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12These different flavours are dependent on the quality of the earth, as in the case of fruits. For if the roots of trees, of vines, or of other plants, did not produce fruit according to the quality of the earth and the nature of the moisture, the same sort of fruit would, in all places and countries, possess the same flavour. Whereas we see, that, in the island of Lesbos the Protyran wine is made, in Mæonia the κατακεκαυμενίτη (Catakecaumenitan), in Lydia the Melitan, in Sicily the Mamertine, in Campania the Falernian, at Terracina and Fundi the Cæcuban; and in many other places a vast variety of sorts, of different qualities; which could not be the case, but that the moisture of the earth, penetrating the roots with the particular flavour it possesses, nourishes the tree, and, rising to the top of it, imparts to the fruit the flavour of the place and species.
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