14 



or fourth year, you may pluck them close by the Root ; if you 

 break them off they yield side shoots, and some will die. You 

 may take them until they run to seed. The seed is ripe in 

 Autumn. When you have gathered the seed, burn the haulm, 

 and when the plants begin to shoot, weed and manure. After 

 eight or nine years when the beds are old, lay out a sjiot, work 

 and manure it well, then make drills where you may plant 

 some roots ; set them well apart that you may dig between 

 them. Take care that they may not be injured. Carry as 

 much sheep's dung as you can on the beds, it is best for this 

 purpose ; other manures produce weeds,"* 



It is certain they took great delight in cultivating their grounds, 

 and not only improved under the best of masters — Practice, but 

 consulted the ancient writers then extant upon the subject. When 

 as the result of such attention and study the grounds of C. Fu- 

 rius Cresinus produced larger crops than even the more extensive 

 ones of his less assiduous neighbours, he was publicly accused of 

 making use of msgical arts, Cresinus presented his tools before 

 the Senate, " These, Quirites, he exclaimed, are my magic im- 

 plements ; but I cannot exhibit in this Forum the cares, tho toils, 

 the anxious thoughts, that employ me during the day, and ever 

 my lamp^t 



It still further appears that in the time of the later Empe- 

 rors, the Romans had become acquainted with the most diffi- 

 cult branch of Kitchen Garden practice, Forcing. A still fur- 

 ther evidence of their Horticultural skill. Cucumbers were 

 the principal subjects of forcing. The Emperor Tiberius was 

 exceedingly fond of them, and by artificial means had them in 

 perfection throughout the year. They were grown in large 

 baskets of dung covered with Earth, and were sholtered dur- 

 ing cold days by means of thin plates of Lapis Specularia, 



y 

 ♦ Offen-> Translat. of Cato's do Re Rustica, p. 14S. s. 1(51, 

 t Pliny, xviii. c. tf. 



