I] ON SOWING LUCERNE gij 



send, or send for, seeds across the sea ; for in that 

 case a string is run through the ripe figs — such as 

 we eat — and when dry they are packed up, and 

 despatched where they are wanted, so that when 

 planted in a nursery garden they may propagate 

 their kind. 

 6 It is in this way that Chian, Chalchidian, Lydian 

 and African figs, and all the other kinds from over 

 the sea have been brought to Italy. For a similar 

 reason since the seed of the olive-tree is a stone, 

 and a stem grows from it more slowly than from 

 other plants, we therefore prefer to plant in nurseries 

 the taleae (cuttings) which we have described. 



CHAPTER XLII 



ON SOWING LUCERNE 



You must be particularly careful not to sow seed 

 on a soil that is either too dry or too sodden, but 

 on well-tempered land. On land of this kind, say 

 our authors, a peck and a half ^ of lucerne per iu- 

 gerum is sufficient. In sowing it the seed must 

 be scattered just as when one sows grass-seed or 

 corn. 



Sesquimodium. The modius=\QTy nearly eight quarts = 

 a peck. It is frequently mistranslated " bushel," which equals 

 four pecks. 



