190 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIX. 



it in heaps in small trenches, after steeping it a considerable 

 time in manure ; the result of which is that the roots become 

 matted, and form into spongy tufts, which are planted out at 

 intervals of a foot after the autumnal equinox, the plants con- 

 tinuing to be productive so long as ten years even. There is 

 no soil more favourable to the growth of asparagus, than that 

 of the gardens of Ravenna. 52 



We have already 53 spoken of the corruda, by which term I 

 mean the wild asparagus, by the Greeks called " orminos," or 

 " myacanthos," as well as by other names. I find it stated, that 

 if rams' horns are pounded, and then buried in the ground, 

 asparagus will come up. 54 



CHAP. 43. THISTLES. 



It really might have been thought that I had now given an 

 account of all the vegetable productions that are held in any 

 degree of esteem, did there not still remain one plant, the 

 cultivation of which is extremely profitable, and of which I 

 am unable to speak without a certain degree of shame. For 

 it is a well-known fact, that some small plots of land, planted 

 with thistles, 55 in the vicinity of Great Carthage and of Cor- 

 duba more particularly, produce a yearly income of six thousand 

 sesterces j 56 this being the way in which we make the mon- 

 strous productions even of the earth subservient to our glut- 

 tonous appetites, and that, too, when the very four-footed 

 brutes 57 instinctively refuse to touch them. 



Thistles are grown two different ways, from plants set in 

 autumn, and from seed sown before the nones of March ; 58 in 

 which latter case they are transplanted before the ides of No- 

 vember, 59 or, where the site is a cold one, about the time that 

 the west winds prevail. They are sometimes manured even, 



52 On the contrary, Martial says that the asparagus of Ravenna was no 

 better than so much wild asparagus. 



53 In B. xvi. c. 67. See also c. 19 of this Book. 



54 Dioscorides mentions this absurdity, but refuses to credit it. 



55 Probably the artichoke, the Cinara scolymus of Linuseus. See fur- 

 ther on this subject, B. xx. c. 99. 



56 About 24 sterling. " Sestertia" has been suggested, which would 

 make the sum a thousand times as much. 



57 The ass, of course, excepted, which is fond of thistles. 



53 Seventh of March. 59 Thirteenth of November. 



