BOOK XV. XVIII. 66-xix. 68 



cisterns. The part of seaboard Liguria nearest to 

 the Alps dries its grapes in the sun, and wraps the 

 raisins in bundles of rush and stores them in casks 

 sealed up with plastered Hme. The Greeks do the 

 same, employing plane-tree leaves, the leaves of the 

 vine itself or fig-leaves that have been dried for 

 one day in a shady place, and putting grape-skins 

 in the cask between the grapes ; this is the method 

 used for storing the grapes of Cos and of Beyrout, 

 which are inferior to none in sweetness. Some people 

 to make raisins dip the grapes in lye-ashes as soon as 

 they have plucked them from the vines.and afterwards 

 dry them in the sun and plunge the raisins into hot 

 water and again dry them in the sun, and then wrap 

 them up in leaves, making them into a tight bundle 

 with grape-husks as described above. There are §66. 

 those who prefer to keep grapes in sawdust or in 

 shavings of fir or poplar or ash wood; and there 

 are some who advise hanging them in a granary, not 

 near any apples, as soon as they are picked, because 

 they say that the dust of the corn dries them best. 

 A protection against wasps for bunches of grapes 

 hung up is to sprinkle them with oil squirted out of the 

 mouth. About palm-dates we have already spoken. xiii. 39. 



XIX. Of the rest of the apple class the fig is the varietiesof 

 largest, and some figs rival even pears in size. We meihods of 

 have spoken about the marvels of the Egyptian and 

 Cypriote fig among the figs of foreign countries. 

 That of Mount Ida is red, and is the size of an oHve, 

 only rounder in shape ; it has the taste of a medlar. 

 The local name of this tree is the Alexandrian fig ; 

 the trunk is eighteen inches thick and it spreads out 

 in branches ; it has a tough pliant wood, containing no 

 juice, a green bark and a leaf like that of a lime but 



335 



gromng . 

 XIII. 56 tq. 



