I] STORING BEANS AND GRAPES iii 



them not only by blowing through windows at the 

 sides, but also by blowing from the ground 

 I upwards. 



CHAPTER LVIII 



OF STORING BEANS AND GRAPES 



Beans and other leguminous crops keep good for 

 a very long time in olive jars when covered with a 

 coating of ashes. 



Cato says that the Aminnean grape — both the 

 smaller and larger variety — and the Apician are 

 best stored in jars, and that they likewise keep well 

 in sapa ^ and '* must," while the best for hanging are 

 the Duracinae ^ and the Aminnean (Scantian). 



^ Sapa ( = ** must," unfermented wine) diminished in volume 

 by boiling to f , §, or \ of its original bulk. Columella (xii, 19) 

 describes the process at length, and says that the best sapa is 

 that which has lost half its bulk. Pliny, however, calls this 

 dejrutum (N. H., xiv, 9). 



The word is used unchanged in modern Italian; the saying 

 dolce come la sapa being common in Florence. 



' Duracinas. Schneider thinks this word is connected with 

 ■lurare (to keep). A pure guess, unsupported by evidence! 

 The Cii}paKivov of the Geoponica seems from the description to 

 be the apricot (Geop., x, 13, i). 



