176 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOHY. [Book XIX. 



roasted on hot coals ; if this is done, he says, the strong smell 

 of the garlic will be effectually neutralized. Some persons are of 

 opinion, that the proper period for planting garlic and ulpicum 

 is between the festival of the Compitalia 71 and that of the 

 Saturnalia. 72 Garlic, too, can be grown from seed, but it is 

 very slow, in such case, in coming to maturity ; for in the first 

 year, the head attains the size only of that of a leek, in the 

 second, it separates into cloves, and only in the third it arrives 

 at maturity ; there are some, however, who think that garlic 

 grown this way is the best. Garlic should never be allowed 

 to run to seed, but the stalk should be twisted, to promote its 

 growth, and to make the head attain a larger size. 



If garlic or onions are wanted to keep some time, the heads 

 should be dipped in salt water, made luke-warm ; by doing 

 this, they will be all the better for keeping, though quite 

 worthless for reproduction. Some persons content themselves 

 with hanging them over burning coals, and are of opinion that 

 this is quite sufficient to prevent them from sprouting : for it 

 is a well-known fact, that both garlic and onions sprout when 

 out of the ground, and that after throwing out their thin shoots 

 they shrivel away to nothing. Some persons are of opinion, 

 too, that the best way of keeping garlic is by storing it in chaff. 

 There is a kind 73 of garlic that grows spontaneously in the 

 fields, and is known by the name of " alum." To preserve 

 the seeds that are sown there from the remorseless ravages of 

 the birds, this plant is scattered over the ground, being first 

 boiled, to prevent it from shooting. As soon as ever they have 

 eaten of it, the birds become so stupefied as to be taken with 

 the hand even, 74 and if they remain but a few moments only 

 on the spot, they fall fast asleep. There is a wild garlic, 

 too, generally known as " bear's" garlic ; 75 it has exactly the 

 smell of millet, with a very small head and large leaves. 



71 Second of May. 72 Seventeenth of December. 



73 The Alii urn oleraceum of Linnaeus. 



71 Fee refuses credence to this story. 



75 <t Ursinum." The Allium ursinum of Linnams. Instead, however, 

 of having the comparatively mild smell of millet, its odour is powerful ; so 

 much so, as to impart a strong flavour to the milk of the cows that eat of 

 it. It is very common, Fee says, in nearly every part of France. 



