CHAP. 69.—TREES IN ADDITION TO THE WILLOW, WHICH ARE OF USE IN MAKING WITHES.
Cato[2640] considers the culture of the willow as deserving to hold the third rank in estimation, and he gives it precedence to the cultivation of the olive, tillage for corn, or laying out land for pasture. It is not, however, because the willow is the only tree that produces withes; for they may be procured also from the broom, the poplar, the elm, the blood-red cornel, the birch, and the reed itself when split, or else the leaves of that plant, as we know to be the case in Liguria. The vine, also, will furnish them; the bramble, too, with the thorns removed, as well as the twisted hazel. It is a very singular thing, that a wood after it has been beaten and pounded should be found all the stronger for making withes, but such is a striking peculiarity that exists in the willow. The Greek red[2641] willow is split for this purpose: while the willow[2642] of Ameria is whiter but more brittle, for which reason it is used in an uncut state for tying. In Asia there are three varieties known of the willow; the black[2643] willow, which is best adapted for making withes, the white willow, employed for various agricultural purposes, and a third, which is shorter than the others, and known as the helix.[2644]
With us, also, there is the same number of denominations given to as many varieties of the willow; one being known as the viminal or purple willow,[2645] another as the nitelina,[2646] from its resemblance to the colour of the nitela, thinner in the trunk than the preceding one, and the third as the Gallic[2647] kind, being the thinnest of them all.
CHAP. 70.—RUSHES: CANDLE-RUSHES: RUSHES FOR THATCHING.
The rush,[2648] so frail in form, and growing in marshy spots, cannot be reckoned as belonging to the shrubs, nor yet to the brambles or the stalk plants; nor, indeed, in strict justice, to any of the classes of plants except one that is peculiarly its own. It is extensively used for making thatch and matting, and, with the outer coat taken off, for making candles and funeral torches. In some places, however, the rush is more hard and firm: thus, for instance, it is employed not only by the sailors on the Padus for making the sails of boats, but for the purposes of sea-fishing as well, by the fishermen of Africa, who, in a most preposterous manner, hang the sails made of it behind the masts.[2649] The people, too, of Mauritania thatch their cottages[2650] with rushes; indeed, if we look somewhat closely into the matter, it will appear that the rush is held in pretty nearly the same degree of estimation there as the papyrus is in the inner regions of the world.[2651]
CHAP. 71.—THE ELDER: THE BRAMBLE.
Of a peculiar nature, too, though to be reckoned among the water[2652]-plants, is the bramble, a shrub-like plant, and the elder, which is of a spongy nature, though not resembling giant fennel, from having upon it a greater quantity of wood. It is a belief among the shepherds that if they cut a horn or trumpet from the wood of this tree, it will give all the louder sound if cut in a spot where the shrub has been out of hearing of the crowing of the cock. The bramble bears mulberries,[2653] and one variety of it, known as the cynosbatos,[2654] bears a flower similar to the rose. There is a third variety, known to the Greeks as the Idæan[2655] bramble, from the place where it grows: it is slighter than the others, with smaller thorns, and not so hooked. Its flower, mixed with honey, is employed as an ointment for sore eyes and erysipelas: and an infusion of it in water is used for diseases of the stomach.[2656]
The elder[2657] bears a small black berry, which contains a viscous juice, employed more particularly for staining[2658] the hair. The berries, too, are boiled in water and eaten.[2659]
CHAP. 72. (38.)—THE JUICES OF TREES.
There is a juice in the bark of trees, which must be looked upon as their blood, though it is not of a similar nature in all. In the fig it is of a milky consistency, and has the peculiar property of curdling milk, and so forming cheese.[2660] In the cherry-tree this juice is gummy, in the elm clammy, in the apple viscous and fatty, while in the vine and the pear it is watery. The more viscous this humour is, the more long-lived the tree. In a word, we find in the bodies of trees—as with all other beings that are animated—skin, blood, flesh, sinews, veins, bones, and marrow; the bark serving them in place of skin. It is a singular fact connected with the mulberry-tree, that when the medical men wish to extract its juice, if the incision is lightly made, by a blow with a stone, and at the second hour of the day in spring, the juice will flow: but if, on the other hand, a wound is inflicted to any depth, it has all the appearance of being dried up.