1!>S PLINY's XATUiiAL HISTOUT. [Book XIX. 



and tlie Athenians on the slopes of Hymettiis. Sisyinln-iiini, 

 too, is phiuted in a siniihir manner; it grows to the greatest 

 perfection upon the walls of wells, and around fish preserves 

 and ponds. ^" 



CHAP. 56. (9.) — FOUR KINDS OF FERFLICEOUS PLANTS. HF.MP. 



The other garden plants are of the ferulaceous kind, such as 

 fennel, for instance, very grateful to serpents, as already 

 stated,'^ and used for numerous seasonings when dried ; thapsia, 

 loo, which bears a close reseml>lance to fennel, and already 

 mentioned by us when speaking'® of the exotic shrubs. Then, 

 too, there is hemp,^ a plant remarkably useful for making 

 ropes, and usually sown after the west winds liave begun to 

 prevail : the more thickly it is sown, the thinner are the 

 stalks. The seed is gathered when ripe, just after the autumnal 

 equinox, and is dried by the agency of the sun, the wind, or 

 smoke. -^ The hemp itself is plucked just after vintage-time, 

 and is peeled and cleaned by the labourers at night. 



The best hemp is that of Alabanda,^- which is used more 

 particularly for making hunting-nets, and of which there are 

 three varieties. The hemp which lies nearest the bark or the 

 pith is the least valuable, while that which lies in the middle, 

 and hence has the name of ** mesa," is the most esteemed. 

 The hemp of Mylasa^ occupies the second rank. With re- 

 ference to the size to which it grows, that of Rosea, -^* in the 

 ISabine territory, equals the trees in height.-* 



We have already mentioned two kinds of fennel-giant when 

 speaking-^ of the exotic slirubs : the seed of it is used in Italy 

 for food ; the plant, too, admits of being preserved, and, if 

 stored in earthen pots, will keep for a whole year. There are 



'" The plants. Fee says, that we find in these localities, are nearly 

 always ft-rns. or else Marchantia, or mosses of the genus Hypnuni. Fee 

 queries wlietlier one of these may not have been the sisymbrium of Pliny. 

 Water-cresses, again, have been suggested. 



18 In B. viii. c. 41. The Anaethu'm Iceniculum of Linnaeus. 



'9 In H xiii. c. 42. 



^ The Cannabis sativa of Linnseus. See B. xx. c. 97. 



" Ilemp-soed is never smoke-dried now. 



*• See 13. v. c 29. The same hemp is mentioned as being used for 

 making hunting-nets, by Grutius, in the Cvne^eticon. 



" See B. V. c. 29. "-^' See B. iiu c. 17, and B. xvii. c. 3 



'* This, as Fee says, is no doubt erroneous. It is seldom known to at- 

 tain a couple of inches in circumference. " j^ g^ ^[[i q^ 42. 



