BOOK XIX. xi.x. 58-.XX. 60 



fire for cooking and saved fuel, and which were a 

 resource in store and alwavs ready ; whence their 

 name of salads, easy to digest and not calculated to 

 overload the senses with food, and least adapted to 

 stimulate the appetite. The fact that one set of 

 herbs is devoted to seasoning shows that it used to be 

 customary to do one's borrowing at home, and that 

 there was no demand for Indian pepper and the 

 hixuries that we import from overseas. Indeed the 

 lower classes in the city used to give their eyes a 

 daily view of country scenes by means of imitation 

 gardens in their windows, before the time when 

 atrocious burghiries in countless numbers compelled 

 them to bar out all the view with shutters. There- 

 fore let vegetables also have their meed of honour 

 and do not let things be robbed of respect by the 

 fact of their being common, especially as we see 

 that vegetables have supplied even the names of 

 great families, and a branch of the Valerian family 

 were not ashamed to bear the surname Lettuce. 

 Moreover some gratitude may attach to our labour 

 and research on the ground that Virgil " also confessed 

 how difficult it is to provide such small matters with 

 dignitied appellations. 



XX. There is no doubt that it is proper to have i-tiyingow 

 gardens adjoining the farm-house, and that they ground. ' 

 should be irrigated preferably by a river flowing 

 past them, if it so happens, or if not, be supplied with 

 water from a well by means of a wheel or windmills, 

 or ladled up by swing-beams. The soil should be 

 broken up in preparation for autumn a fortnight 

 after the west wind sets in, and gone over again 

 before midwinter. It will take eight men to dig 

 over an acre of land, inix dung with the soil to a 



459 



