To return, however: the wide spaces between the trees were not in this class of vineyards allowed to remain entirely idle, having been sometimes sown[1563] with corn, or planted with beans, and gourds, and cucumbers, and lentils.[1564] The cabbage[1565] was carefully excluded,[1566] as an enemy to Dionysos. In other cases these intervals were given up to the cultivation of fruit-trees, such as the pomegranate, the apple, the quince, and the olive. The fig-tree was regarded as pernicious, though often planted in rows on the outside of the vineyard. ----- Footnote 1563: Geop. iv. 1. v. 7, seq. Footnote 1564: Barley and other grain are still in modern times sown between the vines in Asia Minor. Chandler, i. 114. The same practice has been partially introduced into the Æolian islands. Spallanzani, iv. 100. Footnote 1565: Suid. v. κράμβη, t. i. p. 1518. b.—παρὰ ἀμπέλω οὐ φυέται Etym. Mag. 534. 47. Footnote 1566: So was the laurel. Theoph. Caus. Plant. ii. 18. 4. ----- Respecting those vines which were cultivated without the aid of props,[1567] or trees, we possess little information, except that there were such. But, as they are still found in the country, it is probable, that the mode of dressing them now prevailing nearly resembles that of antiquity. They are generally, in Syria, planted along the steep sides of mountains, where they spread and rest upon the stones, and have their fruit early ripened by the heat reflected from the earth. Frequently, also, they are planted on more level ground, in which case, as soon as the grapes acquire any size, the husbandman passes through the vineyard with an armful of forked wooden props which he skilfully introduces beneath the branches and fixes firmly so as to keep the clusters from touching the mould. The reason for adopting this method is the furious winds which at certain seasons of the year prevail in many of the Grecian islands, preventing the growth of woods and prostrating the fig and every other fruit-tree to the earth. The spaces between the lines are turned up annually by a peculiar sort of plough[1568] drawn by oxen, in front of which a man advances, lifting up the vines and holding them aside while they pass. This destroys the weeds, and, at the same time, all the upper roots of the vine, which compels it to descend deeper into the earth, where it finds a cooler and more abundant nourishment. In this respect the practice of the Syrotes closely resembles that of their ancestors. Some husbandmen were careful, likewise, while weeding,[1569] to remove the larger stones, though they are often supposed, by preserving moisture, to do more good than harm. ----- Footnote 1567: This creeping vine, cultivated _sine ridicis_, was common in Spain. Varro, i. 8. Footnote 1568: Della Rocca, Traité Complet sur les Abeilles, t. i. p. 203, sqq. Cf. Thiersch, Etat Actuel de la Grèce, t. i. p. 288. 296. Damm. Nov. Lex. Græc. Etym. 1122. Footnote 1569: Geop. v. 19.