ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND BOOK.

the Poet, after a brief recapitulation of the subject of the former Book, and a general notice of that of the present, on planting, begins with an invocation to Bacchus, the patron of the vine. Then he mentions how trees are originally produced by nature, spontaneously, from seeds and suckers-Then, the various methods employed by human art-Suckers, sets, layers, cuttings, pieces of cleft wood, and engrafting-Having thus generally opened the subject, he invokes the assistance of Mæcenas. He now shows by what culture, trees of spontaneous growth may be meliorated-Then, the best methods of artificial culture, which he here concludes by a detailed description of inoculating and ingrafting-This leads him to an enumeration of several species of trees, and varieties of vines-He observes that different plants are the natural produce of different soils and situations, and that the world itself may be divided into regions distinguished by their respective vegetable productions-Of these he gives several examples, and concludes the remark by a description of the citron-tree of Media-This account of remarkable plants, the growth of foreign countries, prepares the way for a beautiful digression on the praises of Italy-He now resumes his remarks on soils, and mentions those best suited for olives, vines, pasture, and corn-then gives instructions by which the several soils may be ascertained-He enters now into a more particular detail of the culture of the vine, and on the different modes of planting a vineyard, either on hill, or plain -gives instructions relative to the depth of trenches-further precepts relative to vineyards, and a particular caution against the intermixture of the wild olive with them, lest its unctuous bark should accidentally catch fire, and destroy the whole plantation-This calamity most poetically described -He then gives instructions concerning the proper seasons

för planting the vines, in autumn and spring; and digresses on the charms and utility of the spring-Further directions about layers, and of dunging, and placing stones and shells at the roots of the plants, of digging the beds, and of the propping and pruning the vines-He now mentions the necessity of making hedges to defend the young plants from the cattle, particularly goats-This last circumstance leads to a digression on the sacrifices to Bacchus he again insists on the ceaseless labour required in digging, dressing, and pruning the vineyard-To these toils he opposes the facility in the culture of the olive, and shows the benefits we derive from various useful plants, the free gifts of Nature —These, in many instances, he prefers to the vine, not unfrequently the cause of crimes and slaughter-Hence, in contrast to a scene of bacchic tumult, to the unquiet splendours of courts, and the vain pursuits of mankind, he expatiates on the advantages of philosophical studies, and on the innocence, security, and utility of a country life-and with this exquisite digression he concludes the Second Book.

GEORGICS.

BOOK II.

THUS far of heavenly signs, and cultur'd plains :
Bacchus! thy praise now claims the votive strains :
With thee, I join each shrub, and woodland shoot,
And olives slowly ripening into fruit.

Oh come, Lenæan sire! lo! all around,

Blest by thy bounty teems th' exulting ground:
Through thee, dark clusters purple o'er the plain,

And the prest vintage foams in every vein :

Oh cast thy buskins off, thy votary join,

Stain in new must thy limbs, and crush th' o'erflowing vine!
At first, by various ways, o'er hill and plain,
Spontaneous woods cloth'd Nature's wild domain.
Some rise at will, and, with uncultur'd shade,
Fringe the wide streams and darken all the glade;
There the tall poplar towers, the broom extends,
O'er her dank bed the pliant osier bends,

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And azure willows shifting to the gale

Turn their hoar leaf, that silvers o'er the vale.
Some high in air from scatter'd seed arise;
Hence the tall chesnut spreads her stately size,
Huge æsculus o'ershadowing all the grove,

And Grecian oaks that spoke the will of Jove.
Here self-form'd forests, sprouting from the root,
Crowd where thick elms and clustering cherries shoot,
And the green bay, in pomp of leaf array'd,
O'er the frail sucker spreads her parent shade.
Thus varying nature first the desert crown'd,
And shrub, and grove, and forest rose around.
By gradual use and long experience taught,,
Art a new race to fair perfection brought..
Some from the tender mother's bleeding wound
Slip the young shoot, and plant the furrow'd ground;
Others, large sets in earth's deep bosom hide,
Edge their sharp points, or, fourfold-split, divide:
In arches, these within their native bed

The living layers round their parent spread;
These ask no root, and from the topmost spray
Boldly the planters cut the sprout away,
And, fearless of success to earth once more

The gadding twig, that wav'd in air, restore.

In each cleft piece the olive lives again,

Puts forth new roots, and clothes the wondering plain,

And oft unhurt the trees transform'd assume

Leaves not their own, and fruit of alien bloom ;

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