BOOK VIII 



Or HERBACEOUS PLANTS :" CEREALS, PULSES, AND 'SUMMER 

 CROPS.' 



Of the three, classes and the times of sowiwj and of germination. 



I. Let the above suffice for an account of the other 

 herbaceous 1 plants ; let us now discuss corn and 

 corn-like plants in the same manner as those already 

 treated ; for this class of herbaceous plants we 

 reserved. 



2 'There are two principal classes ; there are the 

 corn-like plants such as wheat barley one-seeded 

 wheat rice-wheat and the others which resemble 

 either of the first two ; and again there are the 

 leguminous plants, as bean chick-pea pea, and in 

 general those to which the name of pulses is 

 given. Besides these there is a third class, which 

 includes millet 3 Italian millet, sesame and in 

 general the plants which belong to the summer 

 seed-time/ which lack any common designation. 



There is only one single way of propagating these ; 

 they grow from seed, except that some may grow 

 rarely and scantily from a root. There are two 

 seasons for sowing most of them ; the first and 

 most important is about the setting of the Pleiad 5 ; 

 this rule we find even Hesiod 6 following with 



4 cf. 8. 7. 3. 



5 n\eja8os conj. Sch.; ir\eic5as U ; ir\fid5wv Aid. 



6 Hes. Op. 383. 



143 



