The cherry did not exist in Italy before the period of the victory gained over Mithridates by L. Lucullus, in the year of the City 680. He was the first to introduce this tree from Pontus, and now, in the course of one hundred and twenty years, it has travelled beyond the Ocean, and arrived in Britannia even. The cherry, as we have already stated,[2005] in spite of every care, it has been found impossible to rear in Egypt. Of this fruit, that known as the “Apronian”[2006] is the reddest variety, the Lutatian[2007] being the blackest, and the Cæcilian[2008] perfectly round. The Junian[2009] cherry has an agreeable flavour, but only, so to say, when eaten beneath the tree, as they are so remarkably delicate that they will not bear carrying. The highest rank, however, has been awarded to the duracinus[2010] variety, known in Campania as the “Plinian”[2011] cherry, and in Belgica to the Lusitanian[2012] cherry, as also to one that grows on the banks of the Rhenus. This last kind has a third colour, being a mixture[2013] of black, red, and green, and has always the appearance of being just on the turn to ripening. It is less than five years since the kind known as the “laurel-cherry” was introduced, of a bitter but not unpleasant flavour, the produce of a graft[2014] upon the laurel. The Macedonian cherry grows on a tree that is very small,[2015] and rarely exceeds three cubits in height; while the chamæcerasus[2016] is still smaller, being but a mere shrub. The cherry is one of the first trees to recompense the cultivator with its yearly growth; it loves cold localities and a site exposed to the north.[2017] The fruit are sometimes dried in the sun, and preserved, like olives, in casks. CHAP. 31. (26.)—THE CORNEL. THE LENTISK. The same degree of care is expended also on the cultivation of the cornel[2018] and the lentisk;[2019] that it may not be thought, forsooth, that there is anything that was not made for the craving appetite of man! Various flavours are blended together, and one is compelled to please our palates by the aid of another—hence it is that the produce of different lands and various climates are so often mingled with one another. For one kind of food it is India that we summon to our aid, and then for another we lay Egypt under contribution, or else Crete, or Cyrene, every country, in fact: no, nor does man stick at poisons[2020] even, if he can only gratify his longing to devour everything: a thing that will be still more evident when we come to treat of the nature of herbs. CHAP. 32. (27.)—THIRTEEN DIFFERENT FLAVOURS OF JUICES.