THE GARDENS OF EPICURUS 41 



the garden will allow ; and after all, where the soil 

 about you is ill, the air is so too in a degree, and has 

 influence upon the taste of fruit. What Horace says 

 of the productions of kitchen-gardens under the name 

 of Cau/isy is true of all the best sorts of fruits, and 

 may determine the choice of soil for all gardens. 



Caule suburbano qui siccus crevit in agris 

 Dulcior, irriguis nihil est elutius hortis. 



Plants from dry fields those of the town excel, 

 Nothing more tasteless is than watered grounds. 



Any man had better throw away his care and his 

 money upon anything else, than upon a garden in wet 

 or moist ground. Peaches and grapes will have no 

 taste but upon a sand or gravel ; but the richer these 

 are, the better ; and neither salads, peas or beans, have 

 at all the taste upon a clay or rich earth, as they have 

 upon either of the others, though the size and colour of 

 fruits and plants may, perhaps, be more upon the worse 

 soils. 



Next to your choice of soil, is to suit your plants to 

 your ground, since of this every one is not master ; 

 though perhaps Varro's judgment upon this case is 

 the wisest and the best ; for to one that asked him, 

 what he should do if his father or ancestors had left 

 him a seat in an ill air, or upon an ill soil ? He 



