ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VIII. 11. 8-9 



Sicily at the place called Mylae the late sown crops 

 mature rapidly ; thus the sowing of pulses goes on 

 for six months, but he that made the last sowing- 

 gathers his crop at the same time as the first : also 

 that the soil is exceedingly good, so that it yields 

 thirty- fold l ; and there are also wonderful pastures 

 and forest-land. They tell of an even more wonder- 

 ful thing in Melos 2 ; there they reap thirty or forty 

 days after sowing ; wherefore it is a saying of the 

 islanders that " one should continue sowing till one 

 sees a swathe." However it is said that pulses 3 in 

 their country do not grow like this, nor are they 

 abundant. Yet they say that the soil is wonderfully 

 productive ; for it is good both for corn and olives, 

 and fairly good for vines. 



However what occurs in Chalkia, 4 an island 

 belonging to the Rhodians, goes even beyond this 

 and is more extraordinary than all the instances 

 given ; there they say that there is a, place which is 

 so early and so fertile that, when the barley is sown 

 after reaping the crop with the other crops, they 

 then sow again, and then reap the crop thus sown at 

 the same time as the remaining crops ; this then, if 

 it be true, marks a difference greater than we find 

 anywhere else. For it is less surprising that there 

 should be a difference in crops transferred 5 to 

 another region, as they say occurs when they are 

 transferred from Cilicia to Cappadocia or in general 

 beyond the Taurus ; for these regions are obviously 

 very dissimilar. 



3 offirpia Toiavra I conj. ; oif /xa ravra UAld. ; etyiua ravra. 

 M.G ; P omits ravra. 



4 cf. Thuc. 8. 41 foil. 



6 /j.erfvexGfvra SiaQfptiv conj. Sch. and W. from G ; pcrey- 

 retpfiv Aid. 



157 



