BOOK XIX. XXXIV. 116-XXXV. 118 



about as a protection against the ravages of birds 

 that eat up the seeds, and the birds that swallow 

 it at once become stupeficd, and if you wait a Uttle, 

 go completely unconscious and can be caught by 

 hand. There is also a wild kind called bear's garhc, 

 with a similar smell, which has a very small head and 

 large leaves. 



XXX\'. Of kitchen-garden plants tlie quickest to Other 

 grow are basil, bhte, navew and rocket ; these break glrdtn 

 out of the ground two " days after they are sown. piantsgrown 



_.,, .oi 1 A I- ^ 'k 1 from seed. 



DiU comes up m 6 days, lettuce 4, radish 9, cucumber 

 5, gourd even 6 — cucumber is earher — , cress* and 

 mustard 4, summer beet 5, winter beet 9, orage 7, 

 onions 18 or 19. long onion 9 or 11 ; coriander is more 

 obstinate, and indced cunila<^ and wild marjoram do 

 not come up before 30 days, but the most difficult 

 of all is parsley, for it comes up in 39 days at the 

 quickest, and in the majority of cases in 49 days. 

 Something also depends on the age of the seed, as 

 fresh seed comes up more quickly in the case of 

 leek, long onion, cucumber and gourd, but parsley, 

 beet, cress, cunila, wild marjoram and coriander 

 grow more quickly from old seed. There is a 

 curious thing about beet seed that the whole of 

 it does not germinate in the same year but some 

 only in the year following, and some even two 

 years later ; and consequently a quantity of seed 

 only produces a moderate crop. Some plants 

 only produce seed in the same year as they are 

 planted, but some more often, for instance parsley, 

 leek and long onion, as these when once sown re- 

 tain their fertihty and come up several years 

 running. 



y.e. savory. 



497 



