Here in the south of England seven miles from
the sea, in a dry and sunny climate, all apples develop a much more
brilliant colour than in the moist climate of the Vale of Evesham.
I fear that very few planters of fruit trees think of following the
routine which Virgil describes in his second _Georgic_, as practised
by the careful orchardist, when transplanting. Dryden's translation is
as follows:
"Some peasants, not t' omit the nicest care,
Of the same soil their nursery prepare
With that of their plantation; lest the tree,
Translated should not with the soil agree.
Beside, to plant it as it was, they mark
The heav'ns four quarters on the tender bark,
And to the north or south restore the side,
Which at their birth did heat or cold abide:
So strong is custom; such effects can use
In tender souls of pliant plants produce."
Virgil was born in the year 70 B.C., and died, age 51, in 19 B.C., so
that over nineteen centuries have elapsed since these words were
written; as he was an excellent farmer, he would not have mentioned
the practice unless he considered the advice sound. It is quite
possible that the vertical cracking of the bark on one side of a young
transplanted tree may be due to a change from the cool north aspect to
the heat of the south.
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