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CHAP. 36.
THE NYCTEGRETON, CHENOMYCHE, OR NYCTALOPS.
Democritus has regarded the nyctegreton as one of the most singular of plants. According to that author, it is of a dark red colour, has leaves like those of a thorn, and creeps upon the ground. He says that it grows in Gedrosia more particularly, and that it is taken up by the roots immediately after the vernal equinox, and dried in the moonlight for thirty days; after which preparation it emits light by night. He states also, that the Magi and the kings of Parthia employ this plant in their ceremonies when they make a vow to perform an undertaking; that another name given to it is “chenomyche,” from the circumstance that, at the very sight of it, geese will manifest the greatest alarm; and that by some persons, again, it is known as the “nyctalops,” from the light which it emits at a considerable distance by night.
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CHAP. 37.
WHERE THE MELILOTE IS FOUND.
The melilote is found growing everywhere, though that of Attica is held in the highest esteem. In all countries, however, it is preferred when fresh gathered; that too, the colour of which is not white, but approaches as nearly as possible to the colour of saffron. In Italy, however, it is the white kind that is the most odoriferous.
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CHAP. 38.
THE SUCCESSION IN WHICH FLOWERS BLOSSOM: THE SPRING FLOWERS. THE VIOLET. THE CHAPLET ANEMONE. THE ŒNANTHE. THE MELANION. THE HELICHRYSOS. THE GLADIOLUS. THE HYACINTH.
The first of the flowers that announce the approach of spring is the white violet; indeed, in warm localities, it is seen peeping out in the winter even. Next to it comes the violet known as the ion, and the purple violet; then the flame-coloured flower, the name of which is phlox, but only the wild one. The cyclaminum blossoms twice a year, in spring and autumn, standing equally in awe as it does of summer and of winter. The narcissus and the lily, in the parts beyond sea, are a little later than the preceding plants: but in Italy, as we have already stated, they are in blossom with the rose. In Greece, too, the anemone blooms even later; it is the flower of a wild bulb, and is altogether different from the one which we shall have occasion to mention among the medicinal plants.
Next, after these, come the œnanthe, the melanion, and, among the wild plants, the helichrysos; then, another kind of anemone, known as the “limonia,” and after that the gladiolus, accompanied by the hyacinth. Last of all, among the spring flowers, is the rose, which, with the exception indeed of the cultivated kinds, is also the first to fade. Among the others, the flowers which last the longest, are the hyacinth, the white violet, and the œnanthe; but to make this last keep any time in flower, it is necessary to gather it repeatedly, to prevent it from running to seed. The œnanthe grows in warm localities, and has exactly the smell of the vine when in blossom, to which circumstance it is indebted for its name.
There are two fabulous stories attached to the hyacinth; according to one of them, it bears the impress of the grief which Apollo felt for the youth whom he had so tenderly loved; and we learn from the other, that it derives its name from the blood of Ajax, the veins being so arranged in the flower as to form the Greek letters αι inscribed upon it.
The helichrysos has a flower resembling gold in appearance, a small leaf, and a fine, slender, but hard, stem. According to the Magi, the person who crowns himself with a chaplet composed of this flower, and takes his unguents from a box of gold, of the kind generally known as “apyron,” will be sure to secure esteem and glory among his fellowmen. Such are the flowers of spring.
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CHAP. 39.
THE SUMMER FLOWERS — THE LYCHNIS: THE TIPHYON. TWO VARIETIES OF THE POTHOS. TWO VARIETIES OF THE ORSI- NUM. THE VINCAPERIVINCA OR CHAMÆDAPHNE — A PLANT WHICH IS AN EVER-GREEN.
The summer flowers come next, the lychnis the flower of Jove, and another kind of lily, as also the tiphyon and the amaracus, surnamed that of Phrygia. But the most remarkable flower of all is the pothos, of which there are two varieties, one with the flower of the hyacinth, and another with a white flower, which is generally found growing about graves, and is better able to stand bad weather. The iris, also, blossoms in summer. All these flowers pass away, however, and fade; upon which others assume their places in autumn, a third kind of lily, for instance, saffron, and two varieties of the orsinum — one of them inodorous and the other scented — making their appearance, all of them, as soon as the first autumnal showers fall.
The garland-makers employ the flowers of the thorn even for making chaplets; the tender shoots, too, of the white thorn are sometimes preserved as a choice morsel to tempt the palate.
Such is the succession of the summer flowers in the parts beyond sea: in Italy, the violet is succeeded by the rose, the lily comes on while the rose is still in flower, the cyanus suc- ceeds the rose, and the amaranth the cyanus. As to the vin- capervinca, it is an evergreen, the branches from which run out like so many strings, the leaves surrounding the stem at each of the knots: though more generally used for the purposes of ornamental gardening, it is sometimes employed in chaplets when there is a deficiency of other flowers. From the Greeks this plant has received the name of “chamædaphne.”
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CHAP. 40.
THE DURATION OF LIFE IN THE VARIOUS KINDS OF FLOWERS.
At the very utmost, the white violet never lasts longer than three years: should it exceed that period, it is sure to degenerate. The rose-tree will last so long as five years without being pruned or cauterized, methods by which it is made to grow young again. We have already stated that the nature of the soil is of the very greatest importance; for in Egypt, we find, all these plants are perfectly inodorous, and it is only the myrtle that has any particular smell. In some countries, too, the germination of all the plants precedes that in other parts of the world by so long a period as two months even. The rose-beds should be well spaded immediately after the west winds begin to prevail, and, a second time, at the summer solstice: every care, however, should be paid, between these two periods, to keeping the ground well raked and cleaned.
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CHAP. 41. (12.)
PLANTS WHICH SHOULD BE SOWN AMONG FLOWERS FOR BEES. THE CERINTHA.
Bees and beehives, too, are a subject extremely well suited to a description of gardens and garland plants, while, at the same time, where they are successfully managed, they are a source, without any great outlay, of very considerable profit. For bees, then, the following plants should be grown — thyme, apiastrum, the rose, the various violets, the lily, the cytisus, the bean, the fitch, cunila, the poppy, conyza, cassia, the me- lilote, melissophyllum, and the cerintha. This last is a plant with a white leaf, bent inwards, the stem of it being a cubit in height, with a flower at the top presenting a concavity full of a juice like honey. Bees are remarkably fond of the flowers of these plants, as also the blossoms of mustard, a thing that is somewhat surprising, seeing that it is a well-known fact that they will not so much as touch the blossoms of the olive: for which reason, it will be as well to keep that tree at a distance from them.
There are other trees, again, which should be planted as near the hives as possible, as they attract the swarm when it first wings its flight, and so prevent the bees from wandering to any considerable distance.
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CHAP. 42.
THE MALADIES OF BEES, AND THE REMEDIES FOR THEM.
The greatest care, too, should be taken to keep the cornel at a distance from the hives: for if the bees once taste the blossoms of it, they will speedily die of flux and looseness. The best remedy in such case is to give them sorb apples beaten up with honey, or else human urine or that of oxen, or pomegranate seeds moistened with Aminean wine. It is a very good plan, too, to plant broom about the hives, the bees being extremely fond of the blossoms.
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&
nbsp; CHAP. 43.
THE FOOD OF BEES.
In relation to the food of bees, I have ascertained a very singular fact, and one that well deserves to be mentioned. There is a village, called Hostilia, on the banks of the river Padus: the inhabitants of it, when food fails the bees in their vicinity, place the hives in boats and convey them some five miles up the river in the night. In the morning the bees go forth to feed, and then return to the boats; their locality being changed from day to day, until at last, as the boats sink deeper and deeper in the water, it is ascertained that the hives are full, upon which they are taken home, and the honey is withdrawn.
(13.) In Spain, too, for the same purpose, they have the hives carried from place to place on the backs of mules.
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CHAP. 44.
POISONED HONEY, AND THE REMEDIES TO BE EMPLOYED BY THOSE WHO HAVE EATEN OF IT.
Indeed, the food of bees is of the very greatest importance, as it is owing to this that we meet with poisonous honey even. At Heraclia in Pontus, the honey is extremely pernicious in certain years, though it is the same bees that make it at other times. Authors, however, have not informed us from what flowers this honey is extracted; we shall, therefore, take this opportunity of stating what we have ascertained upon the subject.
There is a certain plant which, from the circumstance that it proves fatal to beasts of burden, and to goats in particular, has obtained the name of “ægolcthron,” and the blossoms of which, steeped in the rains of a wet spring, contract most noxious properties, Hence it is that it is not every year that these dangerous results are experienced. The following are the signs of the honey being poisonous: it never thickens, the colour is redder than usual, and it emits a peculiar smell which immediately produces sneezing; while, at the same time, it is more weighty than a similar quantity of good honey. Persons, when they have eaten of it, throw themselves on the ground to cool the body, which is bathed with a profuse perspiration. There are numerous remedies, of which we shall have occasion to speak in a more appropriate place; but as it will be as well to mention some of them on the present occasion, by way of being provided for such insidious accidents, I will here state that old honied wine is good, mixed with the finest honey and rue; salt meats, also, taken repeatedly in small quantities, and as often brought up again.
It is a well-known fact that dogs, after tasting the excretions of persons suffering from these attacks, have been attacked with similar symptoms, and have experienced the same kind of pains.
Still, however, it is equally well ascertained, that honied wine prepared from this honey, when old, is altogether innoxious; and that there is nothing better than this honey, mixed with costus, for softening the skin of females, or, combined with aloes, for the treatment of bruises.
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CHAP. 45.
MADDENING HONEY.
In the country of the Sanni, in the same part of Pontus, there is another kind of honey, which, from the madness it produces, has received the name of “mænomenon.” This evil effect is generally attributed to the flowers of the rhododendron, with which the woods there abound; and that people, though it pays a tribute to the Romans in wax, derives no profit whatever from its honey, in consequence of these dangerous properties. In Persis, too, and in Gætulia, a district of Mauritania Cœsariensis, bordering on the country of the Massæsyli, there are poisonous honeycombs found; and some, too, only partly so, one of the most insidious things that possibly could happen, were it not that the livid colour of the honey gives timely notice of its noxious qualities. What can we suppose to have possibly been the intention of Nature in thus laying these traps in our way, giving us honey that is poisonous in some years and good in others, poisonous in some parts of the combs and not in others, and that, too, the produce in all cases of the self-same bees? It was not enough, forsooth, to have produced a substance in which poison might be administered without the slightest difficulty, but must she herself administer it as well in the honey, to fall in the way of so many animated beings? What, in fact, can have been her motive, except to render mankind a little more cautious and somewhat less greedy?
And has she not provided the very bees, too, with pointed weapons, and those weapons poisoned to boot? So it is, and I shall, therefore, without delay, set forth the remedies to counteract the effects of their stings. It will be found a very excellent plan to foment the part stung with the juice of mallows or of ivy leaves, or else for the person who has been stung to take these juices in drink. It is a very astonishing thing, however, that the insects which thus carry these poisons in their mouths and secrete them, should never die themselves in consequence; unless it is that Nature, that mistress of all things, has given to bees the same immunity from the effects of poison which she has granted against the attacks of serpents to the Psylli and the Marsi among men.
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CHAP. 46. (14.)
HONEY THAT FLIES WILL NOT TOUCH.
Another marvellous fact, again, connected with honey in Crete. Upon Mount Carma in that island, which is nine miles in circuit, there is not a fly to be found, and the honey that is made there no fly will touch. It is by this circum- stance that honey said to have come from that district is usually tested, it being highly prized for medicinal preparations.
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CHAP. 47.
BEEHIVES, AND THE ATTENTION WHICH SHOULD BE PAID TO THEM.
The hives ought to have an aspect due east, but never looking towards the north-east or the west. The best hives are those made of bark, the next best those of fennel-giant, and the next of osier: many persons, too, have them made of mirror-stone, for the purpose of watching the bees at work within. It is the best plan to anoint the hives all over with cow-dung. The lid of the hive should be made to slide from behind, so as to admit of being shut to within, in case the hive should prove too large or their labours unproductive; for, if this is not done, the bees are apt to become discouraged and abandon their work. The slide may then be gradually withdrawn, the increase of space being imperceptible to the bees as the work progresses. In winter, too, the hives should be covered with straw, and subjected to repeated fumigations, with burnt cow- dung more particularly. As this is of kindred origin with the bees, the smoke produced by it is particularly beneficial in killing all such insects as may happen to breed there, such as spiders, for instance, moths, and wood-worms; while, at the same time, it stimulates the bees themselves to increased activity. In fact, there is little difficulty in getting rid of the spiders, but to destroy the moths, which are a much greater plague, a night must be chosen in spring, just when the mallow is ripening, there being no moon, but a clear sky: flam- beaux are then lighted before the hives, upon which the moths precipitate themselves in swarms into the flame.
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CHAP. 48.
THAT BEES ARE SENSIBLE OF HUNGER.
If it is found that the bees are in want of aliment, it will be a good plan to place at the entrance of the hive raisins or dried figs beaten up, as also carded wool soaked in raisin wine, boiled must, or hydromel, and sometimes even the raw flesh of poultry. In certain summers, too, when long-con- tinued drought has deprived them of the nutriment which they usually derive from flowers, similar food must be provided for them.
When the honey is taken, the outlets of the hive should be well rubbed with melissophyllum or broom, beaten up, or else the middle of it should be encircled with bands of white vine, to prevent the bees from taking to flight. It is recommended, too, that the honey-pots and combs should be washed with water: this water, boiled, it is said, will make an extremely wholesome vinegar.
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CHAP. 49.
THE METHOD OF PREPARING WAX. THE BEST KINDS OF WAX. PUNIC WAX.
Wax is made from the honeycombs after the honey has been extracted. For this purpose, they are first cleaned with water, and then dried three days in the shade: on the fourt
h day they are melted on the fire in a new earthen vessel, with sufficient water to cover them, after which the liquor is strained off in a wicker basket. The wax is then boiled again with the same water and in the same pot, and poured into vessels of cold water, the interior of which has been well rubbed with honey. The best wax is that known as Punic wax, the next best being that of a remarkably yellow colour, with the smell of honey. This last comes from Pontus, and, to my surprise, it is in no way affected by the poisonous honey which it has contained. The next in quality is the Cretan wax, which contains the largest proportion of propolis, a substance of which we have previously made mention when treating of bees. Next to these varieties comes the Corsican wax, which, being the produce of the box-tree, is generally thought to be possessed of certain medicinal properties.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder Page 153
