Chap. 43.] LUCERNE. 53 



states, also, that it is a still better plan to mix some Greek oats 9 * 

 with it, the grain of which never falls to the ground ; this mix- 

 ture, according to him, was ocinum, and was usually sown as a 

 food for oxen. Varro l informs us that it received its name 

 on account of the celerity with which it springs up, from the 

 Greek wxiwg, " quickly." 



CHAP. 43. LUCERNE. 



Lucerne' is by nature an exotic to Greece even, it having 

 been first introduced into that country from Media, 3 at the time 

 of the Persian wars with King Darius ; still it deserves to be 

 mentioned among the very first of these productions. So su- 

 perior are its qualities, that a single sowing will last more 

 than thirty 4 years. It resembles trefoil in appearance, but the 

 stalk and leaves are articulated. The longer it grows in the 

 stalk, the narrower is the leaf. Amphilochus has devoted a 

 whole book to this subject and the cytisus. 6 The ground in 

 which it is sown, being first cleaned and cleared of stones, is 

 turned up in the autumn, after which it is ploughed and har- 

 rowed. It is then harrowed a second and a third time, at in- 

 tervals of five days ; after which manure is laid upon it. This 

 seed requires either a soil that is dry, but full of nutriment, or 

 else a well-watered one. After the ground has been thus pre- 

 pared, the seed is put in in the month of May ; 6 for if sown 

 earlier, it is in danger from the frosts. It is necessary to sow 

 the seed very thick, so that all the ground may be occupied, 

 and no room left for weeds to shoot up in the intervals ; a 

 result which may be secured by sowing twenty modii to the 

 jugerum. The seed must be stirred at once with the rake, to 

 prevent the sun from scorching it, and it should be covered 

 over with earth as speedily as possible. If the soil is naturally 

 damp or weedy, the lucerne will be overpowered, and the spot 



99 Fee suggests that this may be the Avena sterilis, or else the Avena 

 fatua of Linnaeus. 



1 De Re Rust. B. i. c. 31. 



2 " Medica," in Latin, a kind of clover, the Medicago sativa of Linnaeus, 



3 Fee is inclined to doubt this. 



4 Pliny exggerates here : Columella, B. ii. c. 11, says, only "ten :" a 

 field, however, sown with it will last, with a fresh sowing, as long as 

 twenty years. 



5 See B. xiii. c. 47. 



6 Columella, B. ii. c. 11, says April. 



