BOOK XIX. XXXII. loy-x.xxiii. iio 



^round four times. if not more. Our farmers sow 

 the Ascalon onion in February. The seed of onions 

 is harvested when they begin to turn black, before 

 they get dry. 



XXXIII. It may also be suitable to mcntion the Leek: its 

 leek in this family of plants, especially as iniport- f/^ "g"/^^^^ 

 ance has recently been given to the chive by the 

 emperor Nero, who on certain fixed days of every 

 inonth always ate chives preserved in oil, and 

 nothing else, not even bread, for the sake of his 

 voice. It is grown from seed sown just after the 

 autumnal equinox ; if it is for the purpose of 

 chives, it must be sown rather thickly. It goes 

 on being cut in the same bed till it gives out ; and 

 if it is being grown to make heads it is always 

 well manured before it is cut. When it is fully 

 grown, it is moved to another bed, after having the 

 points of the leaves above the central part carefully 

 trimmed off and the tips of the coats drawn back 

 from the heads. Growers in former times used to 

 broaden out the heads by putting them under a stone 

 or a potsherd, and the same with bulbs as well; 

 but now the practice is gently to puU the roots loose 

 with a hoe, so that being bent they may feed the 

 plant and not draw it apart. It is a remarkable fact 

 that although the leek Hkes manure and a rich soil, it 

 hates damp places. Nevertheless there is a con- 

 nexion between the varieties and some peculiarity of 

 the soil : the most highly esteemed kind belongs to 

 Egypt, and the next to Ostia and to La Riccia. There 

 are two kinds of chivc ; one with grass-green leaves, 

 with distinct markings on them — this is the chive used 

 by druggists— and another kind with leaves of a 

 yellower colour and roundcr in shape, on which the 



491 



