CHAP. 44.—OTHER PLANTS THAT ARE SOWN IN THE GARDEN:
OCIMUM; ROCKET; AND NASTURTIUM.
For the remaining plants a brief description will suffice. The
best time for sowing ocimum, [Note] it is said, is at the festival of the
Parilia; [Note] though some say that it may be done in autumn as
well, and recommend, when it is sown in winter, to drench
the seed thoroughly with vinegar. Rocket, [Note] too, and nasturtium [Note] may be grown with the greatest facility either in summer or winter. Rocket, more particularly, is able to stand
the cold, and its properties are quite different form those of
the lettuce, as it is a great provocative of lust. Hence it is
that we are in the habit of mixing these two plants in our
dishes, the excess of cold in the one being compensated by the
equal degree of heat in the other. Nasturtium has received
that name from [Note] the smarting sensation which its pungency
causes to the nostrils, and hence it is that a certain notion of
smartness has attached itself to the word, it having become quite
a proverbial saying, that a sluggish man should eat nasturtium,
to arouse him from his torpidity. In Arabia, it is said, this
plant attains a size that is quite marvellous.
