202 PLTN^T'S natural history. [Book XIX. 



planted, grow all the better and larger for it, leeks and turnips 

 more particularly. Transplanting, too, is attended with cer- 

 tain remedial effects, and acts as a preservative to certain plants, 

 such as scallions, for instance, leeks, radishes, parsley, lettuces, 

 rape, and cucumbers. All the wild plants*^ are generally 

 smaller in the leaf and stalk than the cultivated ones, and have 

 more acrid juices, cunila, wild marjoram, and rue, for example. 

 Indeed, it is only the lapathum*' that is better in a wild state 

 than cultivated : in its cultivated state it is the same plant 

 that is known to us as the **rumix," being the most vigorous^^ 

 by far of all the plants that are grown ; so much so, indeed, 

 that it is said that when it has once taken root, it will last for 

 ever, and can never be extirpated from the soil, more particu- 

 larly if water happens to be near at hand. Its juices, whicli 

 are employed only in ptisans,^^ as an article of food, have the 

 effect of imparting to them a softer and more exquisite flavour. 

 Tlie wild variety °^ is employed for many medicinal purposes. 



So true it is, that the careful research of man has omitted 

 nothing, that I have even met with a poem,^' in which I find 

 it stated, that if pellets of goats' dung, the size of a bean, are 

 hollowed out, and the seed of leeks, rocket, lettuces, parsley, 

 endive, and cresses is inserted in them, and then sown, tlie 

 l)lants will thrive in a marvellous degree. Plants °- in a wild 

 state, it is generally thought, are more dry and acrid than when 

 cultivated. 



CHAP. 61. THE JUICES AND FLAVOURS OF GARDEN HEKBS. 



This, too, reminds me that I ought to make some mention 

 of tlie difference between the juices and flavours of the garden 

 herbs, a difference which is more perceptible here than in the 

 fruits even.^ In cunila, for instance, wild maijoram, cresses, 

 and mustard, the flavour is acrid; in wormwood^* and cen- 



^^ These statements are consistent witli modern experience. 



*^ See B. XX. c. 85. 



*^ lie says this probably in reference partly to the large' leaves which , 

 cliaracterize tlie varieties of dock. 



*9 Dishes made of rice or barley. See B. xviii. c. 13 



5" See B. XX. c. 85. 



51 He does not give the name of the poet, bat, as Fee says, we do not 

 experience any great loss thereby. 



^- From Theophrastus, Hist. Pliint, B. vii. c. 6. 



a3 See B. XV. c. 32. ^^ " Absinthium." See B. xxvii. c. 28. 



