Lectures on Roman husbandry, delivered before the University of Oxford; comprehending such an account of the system of agriculture, the treatment of domestic animals, the horticulture &c., pursued in ancient times, as may be collected from the Scriptores rei rusticae, the Georgics of Virgil, and other classical authorities, with notices of the plants mentioned in Columella and Virgil; . cocomero serpentino, which tastes, Tenoresays, like a melon, has very much the characterwhich is here ascribed to the second kind, men-tioned by Columella. The identity of the third kind noticed with themelon,
Lectures on Roman husbandry, delivered before the University of Oxford; comprehending such an account of the system of agriculture, the treatment of domestic animals, the horticulture &c., pursued in ancient times, as may be collected from the Scriptores rei rusticae, the Georgics of Virgil, and other classical authorities, with notices of the plants mentioned in Columella and Virgil; . cocomero serpentino, which tastes, Tenoresays, like a melon, has very much the characterwhich is here ascribed to the second kind, men-tioned by Columella. The identity of the third kind noticed with themelon, has been maintained by some, but has beenquestioned by others. Pliny describes a variety of cucumeris or pepo,(for these terms were applied, not to differentplants, but to different stages of growth in thesame,) to which he gives the name of melopepo. He says, it is of a round form, like the quince,but that instead of hanging from trellis, it trailsupon the ground. So far this description answers well with themelon, but some doubt is cast upon his interpre-tation, by his adding, that it sprung accidentallyin Campania, within his own recollection. The only inference, however, I should be dis-posed to draw from this latter statement is, thatthe melon was at that time of recent introduction,and known to but few; and this appears to beconfirmed by a passage in Plutarch, who ] ROMAN HUSBANDRY. 263 that in his time, many old men were as ignorantof the taste of the melon, as they were of thatof the orange, or of the Indian pepper. 2//a/ou Se 7re7rovo$, Ka\ fiyXov firjSUov, /ecu Treirepew?,woWovs Icrfxev €7r\ tw Trpeo-fivTepav yevcracrOai fArj dvva- txevovg. (Symp. lib. i. c. 9.) Indeed it seems difficult to account for thesilence of writers of the Augustan age respect-ing this fruit, if it had been known to them atthat time; for its delicious flavour and refreshingcoolness would have caused it to be celebratedby the poets, quite as much as the Citrus me-dica, of wh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
