Vine-props[1542] appear to have commonly consisted of short reeds, which, accordingly, were extensively cultivated both in Hellas and its colonies of Northern Africa, where the musical cicada, whose excessive multiplication betokened a sickly year, bored through the rind, and laid its eggs in the hollow within.[1543] From an inconvenience attending the use of this kind of support came the rustic proverb, “The prop has defrauded the vine;”[1544] for these reeds sometimes took root, outgrew their clients, and monopolized the moisture of the soil. ----- Footnote 1542: Geop. v. 22. 27. Reeds delight in sunny spots, and are nourished by the rain. They were cultivated for props, and, if thoroughly smoked, the insects called ἶπες were killed, which would otherwise breed in them, to the great injury of the vine, v. 53. Plin. xviii. 78. Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 1140. 983. Varro, i. 8. In the island of Pandataria the vineyard was filled with traps, to protect the grapes from the mice. Id. ib. Footnote 1543: Aristoph. Hist. Anim. v. 24. 3. Footnote 1544: Sch. Aristoph. Vesp. 1282. Cf. Thom. Magist. v. χάραξ. p. 911, seq. Blancard. cum not. Stieber. et Oudendorp. Ammon. v. χάραξ. p. 145, with the note of Valckenaer. Liban. Epist. 218. p. 104 seq. Wolf. ----- In rich and level lands,[1545] particularly where the Aminian vine[1546] was cultivated, the props often rose to the height of five or six feet; but in hill-vineyards, where the soil was lighter and less nutritive, they were not suffered to exceed that of three feet. Where reeds were not procurable, ash-props[1547] were substituted, but they were always carefully barked, to prevent cantharides, and other insects hurtful to the vine, from making nests in them. Their price would appear to have been considerable, since we find a husbandman speaking of having laid out a hundred drachma in vine-props.[1548] To prevent their speedily decaying they were smeared a-top with pitch, and carefully, after the vintage, collected and laid up within doors.[1549] ----- Footnote 1545: Geop. v. 27. Footnote 1546: Cf. Geop. iv. 1. Dioscor. v. 6. Virg. Georg. ii. 97. Servius, on the authority of Aristotle, relates that the Aminian vines were transplanted from Thessaly into Italy. Cf. Pier. ad loc. Footnote 1547: Sch. Aristoph. Vesp. 1116. Acharn. 1177. In the Æolian islands the vines are supported on a frame-work of poles and trees, over which they spread themselves with extraordinary luxuriance. Spallanzani, iv. 99. Footnote 1548: Sch. Aristoph. Pac. 1262. Footnote 1549: Virg. Georg. 408, seq. -----