BOOK XIX. Lvi. 174-LVI1. 177 



iVom the middle, the Greek name for whieh is 

 ' middles ', is most highly esteemed. The second 

 best hemp comes from Mylasa. As regards height, 

 the hemp of Rosea in the Sabine territory grows as 

 tall as a fruit-tree. The two kinds of fennel-giant 

 have been mcntioned above among exotic shrubs. xiii. 123. 

 In Italy its secd is an article of diet ; in fact it is 

 stored in pots and lasts for as much as a year. Two 

 diiferent parts of it are used as vegetables, the 

 stalks and the branches. This fennel is called in 

 Greek clump-fennel, and thc pai-ts that are stored, 

 clumps. 



L\TI. Garden vegetables are also Hable to disease, Diseasesoj 

 hke the rest of the jjlants on earth. For instance garden' 

 basil degcnerates with old age into wild-thyme and piants. 

 sisymbrium into mint, and old cabbage seed produces 

 turnip, and so on. Also cummin is killed by broom- 

 rape unless it is thoroiighly cleaned : this is a plant 

 with a single stalk and a root resembUng a bulb, and it 

 only grows in a thin soil. Another disease peculiar to 

 cummin is scab. Also basil turns pale at the rising 

 of the Dog-Star. All plants indeed turn yellow when 

 a woman comes near them at her monthly period. 

 Also various insects breed on garden plants — 

 springtails in navews, caterpillars and maggots in 

 radish, and also on lettuces and cabbage, both of 

 which are more infested by slugs and snails than 

 radish ; and the leek has special insects of its 

 own, which are easily caught bv throwing dung 

 on the plants, as they burrow into it. According 

 to Sabinus Tiro in his book 0?i Gardening, which 

 he dedicated to Maecenas, it is also bad for rue, 

 savory, mint or basil to come in contact with 

 iron. 



533 



