The Megaréans, in whose country melons, gourds,[[1432]] and cucumbers were plentiful, were accustomed to heap dust about their roots during the prevalence of the Etesian winds, and found this answer of[of] irrigation.[[1433]] It appears from the following proverb,—“The end of cucumbers and the beginning of pompions,”—that the former went out of season as the latter came in.[[1434]]
To procure a plentiful crop of asparagus, they used to bury the shavings of a wild ram’s horn, and well water them.[[1435]] By banking up the stalks, moreover, immediately after cutting the heads, they caused new shoots to spring forth, and thus enjoyed a fresh supply throughout the year. This plant was probably obtained from Libya,[[1436]] where it was said to attain, in its wild state, the height of twelve, and sometimes even of thirty cubits;[[1437]] and on the slopes of Lebanon, in Syria, it has in our own clay been seen from twelve to fifteen feet high.
That kind of cabbage which we call savoys was supposed to flourish best in saline spots, on which account the gardeners used to sift pounded nitre[[1438]] over the beds where it was sown, as was the practice also in Egypt. In and about Alexandria,[[1439]] however, there was said to be some peculiar quality in the earth which communicated a bitter taste to the cabbage. To prevent this they imported cabbage-seed from the island of Rhodes, which produced good plants the first year, but experienced in the second the acrid influence of the soil.[[1440]] Kumè was celebrated for its fine cabbages, which, when full-grown, were of a yellowish green colour, like the new leather sole of a sandal. Broccoli and sea-kale and cauliflowers would appear to have been commonly cultivated in the gardens of the ancients. There was, likewise, among them a sort of cabbage supposed to have some connexion with the gift of prophecy;[[1441]] and by this, probably, it was, that certain comic personages used to swear, as Socrates by the dog, and Zeno by the caper-bush.
Radishes[[1442]] were rendered sweet by steeping the seeds in wine and honey, or the fresh juice of grapes: Nicander speaks of preserved turnips.[[1443]] Parsley-seed was put into the earth in an old rag, or a wisp of straw,[[1444]] surrounded with manure, and well-watered, which made the plant grow large. Rue they sowed in warm and sunny spots, without manure.[[1445]] It was defended from the cold of winter by being surrounded with heaps of ashes,[[1446]] and was sometimes planted in pots, probably to be kept in apartments for the sake of its bright yellow flowers,[[1447]] and because, when smelt, it was said to cure the head-ache. The juice of wild rue, mixed with woman’s milk, sharpened the sight, in the opinion of the ancients.[[1448]] The juice of sweet mint, which was a garden herb, squeezed into milk,[[1449]] was supposed to prevent coagulation, even should rennet be afterwards thrown into it.
Both the root and bean of the nymphæa nelumbo or red lotus,[[1450]] were eaten in Egypt,[[1451]] where its crimson flowers were woven into crowns which diffused an agreeable odour, and were considered exceedingly refreshing in the heat of summer.[[1452]] This plant was by the Greeks of Naucratis denominated the melilotus, to distinguish it from the lotus with white flowers. Theophrastus[[1453]] observes, that it grows in the marshes to the height of four cubits, and has a striped root and stem. This lotus was also anciently found in Syria and Cilicia, but did not there ripen. In the environs of Toronè in Chalcidice,[[1454]] however, it was found in perfection in a small marsh.
The lupin,[[1455]] and the caper-bush, probably cultivated for the beauty of its delicate white flowers,[[1456]] deteriorated in gardens,[[1457]] as did likewise the mallows,[[1458]] which, together with the beet, were said to acquire in gardens the height of a small tree.[[1459]] The stem of the mallows was sometimes used as a walking stick. Its large pale red flower which
Follows with its bending head the sun,[[1460]]
constituted one of the ornaments of the garden.
Besides these the ancients usually cultivated in their grounds two species of cistus, one with pale red flowers now called the long rose, the other which about midsummer has on its leaves a sort of fatty dew, of which laudanum is made;[[1461]] together with the blue eringo,[[1462]] rocket, cresses, (which were planted in ridges,) bastard parsley, penny-royal, anis,[[1463]] water-mint, sea-onions, monk’s rhubarb, purslain, a leaf of which placed under the tongue quenched thirst, garden coriander, hellebore, yellow, red, and white, bush origany,[[1464]] with its pink cones, flame-coloured fox-glove, brank-ursine, or bear’s foot, admired for its vast pyramid of white flowers, chervil, skirwort, the mournful elecampane, giant fennel, dill, mustard and wake-robin, which was sown,
Soon as the punic tree, whose numerous grains,