Man's Work on the Farm 349 



large Roman nettle was purposely brought by the 

 Roman soldiers, ' who sowed it for their use, to rub and 

 chafe their limbs, being told before they came from 

 home that the climate of Britain was so cold that it 

 was not to be endured without some friction to warm 

 their blood.* 



However this may be, the Roman nettle, which is 

 a larger species, and endowed with more venomous 

 ' stings ' than the common stinging-nettle, is rare in 

 England. But it formerly abounded in the streets of 

 Romney, and, though driven out of the town, still 

 flourishes in the neighbourhood. Now, it was near 

 Romney that Julius Caesar landed, though the town 

 does not take its name from the Romans, but from a 

 Saxon word signifying ' marsh.' 



It was not until Roman times that the date-palm 

 was brought to Italy; and then, as it did not bear 

 fruit, it could neither run wild nor make itself 

 thoroughly at home, and was therefore dependent 

 upon the care of man. But the northern barbarians, 

 who overran the empire in later times, cared nothing 

 for a tree which was only beautiful, and therefore 

 allowed it to die out, and Italy was without palms 

 again, until the Saracens brought them back. 



The coming of the Arabs, or Saracens, made a vast 

 change in the vegetation of the lands of the Mediter- 

 ranean ; for, destructive as they were in some respects, 

 they had the Eastern respect for, and love of, trees ; 

 and though their power did not extend nearly as far to 

 the east as did that of the Romans, it was they, and 

 not the Romans, who brought to the Mediterranean 

 the many Asiatic plants which we are now inclined to 

 think must always have been there. 



