[2888] It has the effect of augmenting their fruitfulness, and ameliorating the quality of the fruit. Lime is still considered an excellent improver for strong, humid soils.
[2889] From this passage, Fée thinks that the Columbine marl must have been of the white, slightly sparkling kind.
[2890] Though ashes fertilize the ground, more particularly when of an argillaceous nature, they are not so extensively used now as in ancient times. Pliny alludes here more particularly to wood and dunghill ashes.
[2891] This, however, he omits to do.
[2892] He alludes, probably, to Theophrastus, De Causis, B. iii. c. 22.
[2893] Odyssey xxiv. 225.
[2894] From “stercus,” “dung.” A fabulous personage, most probably.
[2895] De Re Rust. i. 38.
[2896] De Re Rust. ii. 15.
[2897] Mixed with other manures, it is employed at the present day in Normandy.