[996] The Raphanus sativus of Linnæus. This passage, however, down to “crisped leaf,” properly applies to the cabbage, and not the radish, Pliny having copied the Greek, and taken the word ῥάφανος, properly “cabbage,” to mean “radish;” which in the later Greek writers it sometimes does, though not in this instance.
[997] Mount Algidus was near Tusculum, fifteen miles from Rome. Its coldness contributed greatly to the goodness of its radishes.
[998] Or “wild.” Fée suggests that this is the Raphanus rusticanus of Lobellius, the Cochlearia Armoracia of Linnæus, the wild radish, or horse-radish.
[999] Or “white.” From the extreme whiteness of the roots.
[1000] Probably meaning, “radish of Armorica.”
[1001] Fée suggests that he is here speaking of the beet-root, in reality a native of the north of Europe.
[1002] Thirteenth of February.
[1003] The festival of Vulcan, beginning on the twenty-third of August, and lasting eight days.
[1004] A natural production, the carbonate of sodium of the chemists, known from time immemorial by the name of “natron.” See B. xxx. c. 46; from which passage it would appear that it was generally employed for watering the leguminous plants.
[1005] Dioscorides recommends these puerilities with the cabbage, and not the radish; though Celsus gives similar instructions with reference to the radish.