Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  The Ascalonian onion is of a peculiar nature, being barren in some measure in the root; hence it is that the Greeks have recommended it to be reproduced from seed, and not from roots: the transplanting, too, they say, should be done later in the spring, at the time the plant germinates, the result being that it bulbs with all the greater rapidity, and hastens, as it were, to make up for lost time; great dispatch, however, is requisite in taking it up, for when ripe it rots with the greatest rapidity. If propagated from roots, it throws out a long stalk, runs rapidly to seed, and dies.

  There are considerable differences, too, in the colour of the onion; the whitest of all are those grown at Issus and Sardes. The onions, too, of Crete are held in high esteem, but there is some doubt whether they are not the same as the Ascalonian variety; for when grown from seed they produce a fine bulb, but when planted they throw out a long stalk and run to seed; in fact, they differ from the Ascalonian kind only in the sweetness of their flavour.

  Among us there are two principal varieties known of the onion; the scallion, employed for seasonings, is one, known to the Greeks by the name of “gethyon,” and by us as the “pallacana;” it is sown in March, April, and May. The other kind is the bulbed or headed onion; it is sown just after the autumnal equinox, or else after the west winds have begun to prevail. The varieties of this last kind, ranged according to their relative degrees of pungency, are the African onion, the Gallic, the Tusculan, the Ascalonian, and the Amiternian: the roundest in shape are the best. The red onion, too, is more pungent than the white, the stored than the fresh, the raw than the cooked, and the dried than the preserved. The onion of Amiternum is cultivated in cold, humid localities, and is the only one that is reproduced from heads, like garlic, the other kinds being grown from seed. This last kind yields no seed in the ensuing summer, but a bulb only, which dries and keeps; but in the summer after, the contrary is the case, for seed is produced, while the bulb very quickly spoils. Hence it is that every year there are two separate sowings, one of seed for the reproduction of bulbs, and one of bulbs for the growth of seed; these onions keep best in chaff. The scallion has hardly any bulb at all, but a long neck only — hence it is nothing but leaf, and is often cut down, like the leek; for this reason, too, like the leek, it is grown from seed, and not from plants.

  In addition to these particulars, it is recommended that the ground intended for sowing onions should be turned up three times, care being taken to remove all roots and weeds; ten pounds of seed is the proper proportion for a jugerum. Savory too, they say, should be mixed with them, the onions being all the finer for it; the ground, too, should be stubbed and hoed four times at least, if not oftener. In Italy, the Ascalonian onion is sown in the month of February. The seed of the onion is gathered when it begins to turn black, and before it becomes dry and shrivelled.

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  CHAP. 33.

  THE LEEK.

  While upon this subject, it will be as well, too, to speak of the leek, on account of the affinity which it bears to the plants just mentioned, and more particularly because cut-leek has recently acquired considerable celebrity from the use made of it by the Emperor Nero. That prince, to improve his voice, used to eat leeks and oil every month, upon stated days, abstaining from every other kind of food, and not touching so much as a morsel of bread even. Leeks are reproduced from seed, sown just after the autumnal equinox; if they are intended for cutting, the seed is sown thicker than otherwise. The leeks in the same bed are cut repeatedly, till it is quite exhausted, and they are always kept well manured. If they are wanted to bulb before being cut, when they have grown to some size they are transplanted to another bed, the extremities of the leaves being snipped off without touching the white part, and the heads stripped of the outer coats. The ancients were in the habit of placing a stone or potsherd upon the leek, to make the head grow all the larger, and the same with the bulbs as well; but at the present day it is the usual practice to move the fibrous roots gently with the weeding-hook, so that by being bent they may nourish the plant, and not withdraw the juices from it.

  It is a remarkable fact, that, though the leek stands in need of manure and a rich soil, it has a particular aversion to water; and yet its nature depends very much upon the natural properties of the soil. The most esteemed leeks are those grown in Egypt, and next to them those of Ostia and Aricia. Of the leek for cutting, there are two varieties: that with grass-green leaves and incisions distinctly traced on them, and the leek with paler and rounder leaves, the incisions being more lightly marked. There is a story told, that Mela, a member of the Equestrian order, being accused of mal-administration by order of the Emperor Tiberius, swallowed in his despair leek-juice to the amount of three denarii in weight of silver, and expired upon the spot without the slightest symptom of pain. It is said, however, that a larger dose than this is productive of no injurious effects whatever.

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  CHAP. 34

  GARLIC.

  Garlic is generally supposed, in the country more particularly, to be a good specific for numerous maladies. The ex- ternal coat consists of membranes of remarkable fineness, which are universally discarded when the vegetable is used; the inner part being formed by the union of several cloves, each of which has also a separate coat of its own. The flavour of it is pungent, and the more numerous the cloves the more pungent it is. Like the onion, it imparts an offensive smell to the breath; but this is not the case when it is cooked. The various species of garlic are distinguished by the periods at which they ripen: the early kind becomes fit for use in sixty days. Another distinction, too, is formed by the relative size of the heads. Ulpicum, also, generally known to the Greeks as “Cyprian garlic,” belongs to this class; by some persons it is called “antiscorodon,” and in Africa more particularly it holds a high rank among the dishes of the rural population; it is of a larger size than ordinary garlic. When beaten up with oil and vinegar, it is quite surprising what a quantity of creaming foam is produced.

  There are some persons who recommend that neither ulpicum nor garlic should be sown on level ground, but say that they should be planted in little mounds trenched up, at a distance of three feet apart. Between each clove, they say, there should be a distance of four fingers left, and as soon as ever three leaves are visible, the heads should be hoed; the oftener they are hoed, the larger the size they will attain. When they begin to ripen, the stalks are bent downwards, and covered over with earth, a precaution which effectually prevents them from running to leaf. In cold soils, it is considered better to plant them in spring than in autumn.

  For the purpose of depriving all these plants of their strong smell, it is recommended to set them when the moon is below the horizon, and to take them up when she is in conjunction. Independently of these precautions, we find Menander, one of the Greek writers, recommending those who have been eating garlic to eat immediately afterwards a root of beet roasted on hot coals; if this is done, he says, the strong smell of the garlic will be effectually neutralized. Some persons are of opinion, that the proper period for planting garlic and ulpicum is between the festival of the Compitalia and that of the Saturnalia. Garlic, too, can be grown from seed, but it is very slow, in such case, in coming to maturity; for in the first year, the head attains the size only of that of a leek, in the second, it separates into cloves, and only in the third it arrives at maturity; there are some, however, who think that garlic grown this way is the best. Garlic should never be allowed to run to seed, but the stalk should be twisted, to promote its growth, and to make the head attain a larger size.

  If garlic or onions are wanted to keep some time, the heads should be dipped in salt water, made luke-warm; by doing this, they will be all the better for keeping, though quite worthless for reproduction. Some persons content themselves with hanging them over burning coals, and are of opinion that this is quite sufficient to prevent them from sprouting: for it is a well-known fact, that both garlic and onions sprout when o
ut of the ground, and that after throwing out their thin shoots they shrivel away to nothing. Some persons are of opinion, too, that the best way of keeping garlic is by storing it in chaff. There is a kind of garlic that grows spontaneously in the fields, and is known by the name of “alum.” To preserve the seeds that are sown there from the remorseless ravages of the birds, this plant is scattered over the ground, being first boiled, to prevent it from shooting. As soon as ever they have eaten of it, the birds become so stupefied as to be taken with the hand even, and if they remain but a few moments only on the spot, they fall fast asleep. There is a wild garlic, too, generally known as “bear’s” garlic; it has exactly the smell of millet, with a very small head and large leaves.

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  CHAP. 35. (7.)

  THE NUMBER OF DAYS REQUIRED FOR THE RE- SPECTIVE PLANTS TO MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE ABOVE GROUND.

  Among the garden plants which make their appearance most speedily above ground, are ocimum, blite, the turnip, and rocket; for they appear above the surface the third day after they are sown. Anise, again, comes up on the fourth day, the lettuce on the fifth, the radish on the sixth, the cucumber and the gourd on the seventh — the cucumber rather the first of the two — cresses and mustard on the fifth, beet on the sixth day in summer and the tenth in winter, orage on the eighth, onions on the nineteenth or twentieth, and scallions on the tenth or twelfth. Coriander, again, is more stubborn in its growth, cunila and wild marjoram do not appear till after the thirtieth day, and parsley comes up with the greatest difficulty of all, for at the very earliest it is forty days before it shows itself, and in most instances as much as fifty.

  The age, too, of the seed is of some importance in this respect; for fresh seed comes up more rapidly in the case of the leek, the scallion, the cucumber, and the gourd, while in that of parsley, beet, cardamum, cunila, wild majoram, and coriander, seed that has been kept for some time is the best.

  There is one remarkable circumstance in connection with the seed of beet; it does not all germinate in the first year, but some of it in the second, and some in the third even; hence it is that a considerable quantity of seed produces only a very moderate crop. Some plants produce only in the year in which they are set, and some, again, for successive years, parsley, leeks, and scallions for instance; indeed, these plants, when once sown, retain their fertility, and produce for many years.

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  CHAP. 36.

  THE NATURE OF THE VARIOUS SEEDS.

  In most plants the seed is round, in some oblong; it is broad and foliaceous in some, orage for instance, while in others it is narrow and grooved, as in cummin. There are differences, also, in the colour of seeds, which is either black or white; while some seeds are woody and hard, in radishes, mustard, and rape, the seeds are enclosed in pods. In parsley, coriander, anise, fennel, and cummin, the seed has no covering at all, while in blite, beet, orage, and ocimum, it has an outer coat, and in the lettuce it is covered with a fine down. There is no seed more prolific than that of ocimum; it is generally recommended to sow it with the utterance of curses and imprecations, the result being that it grows all the better for it; the earth, too, is rammed down when it is sown, and prayers offered that the seed may never come up. The seeds which are enveloped in an outer coat, are dried with considerable difficulty, that of ocimum more particularly; hence it is that all these seeds are dried artificially, their fruitfulness being greatly promoted thereby.

  Plants in general come up better when the seed is sown in heaps than when it is scattered broad-cast: leeks, in fact, and parsley are generally grown by sowing the seed in little bags: in the case of parsley, too, a hole is made with the dibble, and a layer of manure inserted.

  All garden plants grow either from seed or from slips, and some from both seed and suckers, such as rue, wild marjoram, and ocimum, for example — this last being usually cut when it is a palm in height. Some kinds, again, are reproduced from both seed and root, as in the case of onions, garlic, and bulbs, and those other plants of which, though annuals themselves, the roots retain their vitality. In those plants which grow from the root, it lives for a considerable time, and throws out offsets, as in bulbs, scallions, and squills for example. — Others, again, throw out offsets, though not from a bulbous root, such as parsley and beet, for instance. When the stalk is cut, with the exception of those which have not a rough stem, nearly all these plants put forth fresh shoots, a thing that may be seen in ocimum, the radish, and the lettuce, which are in daily use among us; indeed, it is generally thought that the lettuce which is grown from a fresh sprouting, is the sweetest. The radish, too, is more pleasant eating when the leaves have been removed before it has begun to run to stalk. The same is the case, too, with rape; for when the leaves are taken off, and the roots well covered up with earth, it grows all the larger for it, and keeps in good preservation till the en- suing summer.

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  CHAP. 37.

  PLANTS OF WHICH THERE IS BUT A SINGLE KIND PLANTS OF WHICH THERE ARE SEVERAL KINDS.

  Of ocimum, lapathum, blite, cresses, rocket, orage, coriander, and anise respectively, there is but a single kind, these plants being the same everywhere, and no better in one place than in another. It is the general belief that stolen rue grows the best, while, on the other hand, bees that have been stolen will never thrive. Wild mint, cat-mint, endive, and pennyroyal, will grow even without any cultivation. With reference to the plants of which we have already spoken, or shall have occasion to speak, there are numerous varieties of many of them, parsley more particularly.

  (8.) As to the kind of parsley which grows spontaneously in moist localities, it is known by the name of “helioselinum;” it has a single leaf only, and is not rough at the edges. In dry places, we find growing the kind known as “hipposelinum,” consisting of numerous leaves, similar to helioselinum. A third variety is the oreoselinum, with leaves like those of hemlock, and a thin, fine, root, the seed being similar to that of anise, only somewhat smaller.

  The differences, again, that are found to exist in cultivated parsley, consist in the comparative density of the leaves, the crispness or smoothness of their edges, and the thinness or thickness of the stem, as the case may be: in some kinds, again, the stem is white, in others purple, and in others mottled.

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  CHAP. 38.

  THE NATURE AND VARIETIES OF TWENTY-THREE GARDEN PLANTS. THE LETTUCE; ITS DIFFERENT VARIETIES.

  The Greeks have distinguished three varieties of the lettuce; the first with a stalk so large, that small garden gates, it is said, have been made of it: the leaf of this lettuce is somewhat larger than that of the herbaceous, or green lettuce, but extremely narrow, the nutriment seeming to be expended on the other parts of the plant. The second kind is that with a rounded stalk; and the third is the low, squat lettuce generally known as the Laconian lettuce.

  Some persons have made distinctions in reference to their respective colours, and the times for sowing them: the black lettuce is sown in the month of January, the white in March, and the red in April; and they are fit for transplanting, all of them, at the end of a couple of months. Those, again, who have pursued these enquiries even further than this, have distinguished a still greater number of varieties of them — the purple, the crisped, the Cappadocian, and the Greek lettuce, this last having a longer leaf than the rest, and a broad stalk: in addition to which, there is one with a long, narrow leaf, very similar to endive in appearance. The most inferior kind, however, of all, is the one to which the Greeks, censuring it for its bitterness, have given the name of “picris.” There is still another variety, a kind of white lettuce, called “meconis,” a name which it derives from the abundance of milk, of a narcotic quality, which it produces; though, in fact, it is generally thought that they are all of them of a soporific tendency. In former times, this last was the only kind of lettuce that was held in any esteem in Italy, the name “lactuca” havin
g been given it on account of the milk which it contains.

  The purple kind, with a very large root, is generally known as the Cæcilian lettuce; while the round one, with an extremely diminutive root and broad leaves, is known to some persons as the “astytis,” and to others as the “eunychion,” it having the effect, in a remarkable degree, of quenching the amorous propensities. Indeed, they are, all of them, possessed of cooling and refreshing properties, for which reason it is, that they are so highly esteemed in summer; they have the effect, also, of removing from the stomach distaste for food, and of promoting the appetite. At all events, we find it stated, that the late Emperor Augustus, when ill, was saved on one occasion, thanks to the skill of his physician, Musa, by eating lettuces, a food which the excessive scruples of his former physician, C. Æmilius, had forbidden him. At the present day, however, lettuces have risen into such high estimation, that a method has been discovered even of preserving them during the months in which they are out of season, by keeping them in oxymel. It is generally supposed, also, that lettuces have the effect of making blood.

  In addition to the above varieties, there is another kind of lettuce known as the “goats’ lettuce,” of which we shall have occasion to make further mention when we come to the medicinal plants: at the moment, too, that I am writing this, a new species of cultivated lettuce has been introduced, known as the Cilician lettuce, and held in very considerable esteem; the leaf of it is similar to that of the Cappadocian lettuce, except that it is crisped, and somewhat larger.