388 
PLINY's l^ATURAL HISTOIiY. [Book XYI. 
early fig, known to the Athenians by the name of prodro- 
mos/'^^ In the Laconian varieties of this fruit more parti- 
ciilai'ly, we find trees that bear two crops in the year. 
CHAP. 50. (27.) TREES THAT EEAR TWO CROPS IN A TEAR. TREES 
THAT BEAR THREE CROPS. 
In the island of Cea there are wild figs that bear three times 
in one year. By the first crop the one that succeeds is sum- 
moned forth, and by that the third. It is by the agency of 
this last crop that caprification^^ is performed. In the wild 
fig, too, the fruit grows on the opposite side of the leaves. 
There are some pears and apples, too, that bear two crops in 
the year, while there are some early varieties also. The wild 
apple bears twice ~^ in the year, its second crop coming on after 
the rising of Arcturus,^^ in sunny localities more particularly. 
There are vines, too, that will even bear three times in the 
year, a circumstance that has procured for them the name of 
frantic" vines. On these we see grapes just ripening, others 
beginning to swell, and others, again, in blossom, all at the 
same moment. 
M. Yarro^^ informs us, that there was formerly at Smyrna, 
near^^ the Temple of the Mother of the Gods, a vine that bore 
two crops in the year, as also an apple-tree of a similar nature 
in the territory" of Consentia. This, however, is constantly to 
be witnessed in the territory of Tacapa,^^ in Africa, of which 
we shall have to speak more fully on another occasion,^^ so 
remarkable is the fertility of the soil. The cypress also bears 
three times in the year, for its berries are gathered in the 
Or " forerunner." The Spaniards call a similar fig " brevas," tlie; 
ready ripener." 
2^ See B. XV. c. 19. -^s gee B. xv. c. 21. 
29 This does not happen in the northern climates ; though sometimes it 
is the case that a fruit-tree blossoms again towards the end of summer, and 
if the autumn is fine and prolonged, these late fruits will ripen. Such a 
phenomenon, however, is of very rare occurrence. 
30 See B. xviii. c. 74. 
" Insanae." There are some varieties of the vine which blossom more 
than once, and bear green grapes and fully ripe ones at the same moment. 
32 De Ee Eust. c. 7. 
3^ The suggested reading, " apud matrem magnam," seems preferable 
to "apud mare," and receives support from what is said relative to Smyrna 
in B. xiv. c. 6. See B. v. c. 3. 
B. xviii. c. 51. 
