ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, II. vii. 6–viii. 1
a hole, insert in place a peg of oak-wood and bury it[1] in the earth, and some call this 'punishing' the tree, since its luxuriance is thus chastened.
Some do the same with the pear and with other trees. In Arcadia they have a similar process which is called 'correcting' the sorb (for that tree is common in that country). And they say that under this treatment those trees that would not bear do so, and those that would not ripen their fruit now ripen[2] them well. [3]It is also said that the almond becomes sweet, instead of bitter, if one digs round the stem and, having bored a hole about a palms-breadth, allows the gum which exudes from all sides[4] to flow down into it and collect. The object of this would be alike to make the tree bear and to improve the fruit.
Of remedies for the shedding of the fruit: caprification.
VIII. Trees which are apt to shed their fruit before ripening[5] it are almond apple pomegranate pear and, above all, fig and date-palm; and men try to find the suitable remedies for this. This is the reason for the process called 'caprification'; gall-insects come out of the wild figs which are hanging there,[6] eat the tops of the cultivated figs and so make them swell.[7] The shedding of the fruit differs according to the soil: in Italy[8] they say that it does not occur, and so they do not use caprification,[9]
- ↑ The operation being performed at the base of the tree. cf. ß 7.
- ↑ ἐκπέττειν conj. R. Const.; εἰσπέττεν UMAld.
- ↑ Plin. 17. 252.
- ↑ τὸ παντάχοθεν conj. W.; παντάχοθεν τὸ MSS.; so apparently G. cf. C.P. 2. 14. 3.
- ↑ πέψαι conj. Sch.; πέμψαι Ald.
- ↑ ἐκεῖ κρεμαννυμένων ἐρινῶν I conj.; ἐκεῖ κρεμαννυμένων Ald.; ἐπικρεμαμένων ἐρινῶν conj. W.: but the present partic. is use C.P. 2. 9. 5.
- ↑ πιαίνουσι MVALd.; διείρουσι conj. W. ? πεπαίνουσι, 'ripen,' which is the word used in the parallel pass. C.P. 2. 9. 6, the object of the process being to cause the figs to dry.
- ↑ Plin. 15. 81. 'Italy' means South Italy. cf. 4. 5. 5 and 6; 5. 8. 1.
- ↑ ἐρινάζουσιν conj. Bod.; ἐρινοῦσιν Ald.H.
