The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 4 (of 6)

Chapter 456: CHAP. 6.—GRAPES, FRESH GATHERED.

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The text compiles practical and encyclopedic guidance on crop cultivation and plant uses, beginning with cereals and farm management — types of grain, sowing and harvesting schedules, ploughing, seed selection, storage, and maladies — plus weather and stellar prognostics for agricultural timing. It proceeds to flax and garden plants, detailing varieties, planting and processing methods, garden layout, and pest and disease remedies. The final section assembles medicinal preparations and numerous remedies derived from vegetables and herbs, listing applications and recipes for treating ailments using garden-grown plants.

CHAP. 6.—GRAPES, FRESH GATHERED.

As to grapes when allowed to gain maturity, the black ones have more marked properties 2848 than the others; and hence it is, that the wine made from them is not so agreeable. The white grapes, on the other hand, are sweeter, for, being transparent, the air penetrates them with greater facility.

Grapes fresh gathered are productive of flatulency, and disturb the stomach and bowels; hence it is that they are avoided in fevers, in large quantities more particularly. Indeed, they are very apt to produce oppression of the head, and to bring on the malady known as lethargy.2849 Grapes which have been gathered, and left to hang for some time, are much less 2850 injurious, the exposure to the air rendering them beneficial even to the stomach, and refreshing to the patient, as they are slightly cooling, and tend to remove nausea and qualmishness.