trees make hast then to bud, and do break

out of a sudden, vnlesse it be the Oliue, the oilets or eies wherof be longest while in comming [unspec A] forth, as hauing least sap of all other, running vnder the barke; the which if it were ouermuch would stifle and choke the grafts. As for the Pomegranat and Fig tree, howsoeuer otherwise they seem to be dry, yet good it is not to defer and put off the graffing of them. The Peare tree may well enough be graffed with the blossom on the head, and it makes no matter if a man do stay and graffe it within the moneth of May. To be short, if a man be constrained to fetch his sions or imps of Apple trees, and such like, far off, it is thought that they will keepe their sap best, if they be stuck or set fast in a Rape root. Also if one would preserue them a certain time before they should be occupied, it is passing good to lay them close betweene two erest tiles, well stopped on euery side with earth, and that neere to some riuers or fish-ponds.