ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, V. ix. 4-6 



smooth 1 billets : for tliey must be laid as close as 

 pwDssible for the smouldering process. When they 

 have covered"^ the kiln, they kindle the heap by 

 degrees, stirring it with {X)les. Such is the wood 



required for the charcoal-heap. 



In general damp '.vood makes an evil smoke, and 

 for this reason green wood does so : I mean the 

 damp woods which grow in marshy groimd, such 

 as plane willow abele black poplar : for even 

 vine-woodj when it is damp, gives an evil smoke. 

 So does palm-wood of its own nature, and some 

 have supposed it to give the most evil smoke of all : 

 whence Chaeremon^ speaks of '"Veins issuing under- 

 ground from roots of palm with its malodorous smoke." 

 Most pungent is the smoke of fig-wood, whether 

 wild or cultivated, and of any tree which has a 

 curdling juice ; the reason lies in the sap ; when 

 such wood has been barked and soaked in running 

 water and then dried, it gives as little smoke as 

 any other, and sends u]) a very soft^ flame, since 

 its natural moisture also has been removed. The 

 cinders and ashes of such wood are also pungent, 

 and especially, they say, those of almond-wood. 



For the crafts requiring a furnace and for other 

 crafts various woods are serviceable according to 

 circumstances.^ For kindling fig and olive are best : 

 fig, because it is tough and of open texture, so that 

 it easily catches fire and does not let it through,^ 

 olive, because it is of close texture and oily. 



thus : ToS Tf SvffKa-Kvayrdrov \ (po'iyiKos tK yrjs })i^o<poiTi\rovs 

 (pXf^as {^iCo(piTVTovs conj. Schneidewin). 



* i.e. not sputtering. 



' Kal . . . xpV(f(f^V conj. W. ; rixvats aWriKois xP^^^'^f^V U; 

 T. aK\-n\as xp- MV; re'xt^ &\\r) iart xp- P > t. oAA^Aojs earl 

 XpvrifJ-V Aid. * i.e. bum out quickly. 



47 < 



