Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder
Page 140
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CHAP. 46.
PARSLEY.
Parsley is sown immediately after the vernal equinox, the seed being lightly beaten first in a mortar. It is thought that, by doing this, the parsley will be all the more crisped, or else by taking care to beat it down when sown with a roller or the feet. It is a peculiarity of this plant, that it changes colour: it has the honour, in Achaia, of forming the wreath of the victors in the sacred contests of the Nemean Games.
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CHAP. 47.
MINT.
It is at the same season, too, that mint is transplanted; or, if it has not yet germinated, the matted tufts of the old roots are used for the purpose. This plant, too, is no less fond of a humid soil than parsley; it is green in summer and turns yellow in winter. There is a wild kind of mint, known to us as “mentastrum:” it is reproduced by layers, like the vine, or else by planting the branches upside down. It was the sweetness of its smell that caused this plant to change its name among the Greeks, its former name with them being “mintha,” from which the ancient Romans derived their name for it; whereas now, of late, it has been called by them ἡδύοσμον. The mint that is used in the dishes at rustic entertainments pervades the tables far and wide with its agreeable odour. When once planted, it lasts a considerable length of time; it bears, too, a strong resemblance to pennyroyal, a property of which is, as mentioned by us more than once, to flower when kept in our larders.
These other herbs, mint, I mean, and catmint, as well as pennyroyal, are all kept for use in a similar manner; but it is cummin that is the best suited of all the seasoning herbs to squeamish and delicate stomachs. This plant grows on the surface of the soil, seeming hardly to adhere to it, and raising itself aloft from the ground: it ought to be sown in the middle of the summer, in a crumbly, warm soil, more particularly. There is another wild kind of cummin, known by some persons as “rustic,” by others as “Thebaic” cummin: bruised and drunk in water, it is good for pains in the stomach. The cummin most esteemed in our part of the world is that of Carpetania, though elsewhere that of Africa and Æthiopia is more highly esteemed; with some, indeed, this last is pre- ferred to that of Egypt.
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CHAP. 48.
OLUSATRUM.
But it is olusatrum, more particularly, that is of so singular a nature, a plant which by the Greeks is called “hippose- linum,” and by others “smyrnium.” This plant is repro- duced from a tear-like gum which exudes from the stem: it is also grown from the roots as well. Those whose business it is to collect the juice of it, say that it has just the flavour of myrrh; and, according to Theophrastus, it is obtained by planting myrrh. The ancients recommended that hipposelinum should be grown in uncultivated spots covered with stones, and in the vicinity of garden walls; but at the present day it is sown in ground that has been twice turned up, between the prevalence of the west winds and the autumnal equinox.
The caper, too, should be sown in dry localities more particularly, the plot being hollowed out and surrounded with an embankment of stones erected around it: it this precaution is not taken, it will spread all over the adjoining land, and entail sterility upon the soil. The caper blossoms in summer, and retains its verdure till the setting of the Vergiliæ; it thrives the best of all in a sandy soil. As to the bad qualities of the caper which grows in the parts beyond the sea, we have already enlarged upon them when speaking of the exotic shrubs.
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CHAP. 49.
THE CARAWAY.
The caraway is an exotic plant also, which derives its name, “careum,” from the country in which it was first grown; it is principally employed for culinary purposes. This plant will grow in any kind of soil, and requires to be cultivated just the same way as olusatrum; the most esteemed, however, is that which comes from Caria, and the next best is that of Phrygia.
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CHAP. 50.
LOVAGE.
Lovage grows wild in the mountains of Liguria, its native country, but at the present day it is grown everywhere. The cultivated kind is the sweetest of the two, but is far from powerful; by some persons it is known as “panax.” Crateuas, a Greek writer, gives this name, however, to the plant known to us as “cunila bubula;” and others, again, call the conyza or cunilago, cunila, while they call cunila, properly so called, by the name of “thymbra.” With us cunila has another appellation, being generally known as “satureia,” and reckoned among the seasoning plants. It is usually sown in the month of February, and for utility rivals wild marjoram. These two plants are never used together, their properties being so extremely similar; but it is only the wild marjoram of Egypt that is considered superior to cunila.
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CHAP. 51.
DITTANDER.
Dittander, too, was oiginally an exotic plant: it is usually sown after the west winds have begun to prevail. As soon as it begins to shoot, it is cut down close to the ground, after which it is hoed and manured, a process which is repeated the succeeding year. After this, the shoots are fit for use, if the rigour of the winter has not injured them; for it is a plant quite unable to withstand any inclemency of the weather. It grows to the height of a cubit, and has a leaf like that of the laurel, but softer; it is never used except in combination with milk.
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CHAP. 52.
GITH.
Gith is employed by bakers, dill and anise by cooks and medical men. Sacopenium, so extensively used for adulter- ating laser, is also a garden plant, but is only employed for medicinal purposes.
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CHAP. 53.
THE POPPY.
There are certain plants which are grown in company with others, the poppy, for instance, sown with cabbages and purs- lain, and rocket with lettuce. Of the cultivated poppy there are three kinds, the first being the white poppy, the seed of which, parched, and mixed with honey, used to be served up in the second course at the tables of the ancients; at the present day, too, the country people sprinkle it on the upper crust of their bread, making it adhere by means of the yolk of eggs, the under crust being seasoned with parsley and gith to heighten the flavour of the flour. The second kind is the black poppy, from which, upon an incision being made in the stalk, a milky juice distils; and the third is that known to the Greeks by the name of “rhœas;” and by us as the wild poppy. This last grows spontaneously, but in fields, more particularly, which have been sown with barley: it bears a strong resemblance to rocket, grows to the height of a cubit, and bears a red flower, which quickly fades; it is to this flower that it is indebted for its Greek name.
As to the other kinds of poppies which spring up spontaneously, we shall have occasion to speak of them when treating of the medicinal plants. That the poppy has always been held in esteem among the Romans, we have a proof in the story related of Tarquinius Superbus, who, by striking down the tallest poppies in his garden, surreptitiously conveyed, unknown to them, his sanguinary message through the envoys who had been sent by his son.
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CHAP. 54.
OTHER PLANTS WHICH REQUIRE TO BE SOWN AT THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX.
There are some other plants, again, which require to be sown together at the time of the autumnal equinox; coriander, for instance, anise, orage, mallows, lapathum, chervil, known to the Greeks as “pæderos,” and mustard, which has so pun- gent a flavour, that it burns like fire, though at the same time it is remarkably wholesome for the body. This last, though it will grow without cultivation, is considerably improved by being transplanted; though, on the other hand, it is extremely difficult to rid the soil of it when once sown there, the seed when it falls germinating immediately. This seed, when cooked in the saucepan, is employed even for making ragouts, its pungency being rendered imperceptible by boiling; the leaves, too, are boiled just the same way as those of
other vegetables.
There are three different kinds of mustard, the first of a thin, slender form, the second, with a leaf like that of the rape, and the third, with that of rocket: the best seed comes from Egypt. The Athenians have given mustard the name of “napy,” others, “thapsi,” and others, again, “saurion.”
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CHAP. 55.
WILD THYME; SISYMBRIUM.
Most mountains abound with wild thyme and sisymbriurm, those of Thrace, for example, where branches of these wild plants are torn up and brought away for planting, So, too. the people of Sicyon seek for wild thyme on their mountains, and the Athenians on the slopes of Hymettus. Sisymlbrium, too, is planted in a similar manner; it grows to the greatest perfection upon the walls of wells, and around fish preserves and ponds.
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CHAP. 56. (9.)
FOUR KINDS OF FERULACEOUS PLANTS. HEMP.
The other garden plants are of the ferulaceous kind, such as fennel, for instance, very grateful to serpents, as already stated, and used for numerous seasonings when dried; thapsia, too, which bears a close resemblance to fennel, and already mentioned by us when speaking of the exotic shrubs. Then, too, there is hemp, a plant remarkably useful for making ropes, and usually sown after the west winds have begun to prevail: the more thickly it is sown, the thinner are the stalks. The seed is gathered when ripe, just after the autumnal equinox, and is dried by the agency of the sun, the wind, or smoke. The hemp itself is plucked just after vintage-time, and is peeled and cleaned by the labourers at night.
The best hemp is that of Alabanda, which is used more particularly for making hunting-nets, and of which there are three varieties. The hemp which lies nearest the bark or the pith is the least valuable, while that which lies in the middle, and hence has the name of “mesa,” is the most esteemed. The hemp of Mylasa occuplies the second rank. With reference to the size to which it grows, that of Rosea in the Sabine territory, equals the trees in height.
We have already mentioned two kinds of fennel-giant when speaking of the exotic shrubs: the seed of it is used in Italy for food; the plant, too, admits of being preserved, and, if stored in earthen pots, will keep for a whole year. There are two parts of it that are used for this purpose, the upper stalks and the umbels of the plant. This kind of fennel is sometimes known by the name of “corymbia,” and the parts preserved are called “corymbi.”
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CHAP. 57. (10.)
THE MALADIES OF GARDEN PLANTS.
The garden plants, too, like the rest of the vegetable productions, are subject to certain maladies. Thus, for instance, ocimum, when old, degenerates into wild thyme, and sisymbrium into mint, while the seed of an old cabbage produces rape, and vice versâ. Cummin, too, if not kept well hoed, is killed by hæmodorum, a plant with a single stalk, a root si- milar to a bulb in appearance, and never found except in a thin, meagre soil. Besides this, cummin is liable to a peculiar disease of its own, the scab: ocimum, too, turns pale at the rising of the Dog-star. All plants, indeed, will turn of a yellow complexion on the approach of a woman who has the menstrual discharge upon her.
There are various kinds of insects, too, that breed upon the garden plants — fleas, for instance, upon turnips, and caterpillars and maggots upon radishes, as well as lettuces and cabbages; besides which, the last two are exposed to the attacks of slugs and snails. The leek, too, is infested with peculiar insects of its own; which may very easily be taken, however, by laying dung upon the plants, the insects being in the habit of burrowing in it. Sabinus Tiro says, in his book entitled “Cepurica,” which he dedicated to Mæcenas, that it is not advisable to touch rue, cunila, mint, or ocimum with any implement of iron.
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CHAP. 58.
THE PROPER REMEDIES FOR THESE MALADIES. HOW ANTS ARE BEST DESTROYED. THE BEST REMEDIES AGAINST CATER- PILLARS AND FLIES.
The same author recommends as a remedy against ants, which are by no means the slightest plague in a garden that is not kept well watered, to stop up the mouths of their holes with sea-slime or ashes. But the most efficient way of destroying them is with the aid of the plant heliotropium; some persons, too, are of opinion that water in which an unburnt brick has been soaked is injurious to them. The best protection for turnips is to sow a few fitches with them, and for cabbages chickpeas, these having the effect of keeping away caterpillars. If, however, this precaution should have been omitted, and the caterpillars have already made their appearance, the best remedy is to throw upon the vegetables a decoction of wormwood, or else of house-leek, known to some as “aïzoüm,” a kind of herb already mentioned by us. If cabbage-seed, before it is sown, is steeped in the juice of house-leek, the cabbages, it is said, are sure not be attacked by any insect.
It is said, too, that all caterpillars may be effectually exterminated, if the skull of a beast of burden is set up upon a stake in the garden, care being taken to employ that of a female only. There is a story related, too, that a river crab, hung up in the middle of the garden, is a preservative against the attacks of caterpillars. Again, there are some persons who are in the habit of touching with slips of blood-red cornel such plants as they wish to preserve from caterpillars. Flies, too, infest well-watered gardens, and more particularly so, if there happen to be any shrubs there; they may be got rid of; how- ever, by burning galbanum.
(11.) With reference to the deterioration to which seed is subject, there are some seeds which keep better than others, 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 purposes, at least; for culinary purposes, they are fit for use beyond that period.
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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, however, that forms the principal aliment of plants; in addition to which, it kills the insects as they develope themselves upon them.
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CHAP. 60. (12.)
THE PROPER METHOD OF WATERING GARDENS.
The proper times for watering are the morning and the evening, to prevent the water from being heated 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- 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 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 vigorous 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 particu- larly if water happens to be near at hand. Its juices, which are employed only in ptisans
, as an article of food, have the effect of imparting to them a softer and more exquisite flavour. The wild variety 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, 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 in a wild state, it is generally thought, are more dry and acrid than when cultivated.
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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. In cunila, for instance, wild marjoram, cresses, and mustard, the flavour is acrid; in wormwood and cen- 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 in plants, with the sole exception, indeed, of the chicheling 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.