BOOK XIX. xLii. 150-xLin. 153 



method of cultivation tried later has provcd to be 

 more useful, except that they now sow about Feb- 

 ruary 13 by digging in the seed in heaps in little 

 trenches, usually preparing the seed bv soaking it in 

 dung ; as a result of this process tlie roots twine 

 together and form tufts, which thev plant out at 

 spaces of a foot apart after the autumn equinox, the 

 plants going on bearing for ten years. There is no 

 soil that asparagus Ukes better than that of the 

 kitchen-gardens at Ravenna, as we have pointed out. ^Y^ ^^^- 

 I hiid it stated that corruda (which I take to be a wild 

 asparagus, called by the Greeks horminos or myacan- 

 ihos as well as bv other namcs) will also come up if 

 pounded rams' horns are dug in as manure. 



XLIII. It might be thought that all the vegetables ThiMU» 



C \ 11 1 • ll-l 1 .11 Q^II^I^fi fOT 



ot value fiad now been mentioned, did not there still ihe tabie. 

 remain an extremelv profitable article of trade, which 

 must be mentioned not without a feeling of shame. 

 The fact is it is well known that at Carthage and par- 

 ticularly at Cordova crops of thistles" yield a return of 

 GOOO sesterces from small plots — since we turn even 

 the monstrosities of tlie earth to purposes of gluttony, 

 and actuallv grow vegetables which all four-footed 

 beasts without exception shrink from touching. 

 Thistles then we grow in two ways, from a slip planted 

 in autumn and from seed sown before \Iarch 7, 

 the seedHngs from wliich are planted out before 

 November 13, or in cokl loealities about the seasoti* 

 of the west wind. They are sometimes manured as 

 well. if heaven so wills, and come up more abundantly. 

 They arc also preserved in honey dilutcd with vinegar, 

 with the addilion of iascrwort root and cuiiHiiin, 

 so that there may be no day without thistles for 

 diiiner. 



