ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VIII. xi. 6-7 



south. They say that in Media l also and other 

 elevated countries the seed when stored keeps for 

 a long time. And it is plain that chick-pea lupin 

 vetch millet and the like will keep a far longer time 

 than these seeds, as they do even in districts of 

 Hellas. However these peculiarities, as has been 

 said, are due to the particular region. 



Of artificial means of preserving seed. 



There appears to be a kind of earth in some 

 places, which when sprinkled 2 over the seed helps 

 to make wheat keep, for instance, the earth found 

 at Olynthos and at Kerinthos in Euboea ; this 

 makes the grain inferior for food, but fuller in ap- 

 pearance ; the earth is sprinkled 3 in the proportion 

 of one pint to twenty-four of grain. 



Of the effect of heat on seeds. 



All seeds if exposed to fire perish and become 

 infertile. Yet they say that at Babylon 4 the grains 

 of barley and wheat jump on the threshing-floor 

 like corn which is being parched. However it is 

 plain that it is some particular kind of warmth 5 

 which produces this effect : or else the jumping 

 is simply another effect of heat. 6 Such behaviour 

 would appear to be common to most, 7 if not to all 

 kinds. 



4 i.e. the grain is there exposed to great s?m-heat. cf. 

 de igne 44. 



5 i.e. the sun's heat is different in kind, and therefore in 

 effect, to that of a fire. 



6 dep/j.affiq conj. Sell.; 6ep/j.a<ria Akl.H. 



7 oxTTrepel KOIVO. conj. Sell, from G ; #<T7rep et/cova UM ; #(T7rep 



flKOVfS Aid. II. 



211 



p 2 



