At qui sub trichila manantem repit ad undam, Labentemque sequens nimio tenuatur amore, Candidus, effœtæ tremebundior ubere porcæ. Colum. x. De Cult. Hortor. 394. Footnote 1426: Lord Bacon, having noticed this fact, adds the following sage remark: “If you set a stake or prop at a certain distance from it (the vine), it will grow that way, which is far stranger than the other: for that water may work by a sympathy of attraction; but this of the stake seemeth to be a reasonable discourse.” Sylva Sylvarum, 462. Footnote 1427: Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 3. 5. Plin. Hist. Nat. xix. 24. Footnote 1428: Plin. xix. 23. Footnote 1429: Cf. Athen. iii. 5. Footnote 1430: Athen. iii. 2. Footnote 1431: The best melons at present known in Greece are those of Cephalonia, which lose their flavour if transplanted. Hobhouse, Trav. &c., i. 227. Cf. Chandler, i. p. 14. ----- The Megaréans, in whose country melons, gourds,[1432] and cucumbers were plentiful, were accustomed to heap dust about their roots during the prevalence of the Etesian winds, and found this answer of irrigation.[1433] It appears from the following proverb,—“The end of cucumbers and the beginning of pompions,”—that the former went out of season as the latter came in.[1434] ----- Footnote 1432: Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 494. Footnote 1433: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ii. 7. 5. Footnote 1434: Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 966. ----- To procure a plentiful crop of asparagus, they used to bury the shavings of a wild ram’s horn, and well water them.[1435] By banking up the stalks, moreover, immediately after cutting the heads, they caused new shoots to spring forth, and thus enjoyed a fresh supply throughout the year. This plant was probably obtained from Libya,[1436] where it was said to attain, in its wild state, the height of twelve, and sometimes even of thirty cubits;[1437] and on the slopes of Lebanon, in Syria, it has in our own clay been seen from twelve to fifteen feet high. Footnote 1435: Geop. xii. 18. 2. Plin. xix. 42. Dioscor. ii. 152. The physician, however, modestly professes his unbelief: ἔνιοι δὲ ἱστόρησαν, ὅτι ἐάν τις κριοῦ κέρατα συγκόψας κατορύξῃ, φύεται ἀσπάραγος · ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀπίθανον. Footnote 1436: The asparagus, however, has been found, in modern times, growing wild among the ruins of Epidauros. Chandler, ii. 249. Footnote 1437: Athen. ii. 62. -----