Chapter XIX: Book XV: The Natural History of the Fruit-Trees (1)

CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE OLIVE.—HOW LONG IT EXISTED ONLY IN GREECE. AT WHAT PERIOD IT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, SPAIN, AND AFRICA.

Theophrastus,[1631] one of the most famous among the Greek writers, who flourished about the year 440 of the City of Rome, has asserted that the olive[1632] does not grow at a distance of more than forty[1633] miles from the sea. Fenestella tells us that in the year of Rome 173, being the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, it did not exist in Italy, Spain, or Africa;[1634] whereas at the present day it has crossed the Alps even, and has been introduced into the two provinces of Gaul and the middle of Spain. In the year of Rome 505, Appius Claudius, grandson of Appius Claudius Cæcus, and L. Junius being consuls, twelve pounds of oil sold for an as; and at a later period, in the year 680, M. Seius, son of Lucius, the curule ædile, regulated the price of olive oil at Rome, at the rate of ten pounds for the as, for the whole year. A person will be the less surprised at this, when he learns that twenty-two years after, in the third consulship of Cn. Pompeius, Italy was able to export olive oil to the provinces.

Hesiod,[1635] who looked upon an acquaintance with agriculture as conducive in the very highest degree to the comforts of life, has declared that there was no one who had ever gathered fruit from the olive-tree that had been sown by his own hands, so slow was it in reaching maturity in those times; whereas, now at the present day, it is sown in nurseries even, and if transplanted will bear fruit the following year.

CHAP. 2.—THE NATURE OF THE OLIVE, AND OF NEW OLIVE OIL.

Fabianus maintains that the olive will grow[1636] neither in very cold climates, nor yet in very hot ones. Virgil[1637] has mentioned three varieties of the olive, the orchites,[1638] the radius,[1639] and the posia;[1640] and says that they require no raking or pruning, nor, in fact, any attention whatever. There is no doubt that in the case of these plants, soil and climate are the things of primary importance; but still, it is usual to prune them at the same time as the vine, and they are improved by lopping between them every here and there. The gathering of the olive follows that of the grape, and there is even a greater degree of skill required in preparing[1641] oil than in making wine; for the very same olives will frequently give quite different results. The first oil of all, produced from the raw[1642] olive before it has begun to ripen, is considered preferable to all the others in flavour; in this kind, too, the first[1643] droppings of the press are the most esteemed, diminishing gradually in goodness and value; and this, whether the wicker-work[1644] basket is used in making it, or whether, following the more recent plan, the pulp is put in a stick strainer, with narrow spikes and interstices.[1645] The riper the berry, the more unctuous the juice, and the less agreeable the taste.[1646] To obtain a result both abundant and of excellent flavour, the best time to gather it is when the berry is just on the point of turning black. In this state it is called “druppa” by us, by the Greeks, “drypetis.”

In addition to these distinctions, it is of importance to observe whether the berry ripens in the press or while on the branch; whether the tree has been watered, or whether the fruit has been nurtured solely by its own juices, and has imbibed nothing else but the dews of heaven.

CHAP. 3. (2.)—OLIVE OIL: THE COUNTRIES IN WHICH IT IS PRODUCED, AND ITS VARIOUS QUALITIES.

It is not with olive oil as it is with wine, for by age it acquires a bad flavour,[1647] and at the end of a year it is already old. This, if rightly understood, is a wise provision on the part of Nature: wine, which is only produced for the drunkard, she has seen no necessity for us to use when new; indeed, by the fine flavour which it acquires with age, she rather invites us to keep it; but, on the other hand, she has not willed that we should be thus sparing of oil, and so has rendered its use common and universal by the very necessity there is of using it while fresh.

In the production of this blessing as well,[1648] Italy holds the highest rank among all countries,[1649] and more particularly the territory of Venafrum,[1650] that part of it in especial which produces the Licinian oil; the qualities of which have conferred upon the Licinian olive the very highest renown. It is our unguents which have brought this oil into such great esteem, the peculiar odour of it adapting itself so well to the full development of their qualities; at the same time its delicate flavour equally enlists the palate in its behalf. In addition to this, birds will never touch the berry of the Licinian olive.

Next to Italy, the contest is maintained, and on very equal terms, between the territories of Istria and of Bætica. The next rank for excellence is claimed by the other provinces of our Empire, with the exception of Africa,[1651] the soil of which is better adapted for grain. That country Nature has given exclusively to the cereals; of oil and wine she has all but deprived it, securing it a sufficient share of renown by its abundant harvests. As to the remaining particulars connected with the olive, they are replete with erroneous notions, and I shall have occasion to show that there is no part of our agricultural economy upon which people have been more generally mistaken.

(3.) The olive is composed of a stone, oil, flesh, and amurca:[1652] the last being a bitter liquid, principally composed of water; hence it is that in seasons of drought it is less plentiful, and more abundant when rains[1653] have prevailed. The oil is a juice peculiar to the olive, a fact more particularly stated in reference to its unripe state, as we have already mentioned when speaking of omphacium.[1654] This oil continues on the increase up to the rising of Arcturus,[1655] or in other words, the sixteenth day before the calends of October;[1656] after which the increase is in the stone and the flesh. When drought has been followed by abundant rains, the oil is spoilt, and turns to amurca. It is the colour of this amurca that makes the olive turn black; hence, when the berry is just beginning to turn that colour, there is but little amurca in it, and before that period none at all. It is an error then, on the part of persons, to suppose that that is the commencement of maturity, which is in reality only the near approach of corruption. A second error, too, is the supposition that the oil increases proportionally to the flesh of the berry, it being the fact that the oil is all the time undergoing a change into flesh, and the stone is growing larger and larger within. It is for this reason more particularly, that care is taken to water the tree at this period; the real result of all this care and attention, as well as of the fall of copious rains, being, that the oil in reality is absorbed as the berry increases in size, unless fine dry weather should happen to set in, which naturally tends to contract the volume of the fruit. According to Theophrastus,[1657] heat is the sole primary cause of the oleaginous principle; for which reason it is, that in the presses,[1658] and in the cellars even, great fires are lighted to improve the quality of the oil.

A third error arises from misplaced economy: to spare the expense of gathering, people are in the habit of waiting till the berry falls from the tree. Others, again, who wish to follow a middle course in this respect, beat the fruit off with poles, and so inflict injury on the tree and ensure loss in the succeeding year; indeed, there was a very ancient regulation in existence relative to the gathering of the olive—“Neither pull nor beat the olive-tree.”[1659] Those who would observe a still greater degree of precaution, strike the branches lightly with a reed on one side of them; but even then the tree is reduced to bearing fruit but once in two years,[1660] in consequence of the injury done to the buds. Not less injurious, however, are the results of waiting till the berries fall from the tree; for, by remaining on it beyond the proper time, they deprive the crop that is coming on of its due share of nutriment, by occupying its place: a clear proof of which is, that if they are not gathered before the west winds prevail, they are found to have acquired renewed strength, and are all the later before they fall.

CHAP. 4.—FIFTEEN VARIETIES OF OLIVES.

The first olive that is gathered after the autumn is that known as the “posia,”[1661] the berry of which, owing to a vicious method of cultivation, and not any fault on the part of Nature, has the most flesh upon it. Next to this is the orchites, which contains the greatest quantity of oil, and then, after that, the radius. As these are of a peculiarly delicate nature, the heat very rapidly takes effect upon them, and the amurca they contain causes them to fall. On the other hand, the gathering of the tough, hard-skinned olive is put off so late as the month of March, it being well able to resist the effects of moisture, and, consequently, very small. Those varieties known as the Licinian, the Cominian, the Contian, and the Sergian, by the Sabines called the “royal”[1662] olive, do not turn black before the west winds prevail, or, in other words, before the sixth day before[1663] the ides of February. At this period it is generally thought that they begin to ripen, and as a most excellent oil is extracted from them, experience would seem to give its support to a theory which, in reality, is altogether wrong. The growers say that in the same degree that cold diminishes the oil, the ripeness of the berry augments it; whereas, in reality, the goodness of the oil is owing, not to the period at which the olives are gathered, but to the natural properties of this peculiar variety, in which the oil is remarkably slow in turning to amurca.

A similar error, too, is committed by those who keep the olives, when gathered, upon a layer of boards, and do not press the fruit till it has thrown out a sweat; it being the fact that every hour lost tends to diminish the oil and increase the amurca: the consequence is, that, according to the ordinary computation, a modius of olives yields no more than six pounds of oil. No one, however, ever takes account of the quantity of amurca to ascertain, in reference to the same kind of berry, to what extent it increases daily in amount. Then, again, it is a very general error[1664] among practical persons to suppose that the oil increases proportionably to the increased size of the berry; and more particularly so when it is so clearly proved that such is not the case, with reference to the variety known as the royal olive, by some called majorina, and by others phaulia;[1665] this berry being of the very largest size, and yet yielding a minimum of juice. In Egypt,[1666] too, the berries, which are remarkably meaty, are found to produce but very little oil; while those of Decapolis, in Syria, are so extremely small, that they are no bigger than a caper; and yet they are highly esteemed for their flesh.[1667] It is for this reason that the olives from the parts beyond sea are preferred for table to those of Italy, though, at the same time, they are very inferior to them for making oil.

In Italy, those of Picenum and of Sidicina[1668] are considered the best for table. These are kept apart from the others and steeped in salt, after which, like other olives, they are put in amurca, or else boiled wine; indeed, some of them are left to float solely in their own oil,[1669] without any adventitious mode of preparation, and are then known as colymbades: sometimes the berry is crushed, and then seasoned with green herbs to flavour it. Even in an unripe state the olive is rendered fit for eating by being sprinkled with boiling water; it is quite surprising, too, how readily it will imbibe sweet juices, and retain an adventitious flavour from foreign substances. With this fruit, as with the grape, there are purple[1670] varieties, and the posia is of a complexion approaching to black. Besides those already mentioned, there are the superba[1671] and a remarkably luscious kind, which dries of itself, and is even sweeter than the raisin: this last variety is extremely rare, and is to be found in Africa and in the vicinity of Emerita[1672] in Lusitania.

The oil of the olive is prevented from getting[1673] thick and rancid by the admixture of salt. By making an incision in the bark of the tree, an aromatic odour may be imparted[1674] to the oil. Any other mode of seasoning, such, for instance, as those used with reference to wine, is not at all gratifying to the palate; nor do we find so many varieties in oil as there are in the produce of the grape, there being, in general, but three different degrees of goodness. In fine oil the odour is more penetrating, but even in the very best it is but short-lived.

CHAP. 5. (4.)—THE NATURE OF OLIVE OIL.

It is one of the properties of oil to impart warmth to the body, and to protect it against the action of cold; while at the same time it promotes coolness in the head when heated. The Greeks, those parents of all vices, have abused it by making it minister to luxury, and employing it commonly in the gymnasium: indeed, it is a well-known fact that the governors of those establishments have sold the scrapings[1675] of the oil used there for a sum of eighty thousand sesterces. The majesty of the Roman sway has conferred high honour upon the olive: crowned with it, the troops of the Equestrian order are wont to defile upon the ides of July;[1676] it is used, too, by the victor in the minor triumphs of the ovation.[1677] At Athens, also, they are in the habit of crowning the conqueror with olive; and at Olympia, the Greeks employ the wild olive[1678] for a similar purpose.

CHAP. 6. (5.)—THE CULTURE OF THE OLIVE: ITS MODE OF PRESERVATION. THE METHOD OF MAKING OLIVE OIL.

We will now proceed to mention the precepts given by Cato[1679] in relation to this subject. Upon a warm, rich[1680] soil, he recommends us to sow the greater radius, the Salentina, the orchites, the posia, the Sergian, the Cominian, and the albicera;[1681] but with a remarkable degree of prudence he adds, that those varieties ought to be planted in preference which are considered to thrive best in the neighbouring localities. In a cold[1682] and meagre soil he says that the Licinian olive should be planted; and he informs us that a rich or hot soil has the effect, in this last variety, of spoiling the oil, while the tree becomes exhausted by its own fertility, and is liable to be attacked by a sort of red moss.[1683] He states it as his opinion that the olive grounds ought to have a western aspect, and, indeed, he approves of no other.

(6.) According to him, the best method of preserving olives is to put the orchites and the posia, while green, in a strong brine, or else to bruise them first, and preserve them in mastich oil.[1684] The more bitter the olive, he says, the better the oil; but they should be gathered from the ground the very moment they fall, and washed if they are dirty. He says that three days will be quite sufficient for drying them, and that if it is frosty weather, they should be pressed on the fourth, care being taken to sprinkle them with salt. Olives, he informs us,[1685] lose oil by being kept in a boarded store-room, and deteriorate in quality; the same being the case, too, if the oil is left with the amurca and the pulp,[1686] or, in other words, the flesh of the olive that forms the residue and becomes the dregs. For this reason, he recommends that the oil should be poured off several times in the day, and then put into vessels or cauldrons[1687] of lead, for copper vessels will spoil it, he says. All these operations, however, should be carried on with presses heated and tightly closed,[1688] and exposed to the air as little as possible—for which reason he recommends that wood should never be cut there, the most convenient fuel for the fires being the stones of the berries. From the cauldron the oil should be poured into vats,[1689] in order that the pulp and the amurca may be disengaged in a solidified form: to effect which object the vessels should be changed as often as convenient, while at the same time the osier baskets should be carefully cleaned with a sponge, that the oil may run out in as clean and pure a state as possible.

In later times, the plan has been adopted of invariably crushing the olives in boiling water, and at once putting them whole in the press—a method of effectually extracting the amurca—and then, after crushing them in the oil-press, subjecting them to pressure once more. It is recommended, that not more than one hundred modii should be pressed at one time: the name given to this quantity is “factus,”[1690] while the oil that flows out at the first pressure is called the “flos.”[1691] Four men, working at two presses day and night, ought to be able to press out three factuses of olives.

CHAP. 7. (7.)—FORTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL OILS. THE CICUS-TREE OR CROTON, OR SILI, OR SESAMUM.

In those times artificial oils had not been introduced, and hence it is, I suppose, that we find no mention made of them by Cato; at the present day the varieties are very numerous. We will first speak of those[1692] which are produced from trees, and among them more particularly the wild olive.[1693] This olive is small, and much more bitter than the cultivated one, and hence its oil is only used in medicinal preparations: the oil that bears the closest resemblance to it is that extracted from the chamelæa,[1694] a shrub which grows among the rocks, and not more than a palm in height; the leaves and berries being similar to those of the wild olive. A third oil is that made of the fruit of the cicus,[1695] a tree which grows in Egypt in great abundance; by some it is known as croton, by others as sili, and by others, again, as wild sesamum: it is not so very long since this tree was first introduced here. In Spain, too, it shoots up with great rapidity to the size of the olive-tree, having a stem like that of the ferula, the leaf of the vine, and a seed that bears a resemblance to a small pale grape. Our people are in the habit of calling it “ricinus,”[1696] from the resemblance of the seed to that insect. It is boiled in water,[1697] and the oil that swims on the surface is then skimmed off: but in Egypt, where it grows in a greater abundance, the oil is extracted without employing either fire or water for the purpose, the seed being first sprinkled with salt, and then subjected to pressure: eaten with food this oil is repulsive, but it is very useful for burning in lamps.

Amygdalinum, by some persons known as “metopium,”[1698] is made of bitter almonds dried and beaten into a cake, after which they are steeped in water, and then beaten again. An oil is extracted from the laurel also, with the aid of olive oil. Some persons use the berries only for this purpose, while others, again, employ the leaves[1699] and the outer skin of the berries: some add storax also, and other odoriferous substances. The best kind for this purpose is the broad-leaved or wild laurel,[1700] with a black berry. The oil, too, of the black myrtle is of a similar nature; that with the broad leaf[1701] is reckoned also the best. The berries are first sprinkled with warm water, and then beaten, after which they are boiled: some persons take the more tender leaves, and boil them in olive oil, and then subject them to pressure, while others, again, steep them in oil, and leave the mixture to ripen in the sun. The same method is also adopted with the cultivated myrtle, but the wild variety with small berries is generally preferred; by some it is known as the oxymyrsine, by others as the chamæmyrsine, and by others, again, as the acoron,[1702] from its strong resemblance to that plant, it being short and branching.

An oil is made, too, from the citrus,[1703] and from the cypress; also, from the walnut,[1704] and known by the name of “caryinon,”[1705] and from the fruit of the cedar, being generally known as “pisselæon.”[1706] Oil is extracted from the grain of Cnidos,[1707] the seed being first thoroughly cleaned, and then pounded; and from mastich[1708] also. As to the oil called “cyprinum,”[1709] and that extracted from the Egyptian[1710] berry, we have already mentioned the mode in which they are prepared as perfumes. The Indians, too, are said to extract oils from the chesnut,[1711] sesamum, and rice,[1712] and the Ichthyophagi[1713] from fish. Scarcity of oil for the supply of lamps sometimes compels us to make it from the berries[1714] of the plane-tree, which are first steeped in salt and water.

Œnanthinum,[1715] again, is made from the œnanthe, as we have already stated when speaking of perfumes. In making gleucinum,[1716] must is boiled with olive-oil at a slow heat; some persons, however, do not employ fire in making it, but leave a vessel, filled with oil and must, surrounded with grape husks, for two and twenty days, taking care to stir it twice a day: by the end of that period the whole of the must is imbibed by the oil. Some persons mix with this not only sampsuchum, but perfumes of still greater price: that, too, which is used in the gymnasia is scented with perfumes as well, but those of the very lowest quality. Oils are made, too, from aspalathus,[1717] from calamus,[1718] balsamum,[1719] cardamum,[1720] melilot, Gallic nard, panax,[1721] sampsuchum,[1722] helenium, and root of cinnamomum,[1723] the plants being first left to steep in oil, and then pressed. In a similar manner, too, rhodinum[1724] is made from roses, and juncinum from the sweet rush, bearing a remarkable[1725] resemblance to rose-oil: other oils, again, are extracted from henbane,[1726] lupines,[1727] and narcissus. Great quantities of oil are made in Egypt, too, of radish[1728] seed, or else of a common grass known there as chortinon.[1729] Sesamum[1730] also yields an oil, and so does the nettle,[1731] its oil being known as “cnidinum.”[1732] In other countries, too, an oil is extracted from lilies[1733] left to steep in the open air, and subjected to the influence of the sun, moon, and frosts. On the borders of Cappadocia and Galatia, they make an oil from the herbs of the country, known as “Selgicum,”[1734] remarkably useful for strengthening the tendons, similar, in fact, to that of Iguvium[1735] in Italy. From pitch an oil[1736] is extracted, that is known as “pissinum” it is made by boiling the pitch, and spreading fleeces over the vessels to catch the steam, and then wringing them out: the most approved kind is that which comes from Bruttium, the pitch of that country being remarkably rich and resinous: the colour of this oil is yellow.

There is an oil that grows spontaneously in the maritime parts of Syria, known to us as “elæomeli;”[1737] it is an unctuous substance which distils from certain trees, of a thicker consistency than honey, but somewhat thinner than resin; it has a sweet flavour, and is employed for medicinal purposes. Old olive oil[1738] is of use for some kinds of maladies; it is thought to be particularly useful, too, in the preservation of ivory from decay:[1739] at all events, the statue of Saturn, at Rome, is filled with oil in the interior.

CHAP. 8. (8.)—AMURCA.

But it is upon the praises of amurca[1740] more particularly, that Cato[1741] has enlarged. He recommends that vats and casks[1742] for keeping oil should be first seasoned with it, to prevent them from soaking up the oil; and he tells us that threshing-floors should be well rubbed with it, to keep away ants,[1743] and to prevent any chinks or crannies from being left. The mortar, too, of walls, he says, ought to be seasoned with it, as well as the roofs and floors of granaries; and he recommends that wardrobes should be sprinkled with amurca as a preservative against wood-worms and other noxious insects. He says, too, that all grain of the cereals should be steeped in it, and speaks of it as efficacious for the cure of maladies in cattle as well as trees, and as useful even for ulcerations in the inside and upon the face of man. We learn from him, also, that thongs, all articles made of leather, sandals, and axle-trees used to be anointed with boiled amurca; which was employed also to preserve copper vessels against verdigrease,[1744] and to give them a better colour; as also for the seasoning of all utensils made of wood, as well as the earthen jars in which dried figs were kept, or of sprigs of myrtle with the leaves and berries on, or any other articles of a similar nature: in addition to which, he asserts that wood which has been steeped in amurca will burn without producing a stifling smoke.[1745]

According to M. Varro,[1746] an olive-tree which has been licked by the tongue of the she-goat, or upon which she has browsed when it was first budding,[1747] is sure to be barren. Thus much in reference to the olive and the oils.

CHAP. 9. (9.)—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF FRUIT-TREES AND THEIR NATURES. FOUR VARIETIES OF PINE-NUTS.

The other fruits found on trees can hardly be enumerated, from their diversity in shape and figure, without reference to their different flavours and juices, which have again been modified by repeated combinations and graftings.

(10.) The largest fruit, and, indeed, the one that hangs at the greatest height, is the pine-nut. It contains within a number of small kernels, enclosed in arched beds, and covered with a coat of their own of rusty iron-colour; Nature thus manifesting a marvellous degree of care in providing its seeds with a soft receptacle. Another variety of this nut is the terentina,[1748] the shell of which may be broken with the fingers; and hence it becomes a prey to the birds while still on the tree. A third, again, is known as the “sappinia,[1749]” being the produce of the cultivated pitch-tree: the kernels are enclosed in a skin more than a shell, which is so remarkably soft that it is eaten together with the fruit. A fourth variety is that known as the “pityis;” it is the produce of the pinaster,[1750] and is remarkable as a good specific for coughs. The kernels are sometimes boiled in honey[1751] among the Taurini, who then call them “aquiceli.” The conquerors at the Isthmian games are crowned with a wreath of pine-leaves.

CHAP. 10. (11.)—THE QUINCE. FOUR KINDS OF CYDONIA, AND FOUR VARIETIES OF THE STRUTHEA.

Next in size after these are the fruit called by us “cotonea,”[1752] by the Greeks “Cydonia,”[1753] and first introduced from the island of Crete. These fruit bend the branches with their weight, and so tend to impede the growth of the parent tree. The varieties are numerous. The chrysomelum[1754] is marked with indentations down it, and has a colour inclining to gold; the one that is known as the “Italian” quince, is of a paler complexion, and has a most exquisite smell: the quinces of Neapolis, too, are held in high esteem. The smaller varieties of the quince which are known as the “struthea,”[1755] have a more pungent smell, but ripen later than the others; that called the “musteum,”[1756] ripens the soonest of all. The cotoneum engrafted[1757] on the strutheum, has produced a peculiar variety, known as the “Mulvianum,” the only one of them all that is eaten raw.[1758] At the present day all these varieties are kept shut up in the antechambers of great men,[1759] where they receive the visits of their courtiers; they are hung, too, upon the statues[1760] that pass the night with us in our chambers.

There is a small wild[1761] quince also, the smell of which, next to that of the strutheum, is the most powerful; it grows in the hedges.

CHAP. 11.—SIX VARIETIES OF THE PEACH.

Under the head of apples,[1762] we include a variety of fruits, although of an entirely different nature, such as the Persian[1763] apple, for instance, and the pomegranate, of which, when speaking of the tree, we have already enumerated[1764] nine varieties. The pomegranate has a seed within, enclosed in a skin; the peach has a stone inside. Some among the pears, also, known as “libralia,”[1765] show, by their name, what a remarkable weight they attain.

(12.) Among the peaches the palm must be awarded to the duracinus:[1766] the Gallic and the Asiatic peach are distinguished respectively by the names of the countries of their origin. They ripen at the end of autumn, though some of the early[1767] kinds are ripe in the summer. It is only within the last thirty years that these last have been introduced; originally they were sold at the price of a denarius a piece. Those known as the “supernatia”[1768] come from the country of the Sabines, but the “popularia” grow everywhere. This is a very harmless fruit, and a particular favourite with invalids: some, in fact, have sold before this as high as thirty sesterces apiece, a price that has never been exceeded by any other fruit. This, too, is the more to be wondered at, as there is none that is a worse keeper: for, when it is once plucked, the longest time that it will keep is a couple of days; and so sold it must be, fetch what it may.

CHAP. 12. (13).—TWELVE KINDS OF PLUMS.

Next comes a vast number of varieties of the plum, the parti-coloured, the black,[1769] the white,[1770] the barley[1771] plum—so called, because it is ripe at barley-harvest—and another of the same colour as the last, but which ripens later, and is of a larger size, generally known as the “asinina,”[1772] from the little esteem in which it is held. There are the onychina, too, the cerina,[1773]—more esteemed, and the purple[1774] plum: the Armenian,[1775] also an exotic from foreign parts, the only one among the plums that recommends itself by its smell. The plum-tree grafted on the nut exhibits what we may call a piece of impudence quite its own, for it produces a fruit that has all the appearance of the parent stock, together with the juice of the adopted fruit: in consequence of its being thus compounded of both, it is known by the name of “nuci-pruna.”[1776] Nut-prunes, as well as the peach, the wild plum,[1777] and the cerina, are often put in casks, and so kept till the crop comes of the following year. All the other varieties ripen with the greatest rapidity, and pass off just as quickly. More recently, in Bætica, they have begun to introduce what they call “malina,” or the fruit of the plum engrafted on the apple-tree,[1778] and “amygdalina,” the fruit of the plum engrafted on the almond-tree,[1779] the kernel found in the stone of these last being that of the almond;[1780] indeed, there is no specimen in which two fruits have been more ingeniously combined in one.

Among the foreign trees we have already spoken[1781] of the Damascene[1782] plum, so called from Damascus, in Syria, but introduced long since into Italy; though the stone of this plum is larger than usual, and the flesh smaller in quantity. This plum will never dry so far as to wrinkle; to effect that, it needs the sun of its own native country. The myxa,[1783] too, may be mentioned, as being the fellow-countryman of the Damascene: it has of late been introduced into Rome, and has been grown engrafted upon the sorb.

CHAP. 13.—THE PEACH.

The name of “Persica,” or “Persian apple,” given to this fruit, fully proves that it is an exotic in both Greece as well as Asia,[1784] and that it was first introduced from Persis. As to the wild plum, it is a well-known fact that it will grow anywhere; and I am, therefore, the more surprised that no mention has been made of it by Cato, more particularly as he has pointed out the method of preserving several of the wild fruits as well. As to the peach-tree, it has been only introduced of late years, and with considerable difficulty; so much so, that it is perfectly barren in the Isle of Rhodes, the first resting-place[1785] that it found after leaving Egypt.

It is quite untrue that the peach which grows in Persia is poisonous, and produces dreadful tortures, or that the kings of that country, from motives of revenge, had it transplanted in Egypt, where, through the nature of the soil, it lost all its evil properties—for we find that it is of the “persea”[1786] that the more careful writers have stated all this,[1787] a totally different tree, the fruit of which resembles the red myxa, and, indeed, cannot be successfully cultivated anywhere but in the East. The learned have also maintained that it was not introduced from Persis into Egypt with the view of inflicting punishment, but say that it was planted at Memphis by Perseus; for which reason it was that Alexander gave orders that the victors should be crowned with it in the games which he instituted there in honour of his[1788] ancestor: indeed, this tree has always leaves and fruit upon it, growing immediately upon the others. It must be quite evident to every one that all our plums have been introduced since the time of Cato.[1789]

CHAP. 14. (14.)—THIRTY DIFFERENT KINDS OF POMES. AT WHAT PERIOD FOREIGN FRUITS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, AND WHENCE.

There are numerous varieties of pomes. Of the citron[1790] we have already made mention when describing its tree; the Greeks gave it the name of “Medica,”[1791] from its native country. The jujube[1792]-tree and the tuber[1793] are equally exotics; indeed, they have, both of them, been introduced only of late years into Italy; the latter from Africa, the former from Syria. Sextus Papinius, whom we have seen consul,[1794] introduced them both in the latter years of the reign of Augustus, produced from slips which he had grown within his camp. The fruit of the jujube more nearly resembles a berry than an apple: the tree sets off a terrace[1795] remarkably well, and it is not uncommon to see whole woods of it climbing up to the very roofs of the houses.

Of the tuber there are two varieties; the white, and the one called “syricum,”[1796] from its colour. Those fruits, too, may be almost pronounced exotic which grow nowhere in Italy but in the territory of Verona, and are known as the wool-fruit.[1797] They are covered with a woolly down; this is found, it is true, to a very considerable extent, on both the strutheum variety of quince and the peach, but still it has given its name to this particular fruit, which is recommended to us by no other remarkable quality.

CHAP. 15.—THE FRUITS THAT HAVE BEEN MOST RECENTLY INTRODUCED.

Why should I hesitate to make some mention, too, of other varieties by name, seeing that they have conferred everlasting remembrance on those who were the first to introduce them, as having rendered some service to their fellow-men? Unless I am very much mistaken, an enumeration of them will tend to throw some light upon the ingenuity that is displayed in the art of grafting, and it will be the more easily understood that there is nothing so trifling in itself from which a certain amount of celebrity cannot be ensured. Hence it is that we have fruits which derive their names from Matius,[1798] Cestius, Mallius, and Scandius.[1799] Appius, too, a member of the Claudian family, grafted the quince on the Scandian fruit, in consequence of which the produce is known as the Appian. This fruit has the smell of the quince, and is of the same size as the Scandian apple, and of a ruddy colour. Let no one, however, imagine that this name was merely given in a spirit of flattery to an illustrious family, for there is an apple known as the Sceptian,[1800] which owes its name to the son of a freedman, who was the first to introduce it: it is remarkable for the roundness of its shape. To those already mentioned, Cato[1801] adds the Quirinian and the Scantian varieties, which last, he says, keep remarkably well in large vessels.[1802] The latest kind of all, however, that has been introduced is the small apple known as the Petisian,[1803] remarkable for its delightful flavour: the Amerinian[1804] apple, too, and the little Greek[1805] have conferred renown on their respective countries.

The remaining varieties have received their name from various circumstances—the apples known as the “gemella”[1806] are always found hanging in pairs upon one stalk, like twins, and never growing singly. That known as the “syricum”[1807] is so called from its colour, while the “melapium”[1808] has its name from its strong resemblance to the pear. The “musteum”[1809] was so called from the rapidity with which it ripens; it is the melimelum of the present day, which derives its appellation from its flavour, being like that of honey. The “orbiculatum,”[1810] again, is so called from its shape, which is exactly spherical—the circumstance of the Greeks having called it the “epiroticum” proves that it came originally from Epirus. The orthomastium[1811] has that peculiar appellation from its resemblance to a teat; and the “spadonium”[1812] of the Belgæ is so nicknamed from the total absence of pips. The melofolium[1813] has one leaf, and occasionally two, shooting from the middle of the fruit. That known as the “pannuceum”[1814] shrivels with the greatest rapidity; while the “pulmoneum”[1815] has a lumpish, swollen appearance.

Some apples are just the colour of blood, owing to an original graft of the mulberry; but they are all of them red on the side which is turned towards the sun. There are some small wild[1816] apples also, remarkable for their fine flavour and the peculiar pungency of their smell. Some, again, are so remarkably[1817] sour, that they are held in disesteem; indeed their acidity is so extreme, that it will even take the edge from off a knife. The worst apples of all are those which from their mealiness have received the name of “farinacea;”[1818] they are the first, however, to ripen, and ought to be gathered as soon as possible.

CHAP. 16. (15.)—FORTY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE PEAR.

A similar degree of precocity has caused the appellation of “superbum”[1819] to be given to one species of the pear: it is a small fruit, but ripens with remarkable rapidity. All the world are extremely partial to the Crustumian[1820] pear; and next to it comes the Falernian,[1821] so called from the drink[1822] which it affords, so abundant is its juice. This juice is known by the name of “milk” in the variety which, of a black colour, is by some called the pear of Syria.[1823] The denominations given to the others vary according to the respective localities of their growth. Among the pears, the names of which have been adopted in our city, the Decimian pear, and the Pseudo-Decimian—an offshoot from it—have conferred considerable renown upon the name of those who introduced them. The same is the case, too, with the variety known as the “Dolabellian,”[1824] remarkable for the length of its stalk, the Pomponian,[1825] surnamed the mammosum,[1826] the Licerian, the Sevian, the Turranian, a variety of the Sevian, but distinguished from it by the greater length of the stalk, the Favonian,[1827] a red pear, rather larger than the superbum, together with the Laterian[1828] and the Anician, which come at the end of autumn, and are pleasant for the acidity of their flavour. One variety is known as the “Tiberian,”[1829] from its having been a particular favourite with the Emperor Tiberius; it is more coloured by the sun, and grows to a larger size, otherwise it would be identical with the Licerian variety.

The following kinds receive their respective names from their native countries: the Amerinian,[1830] the latest pear of all, the Picentine, the Numantine, the Alexandrian, the Numidian, the Greek, a variety of which is the Tarentine, and the Signine,[1831] by some called “testaceum,” from its colour, like earthenware; a reason which has also given their respective names to the “onychine”[1832] and the “purple” kinds. Then, again, we have the “myrapium,”[1833] the “laureum,” and the “nardinum,”[1834] so called from the odour they emit; the “hordearium,”[1835] from the season at which it comes[1836] in; and the “ampullaceum,”[1837] so called from its long narrow neck. Those, again, that are known as the “Coriolanian”[1838] and the “Bruttian,” owe their names to the places of their origin; added to which we have the cucurbitinum,[1839] and the “acidulum,” so named from the acidity of its juice. It is quite uncertain for what reason their respective names were given to the varieties known as the “barbaricum” and the “Venerium,”[1840] which last is known also as the “coloratum;”[1841] the royal pear[1842] too, which has a remarkably short stalk, and will stand on its end, as also the patricium, and the voconium,[1843] a green oblong kind. In addition to these, Virgil[1844] has made mention of a pear called the “volema,”[1845] a name which he has borrowed from Cato,[1846] who makes mention also of kinds known as the “sementivum”[1847] and the “musteum.”[1848]

CHAP. 17.—VARIOUS METHODS OF GRAFTING TREES. EXPIATIONS FOR LIGHTNING.

This branch of civilized life has long since been brought to the very highest pitch of perfection, for man has left nothing untried here. Hence it is that we find Virgil[1849] speaking of grafting the nut-tree on the arbutus, the apple on the plane, and the cherry on the elm. Indeed, there is nothing further in this department that can possibly be devised, and it is a long time since any new variety of fruit has been discovered. Religious scruples, too, will not allow of indiscriminate grafting; thus, for instance, it is not permitted to graft upon the thorn, for it is not easy, by any mode of expiation, to avoid the disastrous effects of lightning; and we are told[1850] that as many as are the kinds of trees that have been engrafted on the thorn, so many are the thunderbolts that will be hurled against that spot in a single flash.

The form of the pear is turbinated; the later kinds remain on the parent tree till winter, when they ripen with the frost; such, for instance, as the Greek variety, the ampullaceum, and the laureum; the same, too, with apples of the Amerinian and the Scandian kinds. Apples and pears are prepared for keeping just like grapes, and in as many different ways; but, with the exception of plums, they are the only fruit that are stored in casks.[1851] Apples and pears have certain vinous[1852] properties, and like wine these drinks are forbidden to invalids by the physicians. These fruits are sometimes boiled up with wine and water, and so make a preserve[1853] that is eaten with bread; a preparation which is never made of any other fruit, with the exception of the quinces, known as the “cotoneum” and the “strutheum.”

CHAP. 18. (16.)—THE MODE OF KEEPING VARIOUS FRUITS AND GRAPES.

For the better preserving of fruits it is universally recommended that the storeroom should be situate in a cool, dry spot, with a well-boarded floor, and windows looking towards the north; which in fine weather ought to be kept open. Care should also be taken to keep out the south wind by window panes,[1854] while at the same time it should be borne in mind that a north-east wind will shrivel fruit and make it unsightly. Apples are gathered after the autumnal equinox; but the gathering should never begin before the sixteenth day of the moon, or before the first hour of the day. Windfalls should always be kept separate, and there ought to be a layer of straw, or else mats or chaff, placed beneath. They should, also, be placed apart from each other, in rows, so that the air may circulate freely between them, and they may equally gain the benefit of it. The Amerinian apple is the best keeper, the melimelum the very worst of all.

(17.) Quinces ought to be stored in a place kept perfectly closed, so as to exclude all draughts; or else they should be boiled in honey[1855] or soaked in it. Pomegranates are made hard and firm by being first put in boiling[1856] sea-water, and then left to dry for three days in the sun, care being taken that the dews of the night do not touch them; after which they are hung up, and when wanted for use, washed with fresh water. M. Varro[1857] recommends that they should be kept in large vessels filled with sand: if they are not ripe, he says that they should be put in pots with the bottom broken out, and then buried[1858] in the earth, all access to the air being carefully shut, and care being first taken to cover the stalk with pitch. By this mode of treatment, he assures us, they will attain a larger size than they would if left to ripen on the tree. As for the other kinds of pomes, he says that they should be wrapped up separately in fig-leaves, the windfalls being carefully excluded, and then stored in baskets of osier, or else covered over with potters’ earth.

Pears are kept in earthen vessels pitched inside; when filled, the vessels are reversed and then buried in pits. The Tarentine pear, Varro says, is gathered very late, while the Anician keeps very well in raisin wine. Sorb apples, too, are similarly kept in holes in the ground, the vessel being turned upside down, and a layer of plaster placed on the lid: it should be buried two feet deep, in a sunny spot; sorbs[1859] are also hung, like grapes, in the inside of large vessels, together with the branches.

Some of the more recent authors are found to pay a more scrupulous degree of attention to these various particulars, and recommend that the gathering of grapes or pomes, which are intended for keeping, should take place while the moon is on the wane,[1860] after the third hour of the day, and while the weather is clear, or dry winds prevail. In a similar manner, the selection, they say, ought to be made from a dry spot, and the fruit should be plucked before it is fully ripe, a moment being chosen while the moon is below the horizon. Grapes, they say, should be selected that have a strong, hard mallet-stalk, and after the decayed berries have been carefully removed with a pair of scissors, they should be hung up inside of a large vessel which has just been pitched, care being taken to close all access to the south wind, by covering the lid with a coat of plaster. The same method, they say, should be adopted for keeping sorb apples and pears, the stalks being carefully covered with pitch; care should be taken, too, that the vessels are kept at a distance from water.

There are some persons who adopt the following method for preserving grapes. They take them off together with the branch, and place them, while still upon it, in a layer of plaster,[1861] taking care to fasten either end of the branch in a bulb of squill.[1862] Others, again, go so far as to place them within vessels containing wine, taking care, however, that the grapes, as they hang, do not touch it. Some persons put apples in plates of earth, and then leave them to float in wine, a method by which it is thought that a vinous flavour is imparted to them: while some think it a better plan to preserve all these kinds of fruit in millet. Most people, however, content themselves with first digging a hole in the ground, a couple of feet in depth; a layer of sand is then placed at the bottom, and the fruit is arranged upon it, and covered with an earthen lid, over which the earth is thrown. Some persons again even go so far as to give their grapes a coating of potters’ chalk, and then hang them up when dried in the sun; when required for use, the chalk is removed with water.[1863] Apples are also preserved in a similar manner; but with them wine is employed for getting off the chalk. Indeed, we find a very similar plan pursued with apples of the finest quality; they have a coating laid upon them of either plaster or wax; but they are apt, if not quite ripe when this was done, by the increase in their size to break their casing.[1864] When apples are thus prepared, they are always laid with the stalk downwards.[1865] Some persons pluck the apple together with the branch, the ends of which they thrust into the pith of elder,[1866] and then bury it in the way already pointed out.[1867] There are some who assign to each apple or pear its separate vessel of clay, and after carefully pitching the cover, enclose it again in a larger vessel: occasionally, too, the fruit is placed on a layer of flocks of wool, or else in baskets,[1868] with a lining of chaff and clay. Other persons follow a similar plan, but use earthen plates for the purpose; while others, again, employ the same method, but dig a hole in the earth, and after placing a layer of sand, lay the fruit on top of it, and then cover the whole with dry earth. Persons, too, are sometimes known to give quinces a coating of Pontic[1869] wax, and then plunge them in honey.

Columella[1870] informs us, that fruit is kept by being carefully put in earthen vessels, which then receive a coating of pitch, and are placed in wells or cisterns to sink to the bottom. The people of maritime Liguria, in the vicinity of the Alps, first dry their grapes in the sun,[1871] and wrap them up in bundles of rushes, which are then covered with plaster. The Greeks follow a similar plan, but substitute for rushes the leaves of the plane-tree, or of the vine itself, or else of the fig, which they dry for a single day in the shade, and then place in a cask in alternate layers with husks[1872] of grapes. It is by this method that they preserve the grapes of Cos and Berytus, which are inferior to none in sweetness. Some persons, when thus preparing them, plunge the grapes into lie-ashes the moment they take them from the vine, and then dry them in the sun; they then steep them in warm water, after which they put them to dry again in the sun: and last of all, as already mentioned, wrap them up in bundles formed of layers of leaves and grape husks. There are some who prefer keeping their grapes in sawdust,[1873] or else in shavings of the fir-tree, poplar, and ash: while others think it the best plan to hang them up in the granary, at a careful distance from the apples, directly after the gathering, being under the impression that the very best covering for them as they hang is the dust[1874] that naturally arises from the floor. Grapes are effectually protected against the attacks of wasps by being sprinkled with oil[1875] spirted from the mouth. Of palm-dates we have already spoken.[1876]

CHAP. 19. (18.)—TWENTY-NINE VARIETIES OF THE FIG.