De Magnetica Plantarum

and the orderly orientation to the movement of the sky and the sun, by such a strict law that, if you dig them up as more mature plants and transplant them elsewhere not in that orientation of the pores in which they first grew, but turning them the opposite way round, with the tighter parts to the south and the wider to the north, then the plants, feeling themselves linked in a hostile aspect to the sky, will wilt and decline as if they were sulking. But if you honour them with their original orientation, they will, by copiously putting out luxuriant shoots, clearly repay whatever kindness they have received from the planter; a thing which I should wish everyone who engages in the work of agriculture to observe as a priority.

Experiment.

Again, just as in magnetic things nature tends always towards unity, not only through confluence and accumulation, but also through harmony, so it does also in plants and trees. Let there be a complete magnetic body AB, let C face to the north (B) and D to the south (A), and let the body be divided in two as in the second figure, so C will be facing towards A, and D towards B: then as in the complete body so in the divided one nature wants these bodies to be united, and indeed end B will come together amicably with A, as will D with C; but A and D, or B and C, will engage in irreconcilable hostilities, since that is not the way they grew in the vein, nor in that way will they achieve a harmonious orientation toward mother earth. It is no different in vegetative things. Let a branch AB be cut in two at CD, B being the upper part and A the lower. I say that end B will grow if joined by the art of grafting to end A, as will C too if grafted back again to D. But if you graft B to end D, or C to end A, because of the topsy-turvy and unharmonious apposition they will never come together, but the tip of each, inflamed with unseen conflicts, will eventually wither away as if with grief.

Conclusion.

It is clear from the above in what way through grafting we may make a single indissoluble bond by the uniting of different scions, and we do this by an excellent method if, as regards orientation, time and place, we keep the rationale of the scions the same as that of the tree, especially if the scions are sought from a favourable place on the tree, namely from the shoulders of the tree facing the east or the south. All this will have a better chance of success if the swelling scions find the maturity and age of the trees to be grafted favourable, for old trees have a certain hardness which is inhospitable to young and alien scions: moreover, it helps greatly also if the natures of the scions to be introduced are similar to the stock, for these too have their magnetisms in the business of grafting, nor will a given stock prostitute itself promiscuously to all shoots; for the plane rejoices in the fig, the chestnut in the mulberry, the oak in the chestnut, rejecting or only grudgingly admitting the rest, the terebinth in the cherry, while the pomegranate, rejoicing in continual adulteries, lusts insatiably to be united with all. It is clear therefore [also?] from traditional teaching, by some wonderful combination of grafting you may produce some amazing results, and can

Bring woods rejoicing to the marriage bed, Mixed growth adorn the bud. Clothe all the wedded grove in family shade Twin foliage grace the brood: Sweet juices blend, by pleasant vows allied, Twice-flavoured fruit your food.

Applied phytomagnetism,

Or the application of magnetism to the business of grafting.

Everyone knows that much in the nature of things is held to be 'miraculous' when it is either the outcome of a lucky accident or has been brought about by the ingenious industry of man; as the poet says:

New arts to ignorant men three things convey: Experience wide, hard work and master's way.

As in other matters, so too in the grafting of trees these things have a place, and with their help and by clever application of skills we often see how a single tree, in a truly spectacular sight, produces apples, nuts, grapes, flowers and other things of such different kinds and varying taste, smell, colour and properties, emerging from one and the same

trunk, that nothing could seem more worthy of admiration. Pliny says 'I saw a grafted tree near Tiburtine Tulliae laden with every kind of fruit, one branch heavy with nuts, another with berries, another with vine, fig, pear and different kinds of apples.' Porta speaks of a similar tree seen by him which bore fruit not only of a different kind but also multicoloured without pips [sine vinaceis], the same fruits being bigger and more fragrant, endowed with diverse qualities, bearing the faces of men and animals, while the bark of that very tree sprouted flowers and roses. So now let us see by what process we can achieve something similar with our magnetic art. Now, to proceed methodically, it must first be submitted that the procedure of grafting varies. The first procedure is that in which grafters cut scions, all of the same tree, across beyond the middle of the pith, and bind up the cut scions in roughly the same way that wounds are bound, placing around them wax, clay or mud as a defence against rains and external attack, and protect them with splints so they do not break and their wounds cannot open. Once the wound has been thus consolidated, the upper part will yield fruit of a cleaner flavour, created at the node for the digestion of the juice; this graft is properly called by the Greeks 'ingrafting', and it does not change a plant from one kind to another, but makes a wild plant into a domestic one.

The second procedure is when they cut back the same tree at the trunk and graft in its trunk a scion taken in the same tree: for the grafted tree will in time produce fruit of another kind, different in taste, quantity and appearance, than it previously bore, and that way of grafting instigates all diversity in apples, pears and the rest of the fruits. For such is the power of the node, and the alteration of the pores and filaments which carry it upwards, that they reconstitute the juice collected in the nodes into another different vegetal form, which reveals itself in the quantity and flavour of the fruit, a thing which never fails to astonish.

The third procedure is what they use in the vine, and in certain other plants which grow from the pith, namely, in the bud of one vine cut out deeply down to the pith, what is afterwards dug out from the bud of another vine is put in place of the other, and the binding is done as in the other methods.

The fourth procedure is that by which a scion of one tree is grafted into another tree and grows strong and bears fruit on it through the method already well described: and that method will be the more successful the more it involves similar trees: and it is done appropriately in those trees which have straight pores, and

draw their nutriment through unified membranes or cylindrical threads, and this method is again divided into different sorts: the first is when the scion is inserted between the bark and the wood, and is called 'emphyllismos' or infoliation; the second, when the scion is fixed into the split wood, is properly called 'encentrismos' or ingrafting; the third is done like a plaster and is known as 'enophthalmismos' or inoculation: the fourth is called 'through the bottle', with a perforated rod of willow; on these see Pliny, Columella, Pietro de' Crescenzi and others.

CANON I.

Different trees are grafted to different but similar trees to themselves.

Any scion can be grafted to any tree provided that it is not dissimilar to the bark of the tree to which it is grafted, but if in addition it bears similar fruit, and at the same season, the birth is that much easier. So in order to implant by ingrafting into one tree a scion of any other tree, first the orientation of the fibres in each of them must be observed: for if you graft a northerly direction of fibres in the scion to a southerly direction of fibres in the stock, the whole business will come to nothing: for the scion will wither and put on no growth. But it you graft southerly fibres into southerly, and northerly into northerly, they unite easily by phytomagnetism, a thing which I should wish you to observe as a priority in any grafting work. Observe secondly that not every tree unites easily with whichever other you choose, but only those which enjoy a certain similarity of nature. Those which conflict by a dissimilarity of nature can not be made to come together. With Yew no tree will suffer marriage. On the other hand the Fig is easily wedded to Mulberry and Plane, the Mulberry to Chestnut, Beech, Apple, wild Pear, Terebinth, Elm, white Poplar and hence also white Mulberry: a Pear grafted to Almond and Terebinth, and also a Pear grafted to a Mulberry, will bear red pears, and Apple is grafted to all kinds of wild pear. Again, the Nut is grafted only to Crabapple, Pomegranate to Willow, Laurel to Apple, Peach to Damson, while the Chestnut enjoys various arboreal adulteries, the Cherry respects the hospitality of neither Peach nor Terebinth, the Quince and the Wild Fig consort with any tree you like, and prostitute themselves to every scion: lastly, the Elaeostaphylum [olive-grape] is produced from a vine grafted to an olive: the Persico-morum [peach-mulberry] will result from the joining of Peach and Mulberry, whence also Peaches of a blood-red colour take their origin.

CANON II.

To produce by phytomagnetism a tree filled with the fruits of trees of other kinds, and with medicinal and other properties.

Out of many saplings, choose one which is fecund and bearing sweet and healthy fruit, two years old, already flowering, and rejoicing in its youth, exposed to healthy, well ventilated air. To this you will graft various scions of different trees, according to the rules conveyed earlier; so, should you want nuts, apples, pears and plums with red juice, implant the said scions in a mulberry tree; taking care to oberve what we said above about the fibres and pores of the tree. Should you desire fruit endowed with a laxative power, having pierced the node of the graft (i.e. where the implantation takes place), feed it as well as possible with bruised black hellebore, or Scammony, or Colocynth, or, as these are of a more malign nature, with the juice of Senna, Rhubarb or aloe, or any other purgative of your choice, well bruised and, if required, macerated, and drench it lest the power of the juice evaporate out, but with such moderation that room is left for the nutrition of the tree and the transpiration below, and that the power of the medicine can freely be carried upward along with the food through the medullary tube, or the duct of the ovary, and administer the intended nutrition to the embryo. By this technique all the fruits will be imbued with a laxative power. In a corresponding process, if you wish to produce fruit imbued with a narcotic or somniferous power, drench the node with the juices of opium, nightshade, Mandrake, Henbane, Thornapple, and similar juices of somnifers, and you will obtain the intended result. By this technique you may insert the perfumes of musk, cinnamon, clove, and the colours of all sorts of similar things. I find in Mizue, the Arab medic and writer, that Plums, in order that they may draw off the stomach with their fruit, should be prepared thus. He bores thoroughly into the soil of a plum tree in two places at a distance of one hand's breadth, puts in Scammony and seals it up, whereby not only the fruits but the leaves too are imbued with a purgative power. But they introduce the remaining qualities to fruit by the following method; they plant the sapling in an earthen pot in a trench, but fill the pot with the juices and waters of those plants or medicaments whose qualities they plan to induce, top-dressing the ground with the best properly-composted manure; and the saplings perform their office according to their will.