Such is the succession of the summer flowers in the parts beyond sea: in Italy, the violet is succeeded by the rose, the lily comes on while the rose is still in flower, the cyanus[2097] succeeds the rose, and the amaranth the cyanus. As to the vincapervinca,[2098] it is an evergreen, the branches from which run out like so many strings, the leaves surrounding the stem at each of the knots: though more generally used for the purposes of ornamental gardening, it is sometimes employed in chaplets when there is a deficiency of other flowers. From the Greeks this plant has received the name of “chamædaphne.” CHAP. 40.—THE DURATION OF LIFE IN THE VARIOUS KINDS OF FLOWERS. At the very utmost, the white[2099] violet never lasts longer than three years: should it exceed that period, it is sure to degenerate. The rose-tree will last so long as five years without being pruned or cauterized,[2100] methods by which it is made to grow young again. We have already stated[2101] that the nature of the soil is of the very greatest importance; for in Egypt, we find, all these plants are perfectly inodorous, and it is only the myrtle that has any particular smell. In some countries, too, the germination of all the plants precedes that in other parts of the world by so long a period as two months even. The rose-beds should be well spaded immediately after the west winds begin to prevail, and, a second time, at the summer solstice: every care, however, should be paid, between these two periods, to keeping the ground well raked and cleaned. CHAP. 41. (12.)—PLANTS WHICH SHOULD BE SOWN AMONG FLOWERS FOR BEES. THE CERINTHA. Bees and beehives, too, are a subject extremely well suited to a description of gardens and garland plants, while, at the same time, where they are successfully managed, they are a source, without any great outlay, of very considerable profit. For bees, then, the following plants should be grown—thyme, apiastrum, the rose, the various violets, the lily, the cytisus, the bean, the fitch, cunila, the poppy, conyza,[2102] cassia, the melilote, melissophyllum,[2103] and the cerintha.[2104] This last is a plant with a white leaf, bent inwards, the stem of it being a cubit in height, with a flower at the top presenting a concavity full of a juice like honey. Bees are remarkably fond of the flowers of these plants, as also the blossoms of mustard, a thing that is somewhat surprising, seeing that it is a well-known fact that they will not so much as touch the blossoms of the olive: for which reason, it will be as well to keep that tree at a distance from them.[2105] There are other trees, again, which should be planted as near the hives as possible, as they attract the swarm when it first wings its flight, and so prevent the bees from wandering to any considerable distance. CHAP. 42.—THE MALADIES OF BEES, AND THE REMEDIES FOR THEM.