His barren leaves.”
Columella tells us that vineyards with elm trees as props were named arbusta, the vines themselves being called arbustivæ vitæ, to distinguish them from others raised in more confined situations. Once in two years the elms were carefully pruned to prevent their leaves from overshadowing the grapes; this was considered of great importance, and we have a better understanding of Virgil’s reproach to Corydon, who neglected both his elms and vines, when we realize this:—
“Semiputate tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est.”
(Your vine half pruned upon the leafy elm.)
In Ovid, Vertumnus alludes to the mutual dependence of the elm and the vine when he assures Pomona of the advantages of a happy marriage:—
“‘If that fair elm,’ he cried, ‘alone should stand
No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand;
Or if that vine without her elm should grow,
’T would creep a poor neglected shrub, below.’”
The specific name, campestris, comes from the Latin word meaning belonging to a plain or field.