164 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIX. 



ticularly, that is looked at ; in those which are acrid to the 

 taste, for instance, it is rounder and thicker than in the others, 

 and grooved with long channels, while the leaves are more un- 

 sightly to the eye, "being angular and covered with prickles. 



The radish requires to be sown in a loose, humid soil, has a 

 great aversion to manure, and is content with a dressing solely 

 of chaff: so fond is it of the cold, that in Germany it is known 

 to grow as large as an infant in size. 98 For the spring crop, 

 it is sown immediately after the ides of February ;" and then 

 again about the time of the Vulcanalia, 1 this last crop being 

 looked upon as the best : many persons, however, sow radishes 

 in March, April, and September. When the plant begins to 

 grow to any size, it is considered a good plan to cover up the 

 leaves successively, and to earth up the root as well ; for the 

 part of it which appears above ground is apt to become hard 

 and pithy. Aristomachus recommends the leaves to be taken 

 off in winter, and the roots to be well moulded up, to prevent 

 the water from accumulating about them ; and he says, that 

 by using these precautions, they will be all the finer in summer. 

 Some authors have mentioned a plan of making a hole with a 

 dibble, and covering it at the bottom with a layer of chaff, six 

 fingers in depth ; upon this layer the seed is put, and then 

 covered over with manure and earth ; the result of which is, 

 according to their statement, that radishes are obtained full as 

 large as the hole so made. It is salt, however, that conduces 

 more particularly to their nutriment, and hence it is that they are 

 often watered with brine ; in Egypt, too, the growers sprinkle 

 nitre 2 over them, the roots being remarkable for their mildness 

 The salt, too, has the similar effect of removing all their pun- 

 gency, and when thus treated, they become very similar in 

 their qualities to radishes that have been boiled : for when 

 boiled they become sweet and mild, and eat, in fact, just like 

 turnips. 



98 Fee suggests that he is here speaking of the beet-root, in reality a 

 native of the north of Europe. 



99 Thirteenth of February. 



1 The festival of Vulcan, beginning on the twenty-third of August, and 

 lasting eight days. 



2 A natural production, the carbonate of sodium of the chemists, known 

 from time immemorial by the name of "natron." See B. xxx. c. 46; 

 from which passage it would appear that it was generally employed for 

 watering the leguminous plants. 



