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

Chapter 88: CHAP. 86.—PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM TEMPESTS THEMSELVES.

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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. 86.—PROGNOSTICS DERIVED FROM TEMPESTS THEMSELVES.

The reverberations, too, of the mountains, and the roaring of the forests, are indicative of certain phænomena; and the same is the case when the leaves are seen to quiver,705 without a breath of wind, the downy filaments of the poplar or thorn to float in the air, and feathers to skim along the surface of the water.706 In champaign countries, the storm gives notice of its approach by that peculiar muttering 707 which precedes it; while the murmuring that is heard in the heavens affords us no doubtful presage of what is to come.