308 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



animals, viz : For wheels — Holm oak, particularly for the single 

 wheel of the wheelbarrow ! the use of the bark of the alder for 

 tanning skins; sumach for dressing them ; elm wood for doors, 

 and cypress as the doors of the temple of Diana of the Ephesians, 

 the only wood then sujiposed capable of a true polish ; painter's 

 boards of heart of pine ; wine cups for drinking, of the knots of 

 trees — some from the black terebinths of Syria, making a cup 

 called Thericlean, almost like potter's ware. 



The Persian apple, and citron, were recommended by him to 

 sweeten the breath, and they were scattered among clothes to 

 keep away moths ; they made double flutes from jointed reeds — 

 tlie best grew at Orchomenos; the coblers' strops for sharpening 

 their knives, were made of the gritty wood of a wild pear tree; 

 seals were engraved on worm satin wood ; images from the wood 

 of the palm tree, some of which were found in suitable weather, to 

 sweat apropos ! couches and lounges were made of asli or beech 

 wood, as well as of willow, vines, &c.; ships were built of pine, 

 which was very abundant at Sinope, on the south side of the 

 Black sea — the dwelling place of old Diogenes. 



He describes the abundance of radishes at Corinth and Bceotia; 

 double roses at Philippi; the heavy crops of grain and other plants 

 of Macedonia and Bceotia, and the light crops of Attica and La- 

 conia, chiefly barley ; he praises the asparagus, caper, artichoke, 

 lettuce of various kinds, (no blood red lettuce) among them, nor 

 among us now. He says, that walnut trees bore better crops if 

 they were moderately flagged — so some moderns say. They sowed 

 their mint and cummin with curses ! to insure a good crop ! He 

 always looked for a fine crop of mushrooms just after a thunder 

 storm — so do some of us moderns. (We suppose the warm rain 

 does that.) 



They made their lager beer, (/Spvrov,) the Egyptian beer, from 

 barley, &c. 



And as to manures — the food of plants — it was as well under- 

 stood as it is now, or ever can be, viz : The soil is composed of all 

 that is left by disintegration of matter and atmospheric elements. 

 If England had now all the vegetable and animal matter it has 

 produced since the deluge, it is supposed that her surface would 



