Chap. 39.] OEDEE OF THE PRODUCTION OF PLANTS. '370 



arranged, in the box, concave, and, upon the apple, scattered 

 without any order or regularity. In the apple and the pear 

 we find several leaves issuing from the same stalk, and in the 

 elm and the cytisus 71 they are covered with ramified veins. 

 To the above particulars Cato 72 adds that the leaves of the 

 poplar and the quercus should not be given to cattle after they 

 have fallen and become withered, and he recommends the 

 leaves of the fig, 73 the holm-oak, and the ivy for oxen: the 

 leaves, too, of the reed and the laurel are sometimes given 

 them to eat. The leaves of the service-tree fall all at once, 

 but in the others only by degrees. Thus much in reference 

 to the leaves. 



CHAP. 39. (25.)— THE NATUKAL OBDEE 0E THE PBODUCTION OF 



PLANTS. 



The following is the order in which the operations of Na- 

 ture take place throughout the year. The first is fecundation, 

 which takes place when the west wind begins to prevail, gene- 

 rally about the sixth day before the ides of February. 74 By 

 the agency of this wind all the productions of the earth are 

 impregnated ; to such an extent, indeed, that the mares even 

 in Spain are impregnated by it, as we have already stated. 75 

 This is the generating principle of the universe, and it re- 

 ceives its name of Favonius, as some think, from^our word 

 "fovere," which means "to warm and cherish:" it blows 

 from due west at the opening of the spring. The peasantry 

 call this period of the year the " time of heat," 76 because Na- 

 ture is then longing to receive the seeds of her various pro- 

 ductions, and is imparting life to everything that is planted. 

 The vegetables conceive 77 on various days, each according to 



7 l The leaves of the elm and the tree supposed to be identical with the 

 cytisus,of the ancients have no characteristics in common. See B. xiii. 

 c. 47, and the Notes. 



« Ue he Rust. cc. 5, 30, 45. . 



73 Very inappropriate food for cattle, it would appear: the fig leaf being 

 charged with a corrosive milky juice ; the leaf of the holm oak, hard and 

 leathery ; and that of the ivy, bitter and nauseous in the highest di gree. 



7i Eighth of February. 75 See B. viii. c. 67. 



7 6 Catlitio. 



"7 He alludes to the period of the rising of the sap ; an entirely dis- 

 tinct process from germination. 



