1834 The Poire d’argent, or silver pear, according to Dalechamps.
1835 Or “barley pear.” The Poire de Saint Jean, according to Dalechamps; the musquette or muscadella, according to Adrian Junius.
1836 Barley-harvest.
1837 So called from its resemblance to the “ampulla,” a big-bellied vessel with a small neck, identified with the Poire d’angoisse by Dalechamps.
1838 The Poire de jalousie, according to Dalechamps.
1839 Or gourd-pear. This is the “isbout” according to Adrian Junius, the Poire courge of Dalechamps, and the Poire de sarteau, or de campane of others.
1840 The Poire de Venus, according to Adrian Junius; the Poire acciole, according to Dalechamps.
1841 Coloured pear.
1842 “Regium.” The Poire carmagnole, according to Dalechamps; the Mispeel-peere of the Flemish, according to Adrian Junius.
1843 The Poire sarteau, according to Dalechamps.
1844 Georgics, ii. 87.
1845 “A handful”—probably the pound or pounder pear: the Bergamotte, according to Hardouin; the Bon chretien of summer, according to Adrian Junius.
1846 De Re Rust. c. 7.
1847 Or “Seedling.”
1848 The “early ripener.” Fée suggests that this may be a variety of the Bon chretien.
1849 Georgics, ii. 69. This statement of Virgil must be regarded as fabulous; grafting being impracticable with trees not of the same family, and not always successful even then.
1850 This was probably some superstition taught by the augurs for the purpose of enveloping their profession in additional mystery and awe.
1851 Cadis.
1853 “Pulmentarii vicem;” properly “a substitute for pulmentarium,” which was anything eaten with bread, such as meat, vegetables, &c. He alludes to marmalade. The French raisine is a somewhat similar preparation from pears and quinces boiled in new wine.
1854 “Specularibus.” He alludes to windows of transparent stone, lapis specularis, or mica; windows of glass being probably unknown in his time. The ordinary windows were merely openings closed with shutters. See B. xxxvi. c. 45.
1855 He must allude to a kind of quince marmalade.
1856 As Fée remarks, the fruit, if treated thus, would soon lose all the properties for which it is valued.
1857 De Re Rust. B. i. c. 59.
1858 A faulty proceeding, however dry it may be.
1859 This fruit, Fée remarks, keeps but indifferently, and soon becomes soft, vinous, and acid.
1860 An absurd superstition.
1861 A method not unlikely to spoil the grape, from the difficulty of removing the coat thus given to it.
1862 A very absurd notion, as Fée observes. To keep fruit in millet is also condemned.
1863 Which, of course, must deteriorate the flavour of the grape.
1864 It is doubtful if they will increase in size, when once plucked.
1865 The modern authorities recommend the precisely opposite plan.
1866 As absurd as the use of the bulb of squill.
1868 Capsæ.
1869 See B. xxi. c. 49.
1870 De Re Rust. B. xii. c. 43.
1871 These must make raisins of the sun.
1872 These must have been perfectly dry, or else they would tend to rot the grapes or raisins.
1874 The dust is in reality very liable to spoil the fruit, from the tenacity with which it adheres. In all these methods, little attention would seem to be paid to the retention of the flavour of the fruits.
1875 A detestable practice, Fée says, as the oil makes an indelible mark on the grape, and gives it an abominable flavour. It is the best method to put the fruit in bags of paper or hair.
1877 There are about forty varieties now known.
1879 In Troas; called the Alexandrian fig, from the city of Alexandria there. Fée doubts if this was really a fig, and suggests that it might be the fruit of a variety of Diospyros.
1880 No fig-tree now known is destitute of this.
1881 Fée treats this as an exaggeration.
1882 From “mamilla,” a teat.
1883 In Egypt. The Figue servantine, or cordeliere.
1884 “Delicata.” The “bon-bouche.”
1885 Fée suggests that this may have been the small early fig.
1886 From Livia, the wife of Augustus.
1887 From Pompeius Magnus.
1888 Apparently meaning the “marsh” fig.
1889 The Laconian reed, Theophrastus says, B. iv. c. 12.
1890 The “white-wax” fig.
1891 Fée queries whether it may not be the Grosse bourjasotte.
1892 Or “people’s” fig. The small early white fig.
1893 Or “swallow”-fig.
1894 Or it may mean “white and black,” that being the colour of the fig. Such a variety is still known.
1895 A Spanish variety; those of the south of Spain are very highly esteemed.
1896 The modern “black” fig.
1897 The sun of the former year.
1898 In Mœsia—the present Servia and Bulgaria.
1899 Another war is said to have originated in this fruit. Xerxes was tempted by the fine figs of Athens to undertake the invasion of Greece.
1900 “Tertium ante diem.” In dating from an event, the Romans included both days in the computation; the one they dated from, and the day of, the event.
1901 In sending for the fig, and thinking of this method of speaking to the feelings of his fellow-countrymen.
1902 A place in the Forum, where public meetings were held, and certain offences tried.
1903 He alludes to the Puteal, or enclosed space in the Forum, consecrated by Scribonius Libo, in consequence of the spot having been struck by lightning.
1904 On the banks of the Tiber, below the Palatine Mount. The whole of this passage is in a most corrupt state, and it is difficult to extract a meaning from it.
1905 By slips from the old tree, as Tacitus seems to say—“in novos fœtus revivisceret.”
1906 At the foot of the Capitoline Hill.
1907 Probably near where the Curtius Lacus had stood in the early days of Rome. The story of Metius Curtius, who leaped into the yawning gulph in the Forum, in order to save his country, is known to every classical reader.
1908 The Forum.
1909 See B. xix. c. 6.
1910 The Ficus Carica of Linnæus. It does bear fruit, though small, and disagreeable to the taste.
1911 This insect is one of the Hymenoptera; the Cynips Psenes of Linnæus and Fabricius. There is another insect of the same genus, but not so well known.
1912 Fée observes that the caprification accelerates the ripeness of the fruit, but at the expense of the flavour. For the same purpose the upper part of the fig is often pricked with a pointed quill.
1913 “Infantiam pomi”—literally, “the infancy of the fruit.”
1914 Fée denies the truth of this assertion.
1915 Frumenta.
1916 A mixture of the sugar of the fruit with the milky juice of the tree, which is a species of caoutchouc.
1917 Capsis.
1918 See B. iii. c. 11. The Balearic Isles still produce great quantities of excellent dried figs.
1919 See B. iii. c. 17.
1920 Orcæ.
1921 Cadi.
1922 Ground, perhaps, into a kind of flour.
1923 Opsonii vicem. “Opsonium” was anything eaten with bread, such as vegetables, meat, and fish, for instance.
1924 De Re Rust. c. 56.
1925 Because they would be sure, under any circumstances, to eat plenty of them.
1927 These were so called from Caunus, a city of Caria, famous for its dried figs. Pronounced “Cavneas,” it would sound to the superstitious, “Cave ne eas,” “Take care that you go not.”
1928 At Brundisium.
1929 A.U.C. 801.
1930 Alba Longa. See B. iii. c. 9.
1931 The sorb belongs to the genus pirus of the naturalists.
1932 The Mespilus germanica of the botanists.
1933 The azarolier, a tree of the south of Europe, the Mespilus apii folio laciniato of C. Bauhin.
1934 The Mespilus Italica folio laurino serrato of C. Bauhin, the Mespilus cotoneaster of J. Bauhin.
1935 Its identity is matter of uncertainty; but it has been thought to be the Cratægus oxyacantha of modern botanists.
1936 By “amplissimus,” he must mean that it spreads out very much in proportion to its height, as it is merely a shrub.
1937 Fée thinks it a tree indigenous to the north.
1938 The ordinary sorb-apple of horticulturists.
1939 The sorb-pear.
1940 Varying but little, probably, from the common sorb, the Sorbus domestica of Linnæus.
1941 Fée is inclined to think that it is the Sorbus terminalis of Lamarck. Anguillara thinks that it is the Cratægus of Theophrastus, considered by Sprengel to be identical with the Cratægus azarolus of Linnæus. In ripening, the fruit of the sorb undergoes a sort of vinous fermentation: hence a kind of cider made of it.
1942 De Re Rust. cc. 7 and 145.
1943 The Juglans regia of Linnæus.
1944 Tastes have probably altered since this was written.
1945 These were rude and sometimes obscene songs sung at festivals, and more particularly marriages. While these songs were being sung at the door of the nuptial chamber, it was the custom for the husband to scramble walnuts among the young people assembled there. The walnut is the nut mentioned in Solomon’s Song, vi. 11.
1946 Or, more probably, from the union of the two portions of the inner shell.
1947 “Tripudium sonivium;” implying that it was considered sacred to marriage, from the use made of it by the friends of the bridegroom when thrown violently against the nuptial chamber, with the view of drowning the cries of the bride. A very absurd notion, to all appearance.
1948 The “Persian” nut.
1949 The “king’s” nut. The walnut-tree still abounds in Persia, and is found wild on the slopes of the Himalaya.
1950 Implying that it comes from the Greek κάρη, “the head.” Some etymologists think that it is from the Celto-Scythian carw, a boat; such being the shape of the two parts of the inner shell.
1951 It is still a common notion, Fée says, that it is highly injurious to sleep beneath a walnut-tree.
1952 It is still used for this purpose.
1953 Red hair was admired by the Romans. The Roman females used this juice also for dyeing their hair when grey.
1954 They are not entirely separate.
1955 The Corylus avellana maxima of Willdenow.
1956 The filbert, the Corylus tubulosa of Willdenow.
1957 Abellinum, in Campania. See B. iii. c. 9.
1958 The down on the nut is more apparent when it is young; but it is easily rubbed off. The outer coat is probably meant.
1959 Hazel nuts are sometimes roasted in some parts of Europe, but not with us.
1960 The Amygdalus communis of Linnæus.
1961 De Re Rust. c. 8. Some think that this was the bitter almond; and the word “acriore,” used by Pliny, would almost seem to imply that such is the case.
1962 Apparently the “smooth” or “bald” nut. May not a variety something like the hickory nut of America be meant?
1963 Festus says that a kind of nut was so called, because the Prænestines, when besieged by Hannibal at Casilinum, subsisted upon them. See Livy, B. xxiii. Fée considers it only another name for the common hazel nut.
1964 De Re Rust. c. 145.
1965 The soft-shelled almond, or princess almond of the French; the Amygdalus communis fragilis of naturalists.
1966 This last variety does not seem to have been identified: the hard-shell almonds do not appear to be larger than the others.
1967 Or “soft” almond, a variety only of the Amygdalus fragilis.
1968 There is little doubt that Fée is right in his assertion, that this great personage imposed on our author; as no trees of this family are known to bear two crops.
1971 The tree is the Fagus castanea of Linnæus.
1972 Cortex.
1973 The common mode of eating it at the present day. The Italians also take off the skin and dry the nut; thus keeping it from year to year. When required for eating, it is softened by the steam of boiling water.
1974 Not improbably said in allusion to the fasts introduced by the Jews, who had become very numerous in Rome.
1975 It was said to have come from Castana, a city of Pontus, whence its name “Castanea.” It is probably indigenous to Europe.
1976 The Greek for “Jove’s acorn.”
1977 Or “acorn chesnut.” The same variety, Fée says, that is found in the vicinity of Perigueux, small, nearly round, and without any particular flavour.
1978 The Ganebelone chesnut of Perigueux, Fée says, answers to this description.
1979 On account of the prickles on the outer shell.
1981 Fée says that the royal white chesnut of the vicinity of Perigueux answers to this.
1982 “Boiling” chesnuts.
1983 He alludes to wild or horse chesnuts, probably.