Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| K. Matters Concerning Shrubs and Pot-Herbs Why does brackish water suit celery, but not leek? Is it because the roots of the one are weak, and of the other strong? What is stronger is less affected. Why is it said, in wartime neither eat mint nor plant it? Is it because it cools the body? The destruction of its seed shows this. And this is opposed to courage and spiritedness, which are the same in kind. Why are some plants that have flowers fruitless, for example the cucumber, the gourd, and the pomegranate? Or are they not fruitless, but is this very thing the fruit? At any rate the flowering part is the pericarp, and the cucumber is a pericarp.
2| Why are some growing things edible only when boiled, while others are edible raw? Is it that those whose juices are not immediately fit to eat become sweeter when cooked by heat, while those whose juices are fit to eat right away are also edible raw? Why are some things boiled, others roasted? Is it because the moister ones do not need to be dried out as much, while the drier ones need no more drying than that? Everything that is boiled becomes moister and softer. But things that are less moist, if subjected to fire, become dry. Why are some things inedible, others edible? Is it on account of their juices? For whatever has, even raw, juices that are unconcocted, and does not change when subjected to fire, is inedible. But whatever has a juice that is edible yet strong, these are seasonings: for foods that have great potency in a small amount season those that are had in large amount.
3| For what reason do some plants live only until they produce seed, and then, having borne it, wither — for instance grass and the so-called pot-herbs — while others do not, but bear fruit many times? And among those that live only until seed, most are annuals, but alexanders bears its fruit in the following year, and having borne it, withers away? Or is it that all plants are at their peak only up to this point, for as long as they are at their peak with respect to their seed? Since human beings, too, grow up to the age of thirty, sometimes in bulk, sometimes in thickness. And when a plant can no longer bear, just as in that case, it withers and grows old; but this happens slowly and in due proportion. Now the reason why some plants are short-lived and others long-lived is a separate account. But since for all of them the limit is the completion of their seed, it is necessary that the short-lived ones bear fruit once or a few times, and the long-lived ones many times, so that the weakest would bear only once — which is why they must wither — and among these, some can be annuals within a single year, while others, like alexanders, bear in the following year, just as trees and shrubs do. Why, if one digs around celery down as far as the roots and packs barley-groats around it, and then puts earth on top and waters it that way, do the roots become enormous? Is it because the barley-groats, being warm and porous, retain the nourishment as a whole and do not let it escape upward, but concoct it since they are warm, so that a great deal of growth results?
4| Why, if someone buries gourds or cucumbers in the earth while they are still small, do they become larger? Is it because the winds and the sun, by drying things out, take away growth, and make bulk smaller in all cases but denser — just as with trees, both those in windy or marshy places and those in hollow, well-watered places: the latter become large and spongy, the former small and dense? So plants buried in the earth, undergoing the opposite treatment, come out the opposite way. Likewise with things placed inside containers — cucumbers put into hollow fennel-stalks or covers, and pomegranates and apples put into pots — the ones grown without resistance become large but spongy, while the small ones grow dense and firm as they grow, not against resistance. The cause is that more nourishment accumulates because it is neither breathed out nor dried away: for what covers them over prevents this from happening. Why are the seeds of pungent plants more pungent than the roots and leaves? Is it because everything comes to be out of the seed, and it is from this that the other parts are given their share, as though these qualities were already present in it, as some say — both the juices and the odors, since odors too become distinctive at the same time as all the seeds do? If, then, pungency belongs to the other parts because it comes from the seed, it stands to reason that it belongs most of all to the seed itself.
5| Why are thin radishes more pungent? Is it because the larger ones have been concocted more, on account of the time taken?
6| Why is it that the caper plant does not readily consent to grow in cultivated ground (many have tried, both transplanting roots and sowing seeds — for in some places it would be more profitable than roses), but grows especially on graves, because that is the most untrodden place? Concerning this and other such cases, one must grasp that not everything comes to be, or grows, from the same matter, but some things come to be and grow out of the destruction of other things and from a starting point, as lice and hairs on the body come to be when the nourishment is being corrupted, and when the body is continually getting worse. So just as some things in the body come to be from a residue of nourishment — that is, from indigestion — and from what nature was unable to master (the readiest of this is excreted into the bladder and the belly, while from some of it living creatures come to be, which is why these increase in old age and in diseases), so too in the earth some things come to be and grow from nourishment that has been concocted, while others come from residues and from things in a contrary condition. Farming concocts the nourishment and makes it active; from this the cultivated fruits are composed. So the things that come to be from this kind of cultivation are called cultivated, because they are benefited by craft, as though being educated; but whatever cannot be so benefited, or is composed even from what is in a contrary condition, these are wild and do not consent to grow in farmed ground. For farming, in educating them, destroys them; for they come to be out of destruction. The caper is one of these.
7| Why is it that if someone, when radishes are at their very peak in winter, cuts off the leaves and heaps earth around them and tramples it down so as to keep off the water, these become enormously thick in summer? Is it because the heaping-around is the cause of their not being destroyed, since it prevents the water from rotting them? And the nourishment which it used to send up into the shoot enters into the radish itself, so that it necessarily becomes larger, rather than sending the nourishment off by putting out other roots as side-shoots, as onions do? For onions too, if one does not pull them up within the year but lets them stand through the winter, become many times more numerous. Onions, then, are among the plants that put out side-shoots, but the radish is not, so that it necessarily becomes thick, because it takes in all the nourishment.
8| Why is it that if someone plants cucumbers or gourds around a well, and when they are ripe lowers them into the well and covers it over, they stay green throughout the year? Is it because the vapor from the water, by cooling them, prevents them from drying out and keeps them flourishing, and the screening of them from the winds too nourishes what has grown? And the cause of their persisting is that the roots, being left alone, have nourishment. Indeed if someone, once they have borne fruit, removes the shoot and cuts it off and heaps earth around the roots and tramples the ground around them, he will get early cucumbers, since the roots are able to be preserved — for otherwise there would be no cucumber from last year's plants. And these will bear fruit sooner than the ones that are sown, because the roots are far ahead of the seasonal work by nature, whereas for the sown ones this must happen first — namely that in heaping earth around them you produce warmth, so that they are preserved and put out a shoot more quickly. This is also why, if someone plants cucumber seed in winter in little baskets and waters it with warm water and carries it out into the sun and sets it by the fire, the cucumbers will be extremely early, provided that, just as it stands in the baskets, he plants it in the ground when the fitting season arrives. Why do people water at dawn, or at night, or in the late afternoon? Is it so that the sun does not use up the water? Or is it because, if the water is warm, it destroys what is being watered?
9| Why are fragrant things diuretic, both seeds and plants? Is it because they are hot and easily concocted, and such things are diuretic — for the heat present in them quickly makes fine what it acts on, and the smell is not corporeal, since even things that are not fragrant, such as garlic, are diuretic on account of their heat, though more melting than diuretic. Fragrant seeds are hot, because smell in general comes to be through a certain heat; but foul-smelling things are unconcocted. And they must be not only hot but also easily concocted, if they are to be diuretic, so that in passing down together with the fluids they may make them fine. Why do those vegetables sprout into stalk more quickly which come from older seed — say three years old or two years old — than those from fresher seed? Is it because, just as among animals what is at its peak bears seed more quickly, so too among seeds those that are excessively old have had their power dried out, while the fresh ones are weaker because they still have a residue that is not proper to them, and those in between in age are strongest, the moisture having departed — so they bear seed more quickly? And this is what sprouting into stalk is; for the seed comes from the stalk.
10| Why does rue grow finest and most abundantly if someone plants it out grafted into a fig tree? It is grafted in around the bark and plastered around with clay. Is it because the roots of rue need heat and warmth (which is why, if one puts ash around them, they benefit), and the fig tree is hot? The sap shows this too, being the sharpest of all saps, and so does its abundant smoke. The fig tree, then, has heat and moisture of the same kind as ash also has, so that if ash benefits the rue, it is necessary that it thrive most of all on the fig tree too, inasmuch as the ash does not keep flowing in, whereas what comes from the fig tree always keeps flowing in, since the fig tree's moisture is not used up. Why is it that some plants always bear a hollow stalk? Is it those which must grow something else within it? Why is it that in Attica the other fruits become sweetest, but thyme is sharpest? And yet this too is a kind of fruit... so that the things that grow there do not have much moisture. Now those things that are sweet by nature, because of the moderate amount of moisture present in them — when the sun draws off most of it, what remains is easily concocted; for it is a great task to ripen a lot, but a moderate amount is easier. So things sweet by nature become sweeter. But in fruits that are dry by nature and not sweet, what is proper to them is left behind in small quantity because of its scarcity, and this remainder is the least sweet part of all; for the sun takes away what is sweetest and lightest. These fruits, then, do not have a surplus the way the other fruits do.
11| Why do pennyroyal and lilies and onions that are hung up bloom around the solstice? Is it because unconcocted nourishment is present in them, and in winter it is not concocted on account of the cold, but around the solstice, being concocted on account of the season, growth occurs? And this growth, because it has no inflow of nourishment, quickly withers. For having no starting point and no inflow, it dries out completely — just as among the Scythians, because much snow falls, it happens that the grain stays put and then shoots up quickly.
12| Why does the onion alone bite the eyes so excessively (which is why, they say, it has this name, as making the pupil close up), while oregano does not, nor other things that are sharp? For even watercress, which bites more, does not likewise make one weep when brought near, though it does when eaten and chewed, whereas the onion does so both when brought near and when eaten. Is it because many differences attend each of the sharp things, and these produce the particular power of each? Watercress, then, because it is hotter, is more drying than productive of the melting it produces, since it does make one weep when eaten; but not when brought near, because nothing fine evaporates from it, for it is drier and hotter. Oregano and things like it are hot and dry in a mild way; but what is going to produce weeping must be biting and also moist and sticky. This is also why olive oil makes one weep, though it has a weak bite; for through stickiness and fineness, by seeping in, it produces the irritation, and the melting comes through the irritation. The onion has such a power that both its moisture and its vapor are hot and fine and sticky. So when it is brought near, because its vapor is of this kind and sends off a fine moisture along with it, it makes one weep; and when it is eaten, the exhalation passing through... Garlic is hot and sharp and has moisture, but it is not sticky; that is why it does not make one weep.
13| Why do myrtle-berries crushed in the hand seem sweeter to us than ones that have not been crushed? Is it as with grapes that have been picked, which are sweeter than grapes that have not been picked? For since the must is by nature sweet, the trodden grapes seem, as it were, to have been sweetened, since they are soaked in it through and through and on the outside as well, while the grapes still on the bunch are not sweetened. So too, in the same way, with myrtle-berries, which are sweet by nature and have their sweetness within. Just like the grapes, then, when the berry is crushed it becomes filled from its internal sweetness, and on the outside it shows through as sweeter than it was. Why is it that the smaller myrtle-berries are more without stones, and so too among dates and among grapes, where the small berries either have no stones or have smaller ones? Is it because, being less complete, they do not have anything set apart as a separate part? For the stone holds the seed as its end. And for this same reason they are also smaller, being like offshoots and incomplete. And they are less sweet than the ones that have stones, since they are less concocted, and concoction is completion. Why is it that of fruit-coverings some are more bitter near the stalk, as with cucumbers, and others near the top end, as with acorns? Is it because in the former the nourishment there is unconcocted, since it is always flowing in along the root, while the fruit is by nature dry, so that when the sweet matter is drawn away from the tip and has already been concocted, that part dries out, and what is left is the bitter part, like salt residue? And when a thing dries out further it becomes more bitter, just as olives and acorns become bitter as they age.
14| Why do some plants sprout not while they are in the ground but when they have been cut off, while others sprout as they simply lie there, such as the stalks of lilies and garlic and onions? Is it because all of them have nourishment within themselves, but no plant has it in one fixed place? [It is the surplus of nourishment, then, that causes sprouting. And this is clear: for squills and bulbs do the same thing.] (Each thing grows not simply by having nourishment, but when it has been concocted and distributed. It has the nourishment even before this,) but it grows when the season comes in which this happens, the season that concocts it — as also with crocodile eggs. But the growth is not continuous thereafter, because no further nourishment flows in. Why is it that garlic and onions turn out better the drier they are when planted, while other things turn out worse? Is it because all such plants are especially full of moisture? Planted in this dry way, then, they become well-tempered. And also because they rot less when they are dried out before being planted. Why is it that garlic and onions alone among plants sprout while just lying there? Is it because they are full of moisture and nourishment? It is the surplus of nourishment, then, that causes sprouting. And this is clear: for squills and bulbs do the same thing. Each grows when its own proper season arrives.
15| Why are plants watered with cold water sweeter than those watered with warm? Is it because heat, when shut in, becomes more brackish, just as what is more brackish is also hotter, while the sweet is its opposite, like the cold? And moisture is the nourishment for vegetables, and their flavors come from this. Why do garlic plants smell more once they have grown a stalk than when they are young? Is it because while they are still young there is much foreign moisture present in them that takes away their power, but once they have ripened, this moisture having already been separated out, they then have their own proper smell? And this smell is by nature pungent. In the same way other fruits too are more watery when they are fresh; that is why onions when younger are less pungent. Why is it that in myrtle plants that have not been preserved, the berries fall off more readily than the leaves, while in ones preserved with seaweed the leaves fall off but the berries do not? Is this how it is with unpreserved plants because of their nature? For when the berry has ripened, it is its nature to fall off. But this does not happen to plants that have been laid down, and only the moisture of the seaweed prevents the moisture within the berry from changing. The leaves, on the other hand, fall off for the opposite reason, when they dry out, and the seaweed, being salty, dries them. So the same thing does not happen to the leaves whether they are still on the myrtle plant or have been laid down with it.
16| Why do melons turn out best in marshy plains that are full of moisture, such as around Orchomenus and in Egypt? For that country seems to be a watery one. Marshy places are indeed watery, and melons themselves are rather moist plants; that is why garden-grown ones are inferior. Is it because, owing to the hardness of the soil, they are forced to be planted deep? For clayey and level ground becomes especially hard, and plants set deep turn out better. Or is it because the soil needs to be dry, on account of the plant itself being moist by nature? For in this way, being drawn in the opposite direction, it will come to a mean. Marshy ground, though wetter, when it is deep has nourishment both because of the depth of the soil and because of its location, and this nourishment is not excessive, since the soil dries out again. Why does rue make sweat foul-smelling, and so do some perfumes? Is it because whatever substances have heaviness and pungency in their smell, when these are mixed with the body's excess moisture, make the smell more foul?
17| Why do they say that rue is a remedy against the evil eye? Is it because people seem to be bewitched when they eat greedily? Or because they are suspicious of certain unpleasant persons and wary about what is offered them? At any rate, when people take something for themselves apart from the same table, sharing it out, they add the words, so that you do not cast the evil eye on me. So everyone, in a disturbed state, will take in with their food whatever liquid or solid is given them, and from these, whether being retained or being vomited up, the food is thrown into disorder along with the breath, and this produces pains and gripings. Rue, then, eaten beforehand, being by nature heating, loosens the vessel that receives the food, and the rest of the body as well. That is why the breath that has been caught inside is released. Why does marjoram thrown into must make the wine sweet? Two cups of it are thrown into the amphora. Is it because it draws out the elements that produce harshness, taking up into itself, by its dryness, the watery and lees-like matter? A sign of this is that harshness comes from these elements: for wines are less mellow if water is added, and if one lets them stand longer in their lees. And when people make wine sweet, they lay the grapes out in the sun for a long time, and the sun takes away the watery part and finishes concocting the rest. Marjoram does this same thing, for it is dry and hot, so that it reasonably has this lasting effect.
18| Why are the dark-leaved myrtles more thickly leaved than the pale-leaved myrtles? Is it because they are wilder in kind? A sign of this is that they grow in the fields and change least under cultivation. And all wild plants are more thickly leaved, because since they concoct their fruit less, the nourishment is turned instead into the leaves.