Vertere in alterius, mutatamque insita mala grafting, of which he subjoins Mutatamque insita mala ferre pyrum.] He speaks of grafting apples upon a pear-stock, not of pears upon an apple-stock, as Dryden has translated it. Prunis lapidosa rubescere corna.] It is a doubt whether Virgil means, that cornels are ingrafted upon plum-stocks, or plums upon cornel-stocks. May takes it in the former sense. I take the former to be the poet's meaning: for the cornelian cherry is a fruit of so beautiful a red colour, that the cornel cannot properly be said to glow or redden with plums, which are not so red as its own natural fruit. Besides, the epithet stony belongs very properly to the fruit of the cornel, not 35 40 45 to the tree: wherefore if Virgil speaks of that fruit, he must mean the stock of the plum. Juvat Ismara Baccho conserere.] Ismarus is a mountain of Thrace, not far from the mouth of Hebrus. That country was famous for good wines. Olea magnum vestire Taburnum.] Taburnus is a mountain of Campania, which was very fruitful in olives. It is now called Taburo. Tuque ades, &c.] The poet having invoked Bacchus, and proposed the subject of this book, now calls upon his patron Mæcenas, to give him his assistance. Sponte sua, &c.] The poet had before mentioned the three ways by which wild trees are produced; spontaneously, by roots, and by seeds. Here he Infœcunda quidem, sed læta et fortia surgunt : mentions them again, and shews by what culture each sort may be meliorated. Quippe solo natura subest.] By nature's lying hid in the soil, the poet seems to mean, that there is some hidden power in the earth, which causes it to produce particular plants, which therefore grow fair and strong in that soil, which is adapted to give them birth. Tamen hæc quoque si quis, &c.] The way to tame these luxuriant wild trees, is to ingraft a good fruit upon them, or to transplant them. Inserat.] Some have imagined erroneously that Virgil means that their branches should be ingrafted upon other trees; but this is contrary to practice. Inserere arborem signifies not only to ingraft that tree upon ano 50 55 60 ther, but also to ingraft another upon the stock of that. Pomaque degenerant.] Some take poma to mean the fruit of the tree just mentioned; and indeed the ancients seem to have used pomum not only for an apple, but for any esculent fruit. Others understand the poet to speak of the fruit of the apple-tree. Turpes avibus prædam fert uva racemos.] Uva must be used here figuratively for the tree: for uva signifies the whole cluster of grapes, as well as racemus, not a single grape, which is properly called acinus or vinaceum. Thus, at the latter end of the fourth Georgick, we find uva used to express a swarm of bees hanging on the branches of a tree, ver. 555. Sed truncis oleæ melius, propagine vites Sed truncis, &c.] Here the poet speaks of the several ways of cultivating trees by human industry; and gives us a no less just than beautiful description of the manner of inoculating and ingrafting. Truncus is properly a stock of a tree, divested of its head: hence these taleæ, or branches, with their heads cut off, are called trunci. The French derive their word troncon from truncus; and hence comes our word truncheon. The winters in England are generally too severe, to suffer olivetrees to be planted in the open ground. The way of propagating them here is by laying down their tender branches, and taking them from the motherplant in about two years. This method is so tedious, that most people choose to have them from Italy in the spring. They are usually planted in pots or cases, and removed into the green-house at the approach of winter. Propagine vites respondent.] Virgil here recommends the propagation of vines by layers: which is still practised. 65 70 tus.] The myrtles are called Paphian from Paphos a city of the island Cyprus, where Venus was worshipped. The myrtle was sacred to that goddess: see the note on ver. 28. of the first book. By solido de robore he seems to mean planting by sets. Plantis.] By plantis the poet means suckers; which is a method still in common practice : though it is now found to be a better way to propagate them by layers. Herculeæque arbos umbrosa corona.] The tree of Hercules was the poplar. Casus abies visura marinos.] The abies is our yew-leaved firtree. The wood of this tree was much used by the ancients in their shipping. Steriles platani malos gessere valentes.] The platanus is our oriental plane-tree, without all question. Dionysius, the geographer, compares the form of the Morea, or ancient Peloponnesus, to the leaves of this tree, making the footstalk to be the isthmus, by which it is joined to Greece. Solido Paphie de robore myr Castanea fagos.] The commentators have been induced to |