BOOK XV. xviii. 63-66 



its ends stuck into a squill ; othcrs hang them in 

 casks still containing wine, but taking care that the 

 grapes do not touch the wine ; soine store apples 

 floating in wine in earthenware dishes, by which 

 method they think a scent is given to them by the 

 wine. Some prefer to preserve all fruit of this kind 

 in millet, but most people think it is best kept in a 

 hole in the ground two feet deep with a layer of 

 sand under the fruit and covered with an earthen- 

 ware Hd and then with soil. Some even smear 

 grapes with potters' clay, dry them in the sun 

 and hang them up, washing off the clay when 

 they are required for use. In the case of fruits, 

 they get rid of the clay by meaiis of wine. By the 

 same method they coat the finest kind of apples with 

 plaster or wax, but if the fruit is not already ripe it 

 breaks the coating by growing in size ; but they 

 always store the apples with their stalks downward. 

 Other people pluck the apples together with the 

 branches, the ends of which they thrust into elder 

 pith and then bury, as described above. Others § 63. 

 assign a separate clay vessel to each apple and pear, 

 and after seaUng up the opening of the vessels with 

 pitch enclose them again in a cask ; also some store 

 the fruit, packed in flocks of wool, in cases which they 

 smear with clay mixed with chaff; others follow the 

 same plan using earthenware pans to put them in ; 

 and also some store them in a hole on a layer of 

 sand, and so later cover them up with dry earth. 

 There are some who give quinces a coat of Pontic 

 wax and then dip them in honey. Columella 

 recommends storing grapes in earthenware vessels 

 that have been very carefully smeared with a 

 coating of pitch, and sinking them into wells or 



333 



