Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XIX. THE NATURE AND CULTIVATION OF FLAX, AND AN ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS GARDEN PLANTS., CHAP. 56. (9.)

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CHAP. 56. (9.)—FOUR KINDS OF FERULACEOUS PLANTS. HEMP.

The other garden plants are of the ferulaceous kind, such as fennel, for instance, very grateful to serpents, as already stated,¹ and used for numerous seasonings when dried; thapsia, too, which bears a close resemblance to fennel, and already mentioned by us when speaking² of the exotic shrubs. Then, too, there is hemp,³ a plant remarkably useful for making ropes, and usually sown after the west winds have begun to prevail: the more thickly it is sown, the thinner are the stalks. The seed is gathered when ripe, just after the autumnal equinox, and is dried by the agency of the sun, the wind, or smoke.⁴ The hemp itself is plucked just after vintage-time, and is peeled and cleaned by the labourers at night.

The best hemp is that of Alabanda,⁵ which is used more particularly for making hunting-nets, and of which there are three varieties. The hemp which lies nearest the bark or the pith is the least valuable, while that which lies in the middle, and hence has the name of "mesa," is the most esteemed. The hemp of Mylasa⁶ occuplies the second rank. With reference to the size to which it grows, that of Rosea⁷ in the Sabine territory, equals the trees in height.⁸

We have already mentioned two kinds of fennel-giant when speaking⁹ of the exotic shrubs: the seed of it is used in Italy for food; the plant, too, admits of being preserved, and, if stored in earthen pots, will keep for a whole year. There are two parts of it that are used for this purpose, the upper stalks and the umbels of the plant. This kind of fennel is sometimes known by the name of "corymbia," and the parts preserved are called "corymbi."

1 In B. viii. c. 41. The Anæthum fœniculum of Linnæus.

2 In B. xiii. c. 42.

3 The Cannabis sativa of Linnæus. See B. xx. c. 97.

4 Hemp-seed is never smoke-dried now.

5 See B. v. c 29. The same hemp is mentioned as being used for making hunting-nets, by Gratius, in the Cynegeticon.

6 See B. v. c. 29.

7 See B. iii. c. 17, and B. xvii. c. 3

8 This, as Fée says, is no doubt erroneous. It is seldom known to attain a couple of inches in circumference.

9 In B. xiii. c. 42.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 56. (9.)—FOUR KINDS OF FERULACEOUS PLANTS. HEMP.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 56. (9.)—FOUR KINDS OF FERULACEOUS PLANTS. HEMP.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.