The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 (of 6)

Chapter 421: CHAP. 17. (12.)—THE INTERVALS TO BE LEFT BETWEEN TREES.

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The work assembles systematic observations on animals, insects, and trees, combining natural history with practical notes. It surveys insect forms and habits, including bees, silk‑producing worms, spiders, and parasitic species, and discusses reproduction, classification, diseases, and useful products like honey and silk. It then examines animal anatomy in detail, limb by limb and organ by organ, comparing organs, vital functions, and bodily peculiarities across species. Later sections catalogue trees and exotic plants, describing aromatic gums, spices, frankincense, myrrh, and methods for producing and testing unguents and perfumes, and noting their uses and regions of origin.

CHAP. 17. (12.)—THE INTERVALS TO BE LEFT BETWEEN TREES.

The present seems to me to be the proper occasion for making some mention of the intervals 2985 that ought to be left between the trees. Some persons have recommended that pomegranates, myrtles, and laurels should be planted closer together than the other trees, leaving, however, a space of nine feet between them. Apple-trees, they say, should be planted a little wider apart, and pear-trees, almonds, and figs even still more so. The best rule, however, is to consult the length of the branches, and the nature of the spot, as well as the shade that is formed by the tree; for it is of great importance to take this last into consideration. The shadow thrown by the large trees even is but of small dimensions, when the branches are disposed around the body of the tree in a spherical form, as in the apple and the pear, for instance. In the cherry, on the other hand, and the laurel, the shadow projected is of enormous extent.