such, for instance, as that of coriander, beet, leeks, cresses, mustard, rocket, cunila, nearly all the pungent plants in fact. The seed, on the other hand, of orage, ocimum, gourds, and cucumbers, is not so good for keeping. All the summer seeds, too, last longer than the winter ones; but scallion seed is the very worst for keeping of them all. But of those, even, which keep the very longest, there is none that will keep beyond four years-for sowing 2 purposes, at least; for culinary purposes, they are fit for use beyond that period. 42 CHAP. 59.-WHAT PLANTS ARE BENEFITTED BY SALT WATER. A peculiar remedy for the maladies to which radishes, beet, rue, and cunila are subject, is salt water, which has also the additional merit of conducing very materially to their sweetness and fertility. Other plants, again, are equally benefitted by being watered with fresh water, the most desirable for the purpose being that which is the coldest and the sweetest to drink: pond and drain-water, on the other hand, are not so good, as they are apt to carry the seeds of weeds along with them. It is rain,43 however, that forms the principal aliment of plants; in addition to which, it kills the insects as they develope themselves upon them. chap. 60. (12.)—THE PROPER METHOD OF WATERING GARDENS. 44 The proper times for watering are the morning and the evening, to prevent the water from being heated 45 by the sun; with the sole exception, however, of ocimum, which requires to be watered at midday; indeed, this plant, it is generally thought, will grow with additional rapidity, if it is watered with boiling water when sown. All plants, when trans 42 This is certainly not true with reference to the leguminous and gramineous plants. It is pretty generally known as a fact, that wheat has germinated after being buried in the earth two thousand years: mummywheat, at the present day, is almost universally known. 43 Rain-water, if collected in cisterns, and exposed to the heat of the sun, is the most beneficial of all; rain has the effect also of killing numerous insects which have bred in the previous drought. 44 From Theophrastus, B. vii. c. 5. Evening is generally preferred to morning for this purpose; the evaporation not being so quick, and the plant profiting more from the water. 45 It should, however, be of a middling temperature, and warmed to some extent by the rays of the sun. 46 planted, grow all the better and larger for it, leeks and turnips more particularly. Transplanting, too, is attended with certain remedial effects, and acts as a preservative to certain plants, such as scallions, for instance, leeks, radishes, parsley, lettuces, rape, and cucumbers. All the wild plants are generally smaller in the leaf and stalk than the cultivated ones, and have more acrid juices, cunila, wild marjoram, and rue, for example. Indeed, it is only the lapathum 47 that is better in a wild state than cultivated in its cultivated state it is the same plant that is known to us as the "rumix," being the most vigorous48 by far of all the plants that are grown; so much so, indeed, that it is said that when it has once taken root, it will last for ever, and can never be extirpated from the soil, more particularly if water happens to be near at hand. Its juices, which are employed only in ptisans,49 as an article of food, have the effect of imparting to them a softer and more exquisite flavour. The wild variety 50 is employed for many medicinal purposes. So true it is, that the careful research of man has omitted nothing, that I have even met with a poem,51 in which I find it stated, that if pellets of goats' dung, the size of a bean, are hollowed out, and the seed of leeks, rocket, lettuces, parsley, endive, and cresses is inserted in them, and then sown, the plants will thrive in a marvellous degree. Plants 52 in a wild state, it is generally thought, are more dry and acrid than when cultivated. chap. 61.—the juices and flavours of garden herbs. This, too, reminds me that I ought to make some mention of the difference between the juices and flavours of the garden herbs, a difference which is more perceptible here than in the fruits even.53 In cunila, for instance, wild marjoram, cresses, and mustard, the flavour is acrid; in wormwood and cen 46 These statements are consistent with modern experience. 47 See B. xx. c. 85. 48 He says this probably in reference partly to the large leaves which characterize the varieties of dock. 49 Dishes made of rice or barley. See B. xviii. c. 13. 50 See B. xx. c. 85. 51 He does not give the name of the poet, but, as Fée says, we do not experience any great loss thereby. 52 From Theophrastus, Hist. Plant, B. vii. c. 6. 53 See B. xv. c. 32. 5"Absinthium." See B. xxvii. c. 28. taury, bitter; in cucumbers, gourds, and lettuces, watery; and in parsley, anise, and fennel, pungent and odoriferous. The salt flavour is the only one that is not to be found 56 in plants, with the sole exception, indeed, of the chicheling 57 vetch, though even then it is to be found on the exterior surface only of the plant, in the form of a kind of dust which settles there. CHAP. 62.-PIPERITIS, LIBANOTIS, AND SMYRNIUM. 62 To come to a full understanding, too, both here as elsewhere, how unfounded are the notions which are generally entertained, I shall take this opportunity of remarking that panax has the flavour of pepper, and siliquastrum even more so, a circumstance to which it owes its name of piperitis:59 libanotis,60 again, has just the odour of frankincense, and smyrnium 61 of myrrh. As to panax, we have spoken of it at sufficient length already. Libanotis grows in a thin, crumbly soil, and is generally sown in spots exposed to the fulling dews; the root, which is just like that of olusatrum,63 has a smell in no way differing from that of frankincense; when a year old, it is extremely wholesome for the stomach; some persons give it the name of rosmarinum.6 Smyrnium is a garden herb that grows in similar soils, and has a root which smells like myrrh: siliquastrum, too, is grown in a similar manner. Other plants, again, differ from the preceding ones, both in smell and taste, anise 65 for example; indeed, so great is the difference in this respect, and in their relative virtues, that not only are the properties of each modified by the other, but quite neutralized even. It is in this way that our cooks correct the flavour of vinegar in their dishes with parsley, and our butlers employ the same plant, enclosed in sachets, for removing a bad odour in wine. 55 See B. xxv. c. 30. 56 Fée remarks, that though rarely to be met with, the salt flavour is still to be found in the vegetable kingdom. 57 The "cicercula," or Lathyrus sativus of Linnæus. 60 See B. xx. c. 54. 61 The same, probably, as olusatrum. See cc. 37 and B. xx. c. 46: also B. xxvii. c. 109. 63 See c. 48 of this Book. 65 See B. xx. o. 74. See B. xviii. c. 32. See B. xx. c. 66. and 48 of this Book, 62 In B. xii. c. 57. 64 Rosemary, or "sea-dew." 66 Thus far, then, we have treated of the garden plants, viewed as articles of food only; it remains for us now (for up to the present we have only spoken of their various methods of cultivation, with some succinct details relative thereto), to enlarge upon the more elaborate operations of Nature in this respect; it being quite impossible to come to a full understanding as to the true characteristics of each individual plant, without a knowledge of its medicinal effects, a sublime and truly mysterious manifestation of the wisdom of the Deity, than which nothing can possibly be found of a nature more elevated. It is upon principle that we have thought proper not to enlarge upon the medicinal properties of each plant when treating of it; for it is a quite different class of persons that is interested in knowing their curative properties, and there is no doubt that both classes of readers would have been inconvenienced in a very material degree, if these two points of view had engaged our attention at the same moment. As it is, each class will have its own portion to refer to, while those who desire to do so, will experience no difficulty in uniting them, with reference to any subject of which we may happen to treat. Summary.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, one thousand one hundred and forty-four. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.- -Maccius Plautus, 67 M. Varro, es D. Silanus,69 Cato the Censor,70 Hyginus," Virgil," Mucianus,73 Celsus, Columella," Calpurnius Bassus,76 Mamilius Sura," Sabinus Tiro, Licinius Macer,79 Quintus Hirtius, 80 Vibius 74 78 66 Fée suggests, though apparently without any good reason, that this paragraph, to the end of the Book, is an interpolation of the copyists. 67 See end of B. xiv. 68 See end of B. xii. 70 See end of B. ii. 68 See end of B. ii. 74 See end of B. vii. 75 See end of B. vii. 76 See end of B. vii. 77 See end of B. xvi. 78 Beyond the mention made of this writer in c. 57, nothing whatever is known of him. 79 C. Licinius Macer, a Roman annalist and orator, born about b.c. 110. Upon being impeached by Cicero, he committed suicide. He wrote a History or Annals of Rome, which are frequently referred to by Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. 80 Nothing whatever appears to be known of this writer. Rufus,81 Cæsennius 82 who wrote the Cepurica, Castritius who wrote on the same subject, Firmus 84 who wrote on the same subject, Petrichus 85 who wrote on the same subject. 86 87 FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED. Herodotus, Theophrastus, Democritus, Aristomachus,89 Menander 90 who wrote the Biochresta, Anaxiläus.91 81 See end of B. xiv. 82 Nothing whatever is known relative to this writer on Horticulture. 83 Nothing certain is known of him; but it has been suggested that he may have been the father of the rhetorician Castritius, so often mentioned by Aulus Gellius, and who lived in the time of the Emperor Adrian. Nothing whatever is known relative to this writer. 85 The author of a Greek poem on venomous serpents, mentioned in B. xx. c. 96, and B. xxii. c. 40, and by the Scholiast on the Theriaca of Nicander. 86 See end of B. ii. 87 See end of B. iii. 90 Nothing whatever is known of him. compendium of "Things useful to life." See end of B. xi. His Book seems to have been a 91 A physician and Pythagorean philosopher, born at one of the cities called Larissa, but which, is now unknown. He was banished by the Emperor Augustus, b.c. 28, on the charge of practising magic, a charge probably based on his superior skill in natural philosophy. He is frequently mentioned by Pliny in the course of this work. |