Chapter VIII: Book XVIII: The Natural History of Grain (2)

There are some differences, also, in the stem of wheat; for the better the kind the thicker it is. In Thrace, the stem of the wheat is covered with several coats,[133] which are rendered absolutely necessary by the excessive cold of those regions. It is the cold, also, that led to the discovery there of the three-month[134] wheat, the ground being covered with snow most of the year. At the end mostly of three months after it has been sown, this wheat is ready for cutting, both in Thrace and in other parts of the world as well. This variety is well known, too, throughout all the Alpine range, and in the northern provinces there is no kind of wheat that is more prolific; it has a single stem only, is by no means of large size in any part of it, and is never sown but in a thin, light soil. There is a two-month[135] wheat also found in the vicinity of Ænos, in Thrace, which ripens the fortieth day after sowing; and yet it is a surprising fact, that there is no kind of wheat that weighs heavier than this, while at the same time it produces no bran. Both Sicily and Achaia grow it, in the mountainous districts of those countries; as also Eubœa, in the vicinity of Carystus. So greatly, then, is Columella in error,[136] in supposing that there is no distinct variety of three-month wheat even; the fact being that these varieties have been known from the very earliest times. The Greeks give to these wheats the name of “setanion.” It is said that in Bactria the grains of wheat are of such an enormous size, that a single one is as large as our ears of corn.[137]

CHAP. 13.—BARLEY: RICE.

Of all the cereals the first that is sown is barley. We shall state the appropriate time for sowing each kind when we come to treat of the nature of each individually. In India, there is both a cultivated and a wild[138] barley, from which they make excellent bread, as well as alica.[139] But the most favourite food of all there is rice,[140] from which they prepare a ptisan[141] similar to that made from barley in other parts of the world. The leaves of rice are fleshy,[142] very like those of the leek, but broader; the stem is a cubit in height, the blossom purple, and the root globular, like a pearl in shape.[143]

CHAP. 14.—POLENTA.

Barley is one of the most ancient aliments of man, a fact that is proved by a custom of the Athenians, mentioned by Menander,[144] as also by the name of “hordearii,”[145] that used to be given to gladiators. The Greeks, too, prefer barley to anything else for making polenta.[146] This food is made in various ways: in Greece, the barley is first steeped in water, and then left a night to dry. The next day they parch it, and then grind it in the mill. Some persons parch it more highly, and then sprinkle it again with a little water; after which they dry it for grinding. Others shake the grain from out of the ear while green, and, after cleaning and soaking it in water, pound it in a mortar. They then wash the paste in baskets, and leave it to dry in the sun; after which they pound it again, clean it, and grind it in the mill. But whatever the mode of preparation adopted, the proportions are always twenty pounds of barley to three pounds of linseed,[147] half a pound of coriander, and fifteen drachmæ[148] of salt: the ingredients are first parched, and then ground in the mill.

Those who want it for keeping, store it in new earthen vessels, with fine flour and bran. In Italy, the barley is parched without being steeped in water, and then ground to a fine meal, with the addition of the ingredients already mentioned, and some millet as well. Barley bread, which was extensively used by the ancients, has now fallen into universal disrepute, and is mostly used as a food for cattle only.

CHAP. 15.—PTISAN.

With barley, too, the food called ptisan[149] is made, a most substantial and salutary aliment, and one that is held in very high esteem. Hippocrates, one of the most famous writers on medical science, has devoted a whole volume to the praises of this aliment. The ptisan of the highest quality is that which is made at Utica; that of Egypt is prepared from a kind of barley, the grain of which grows with two points.[150] In Bætica and Africa, the kind of barley from which this food is made is that which Turranius calls the “smooth”[151] barley: the same author expresses an opinion, too, that olyra[152] and rice are the same. The method of preparing ptisan is universally known.

CHAP. 16.—TRAGUM.

In a similar manner, too, tragum is prepared from seed[153] wheat, but only in Campania and Egypt.

CHAP. 17.—AMYLUM.

Amylum is prepared from every kind of wheat, and from winter-wheat[154] as well; but the best of all is that made from three-month wheat. The invention of it we owe to the island of Chios, and still, at the present day, the most esteemed kind comes from there; it derives its name from its being made without the help of the mill.[155] Next to the amylum made with three-month wheat, is that which is prepared from the lighter kinds of wheat. In making it, the grain is soaked in fresh water, placed in wooden vessels; care being taken to keep it covered with the liquid, which is changed no less than five times in the course of the day. If it can be changed at night as well, it is all the better for it, the object being to let it imbibe the water gradually and equally. When it is quite soft, but before it turns sour, it is passed through linen cloth, or else wicker-work, after which it is poured out upon a tile covered with leaven, and left to harden in the sun. Next to the amylum of Chios, that of Crete is the most esteemed, and next to that the Ægyptian. The tests of its goodness are its being light and smooth: it should be used, too, while it is fresh. Cato,[156] among our writers, has made mention of it.

CHAP. 18.—THE NATURE OF BARLEY.

Barley-meal, too, is employed for medicinal purposes; and it is a curious fact, that for beasts of burden they make a paste of it, which is first hardened by the action of fire, and then ground. It is then made up into balls, which are introduced with the hand into the paunch, the result of which is, that the vigour and muscular strength of the animal is considerably increased. In some kinds of barley, the ears have two rows of grains,[157] and in others more; in some cases, as many as six.[158] The grain itself, too, presents certain differences, being long and thin, or else short or round, white, black,[159] or, in some instances, of a purple colour. This last kind is employed for making polenta: the white is ill adapted for standing the severity of the weather. Barley is the softest of all the grains: it can only be sown in a dry, loose soil,[160] but fertile withal. The chaff of barley ranks among the very best; indeed, for litter there is none that can be compared with it. Of all grain, barley is the least exposed to accidents, as it is gathered before the time that mildew begins to attack wheat; for which reason it is that the provident agriculturist sows only as much wheat as may be required for food. The saying is, that “barley is sown in a money-bag,” because it so soon returns a profit. The most prolific kind of all is that which is got in at Carthage,[161] in Spain, in the month of April. It is in the same month that it is sown in Celtiberia, and yet it yields two harvests in the same year. All kinds of barley are cut sooner than other grain, and immediately after they are ripe; for the straw is extremely brittle, and the grain is enclosed in a husk of remarkable thinness. It is said, too, that a better polenta[162] is made from it, if it is gathered before it is perfectly ripe.

CHAP. 19. (8.)—ARINCA, AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN THAT ARE GROWN IN THE EAST.

The several kinds of corn are not everywhere the same; and even where they are the same, they do not always bear a similar name. The kinds most universally grown are spelt, by the ancients known as “adorea,” winter wheat,[163] and wheat;[164] all these being common to many countries. Arinca was originally peculiar to Gaul, though now it is widely diffused over Italy as well. Egypt, too, Syria, Cilicia, Asia, and Greece, have their own peculiar kinds, known by the names of zea,[165] olyra, and tiphe.[166] In Egypt, they make a fine flour from wheat of their own growth, but it is by no means equal to that of Italy. Those countries which employ zea, have no spelt. Zea, however, is to be found in Italy, and in Campania more particularly, where it is known by the name of “seed.”[167] The grain that bears this name enjoys a very considerable celebrity, as we shall have occasion to state[168] on another occasion; and it is in honour of this that Homer[169] uses the expression, ζείδωρος ἄρουρα, and not, as some suppose, from the fact of the earth giving life.[170] Amylum is made, too, from this grain, but of a coarser[171] quality than the kind already mentioned;[172] this, however, is the only difference that is perceptible.

The most hardy kind, however, of all the grains is spelt, and the best to stand the severity of the weather; it will grow in the very coldest places, as also in localities that are but half tilled, or soils that are extremely hot, and destitute of water. This was the earliest food of the ancient inhabitants of Latium; a strong proof of which is the distributions of adorea that were made in those times, as already stated.[173] It is evident, too, that the Romans subsisted for a long time upon pottage,[174] and not bread; for we find that from its name of “puls,” certain kinds of food are known, even at the present day, as “pulmentaria.”[175] Ennius, too, the most ancient of our poets, in describing the famine in a siege, relates how that the parents snatched away the messes of pottage[176] from their weeping children. At the present day, even, the sacrifices in conformity with the ancient rites, as well as those offered upon birthdays, are made with parched pottage.[177] This food appears to have been as much unknown in those days in Greece as polenta was in Italy.

CHAP. 20.—WINTER WHEAT. SIMILAGO, OR FINE FLOUR.

There is no grain that displays a greater avidity than wheat, and none that absorbs a greater quantity of nutriment. With all propriety I may justly call winter wheat[178] the very choicest of all the varieties of wheat. It is white, destitute of all flavour,[179] and not oppressive[180] to the stomach. It suits moist localities particularly well, such as we find in Italy and Gallia Comata; but beyond the Alps it is found to maintain its character only in the territory of the Allobroges and that of the Memini; for in the other parts of those countries it degenerates at the end of two years into common wheat.[181] The only method of preventing this is to take care and sow the heaviest grains only.

(9.) Winter wheat furnishes bread of the very finest quality and the most esteemed delicacies of the bakers. The best bread that is known in Italy is made from a mixture of Campanian winter wheat with that of Pisæ. The Campanian kind is of a redder colour, while the latter is white; when mixed with chalk,[182] it is increased in weight. The proper proportion for the yield of Campanian wheat to the modius of grain is four sextarii of what is known as bolted flour;[183] but when it is used in the rough and has not been bolted, then the yield should be five sextarii of flour. In addition to this, in either case there should be half a modius of white meal, with four sextarii of coarse meal, known as “seconds,” and the same quantity of bran.[184] The Pisan wheat produces five sextarii of fine flour to the modius; in other respects it yields the same as that of Campania. The wheat of Clusium and Arretium gives another sextarius of fine flour, but the yield is similar to that of the kinds already mentioned in all other respects. If, however, as much of it as possible is converted into fine wheat meal, the modius will yield sixteen pounds weight of white bread, and three of seconds, with half a modius of bran. These differences, however, depend very materially upon the grinding; for when the grain is ground quite dry it produces more meal, but when sprinkled with salt water[185] a whiter flour, though at the same time a greater quantity of bran. It is very evident that “farina,” the name we give to meal, is derived from “far.” A modius of meal made from Gallic winter wheat, yields twenty-two pounds of bread; while that of Italy, if made into bread baked in tins,[186] will yield two or three pounds more. When the bread is baked in the oven,[187] two pounds must be added in weight in either case.

(10.) Wheat yields a fine flour[188] of the very highest quality. In African wheat the modius ought to yield half a modius of fine flour and five sextarii of pollen, that being the name given to fine wheat meal, in the same way that that of winter wheat is generally known as “flos,” or the “flower.” This fine meal is extensively used in copper works and paper manufactories. In addition to the above, the modius should yield four sextarii of coarse meal, and the same quantity of bran. The finest wheaten flour will yield one hundred[189] and twenty-two pounds of bread, and the fine meal of winter wheat one hundred[189] and seventeen, to the modius of grain. When the prices of grain are moderate, meal sells at forty asses the modius, bolted wheaten flour at eight asses more, and bolted flour of winter wheat, at sixteen asses more. There is another distinction again in fine wheaten flour, which originated formerly in the days of L. Paulus. There were three classes of wheat; the first of which would appear to have yielded seventeen pounds of bread, the second eighteen, and the third nineteen pounds and a third: to these were added two pounds and a half of seconds,[190] and the same quantity of brown[190] bread, with six sextarii of bran.[191]

Winter wheat never ripens all at once, and yet there is none of the cereals that can so ill brook any delay; it being of so delicate a nature, that the ears directly they are ripe will begin to shed their grain. So long, however, as it is in stalk, it is exposed to fewer risks than other kinds of wheat, from the fact of its always having the ear upright, and not retaining the dew, which is a prolific cause of mildew.

From arinca[192] a bread of remarkable sweetness is made. The grains in this variety lie closer than they do in spelt; the ear, too, is larger and more weighty. It is rarely the case that a modius of this grain does not weigh full sixteen pounds. In Greece they find great difficulty in threshing it; and hence it is that we find Homer[193] saying that it is given to beasts of burden, this being the same as the grain that he calls “olyra.” In Egypt it is threshed without any difficulty, and is remarkably prolific. Spelt has no beard, and the same is the case with winter wheat, except[194] that known as the Laconian variety. To the kinds already mentioned we have to add bromos,[195] the winter wheat just excepted, and tragos,[196] all of them exotics introduced from the East, and very similar to rice. Tiphe[197] also belongs to the same class, from which in our part of the world a cleaned grain resembling rice is prepared. Among the Greeks, too, there is the grain known as zea; and it is said that this, as well as tiphe, when cleaned from the husk and sown, will degenerate[198] and assume the form of wheat; not immediately, but in the course of three years.

CHAP. 21.—THE FRUITFULNESS OF AFRICA IN WHEAT.

There is no grain more prolific than wheat, Nature having bestowed upon it this quality, as being the substance which she destined for the principal nutriment of man. A modius of wheat, if the soil is favourable, as at Byzacium,[199] a champaign district of Africa, will yield as much as one hundred and fifty[200] modii of grain. The procurator of the late Emperor Augustus sent him from that place—a fact almost beyond belief—little short of four hundred shoots all springing from a single grain; and we have still in existence his letters on the subject. In a similar manner, too, the procurator of Nero sent him three hundred and sixty stalks all issuing from a single grain.[201] The plains of Leontium in Sicily, and other places in that island, as well as the whole of Bætica, and Egypt more particularly, yield produce a hundred-fold. The most prolific kinds of wheat are the ramose wheat,[202] and that known as the “hundred-grain”[203] wheat. Before now, as many as one hundred beans, too, have been found on a single stalk.

CHAP. 22.—SESAME. ERYSIMUM, OR IRIO. HORMINUM.

We have spoken[204] of sesame, millet, and panic as belonging to the summer grains. Sesame[205] comes from India, where they extract an oil from it; the colour of its grain is white. Similar in appearance to this is the erysimum of Asia and Greece, and indeed it would be identical with it were it not that the grain is better filled.[206] It is the same grain that is known among us as “irio;” and strictly speaking, ought rather to be classed among the medicaments than the cereals. Of the same nature, too, is the plant called “horminum”[207] by the Greeks, though resembling cummin[208] in appearance; it is sown at the same time as sesame: no animal will eat either this or irio while green.

CHAP. 23.—THE MODE OF GRINDING CORN.

All the grains are not easily broken. In Etruria they first parch the spelt in the ear, and then pound it with a pestle shod with iron at the end. In this instrument the iron is notched[209] at the bottom, sharp ridges running out like the edge of a knife, and concentrating in the form of a star; so that if care is not taken to hold the pestle perpendicularly while pounding, the grains will only be splintered and the iron teeth broken. Throughout the greater part of Italy, however, they employ a pestle that is only rough[210] at the end, and wheels turned by water, by means of which the corn is gradually ground. I shall here set forth the opinions given by Mago as to the best method of pounding corn. He says that the wheat should be steeped first of all in water, and then cleaned from the husk; after which it should be dried in the sun, and then pounded with the pestle; the same plan, he says, should be adopted in the preparation of barley. In the latter case, however, twenty sextarii of grain require only two sextarii of water. When lentils are used, they should be first parched, and then lightly pounded with the bran; or else, adopting another method, a piece of unbaked brick and half a modius of sand[211] should be added to every twenty sextarii of lentils.

Ervilia should be treated in the same way as lentils. Sesame should be first steeped in warm water, and then laid out to dry, after which it should be rubbed out briskly, and then thrown into cold water, so that the chaff may be disengaged by floating to the surface. After this is done, the grain should again be spread out in the sun, upon linen cloths, to dry. Care, however, should be taken to lose no time in doing this, as it is apt to turn musty, and assume a dull, livid colour. The grains, too, which are just cleaned from the husk, require various methods of pounding. When the beard is ground by itself, without the grain, the result is known as “acus,”[212] but it is only used by goldsmiths.[213] If, on the other hand, it is beaten out on the threshing-floor, together with the straw, the chaff has the name of “palea,” * * * * and in most parts of the world is employed as fodder for beasts of burden. The residue of millet, panic, and sesame, is known to us as “apluda;” but in other countries it is called by various other names.

CHAP. 24.—MILLET.

Campania is particularly prolific in millet, and a fine white porridge is made from it: it makes a bread, too, of remarkable sweetness. The nations of Sarmatia[214] live principally on this porridge, and even the raw meal, with the sole addition of mares’ milk, or else blood[215] extracted from the thigh of the horse. The Æthiopians know of no other grain but millet and barley.

CHAP. 25.—PANIC.

The people of Gaul, and of Aquitania[216] more particularly, make use of panic; the same is the case, too, in Italy beyond the Padus, with the addition, however, of the bean, without which they prepare none of their food. There is no aliment held in higher esteem than panic by the nations of Pontus. The other summer grains thrive better in well-watered soils than in rainy localities; but water is by no means beneficial to millet or panic when they are coming into blade. It is recommended not to sow them among vines or fruit-trees, as it is generally thought that these crops impoverish the soil.

CHAP. 26. (11)—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF LEAVEN.

Millet is more particularly employed for making leaven; and if kneaded with must,[217] it will keep a whole year. The same is done, too, with the fine wheat-bran of the best quality; it is kneaded with white must three days old, and then dried in the sun, after which it is made into small cakes. When required for making bread, these cakes are first soaked in water, and then boiled with the finest spelt flour, after which the whole is mixed up with the meal; and it is generally thought that this is the best method of making bread. The Greeks have established a rule that for a modius of meal eight ounces of leaven is enough.

These kinds of leaven, however, can only be made at the time of vintage, but there is another leaven which may be prepared with barley and water, at any time it may happen to be required. It is first made up into cakes of two pounds in weight, and these are then baked upon a hot hearth, or else in an earthen dish upon hot ashes and charcoal, being left till they turn of a reddish brown. When this is done, the cakes are shut close in vessels, until they turn quite sour: when wanted for leaven, they are steeped in water first. When barley bread used to be made, it was leavened with the meal of the fitch,[218] or else the chicheling vetch,[219] the proportion being, two pounds of leaven to two modii and a half of barley meal. At the present day, however, the leaven is prepared from the meal that is used for making the bread. For this purpose, some of the meal is kneaded before adding the salt, and is then boiled to the consistency of porridge, and left till it begins to turn sour. In most cases, however, they do not warm it at all, but only make use of a little of the dough that has been kept from the day before. It is very evident that the principle which causes the dough to rise is of an acid nature, and it is equally evident that those persons who are dieted upon fermented bread are stronger[220] in body. Among the ancients, too, it was generally thought that the heavier wheat is, the more wholesome it is.

CHAP. 27.—THE METHOD OF MAKING BREAD: ORIGIN OF THE ART.

It seems to me quite unnecessary to enter into an account of the various kinds of bread that are made. Some kinds, we find, receive their names from the dishes with which they are eaten, the oyster-bread,[221] for instance: others, again, from their peculiar delicacy, the artolaganus,[222] or cake-bread, for example; and others from the expedition with which they are prepared, such as the “speusticus,”[223] or “hurry-bread.” Other varieties receive their names from the peculiar method of baking them, such as oven-bread,[224] tin-bread,[225] and mould-bread.[226] It is not so very long since that we had a bread introduced from Parthia, known as water-bread,[227] from a method in kneading it, of drawing out the dough by the aid of water, a process which renders it remarkably light, and full of holes, like a sponge: some call this Parthian bread. The excellence of the finest kinds of bread depends principally on the goodness of the wheat, and the fineness of the bolter. Some persons knead the dough with eggs or milk, and butter even has been employed for the purpose by nations that have had leisure to cultivate the arts of peace, and to give their attention to the art of making pastry. Picenum still maintains its ancient reputation for making the bread which it was the first to invent, alica[228] being the grain employed. The flour is kept in soak for nine days, and is kneaded on the tenth with raisin juice, in the shape of long rolls; after which it is baked in an oven in earthen pots, till they break. This bread, however, is never eaten till it has been well[229] soaked, which is mostly done in milk mixed with honey.

CHAP. 28.—WHEN BAKERS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED AT ROME.

There were no bakers at Rome until[230] the war with King Perseus, more than five hundred and eighty years after the building of the City. The ancient Romans used to make their own bread, it being an occupation which belonged to the women, as we see the case in many nations even at the present day. Plautus speaks of the artopta, or bread-tin, in his Comedy of the Aulularia,[231] though there has been considerable discussion for that very reason among the learned, whether or not that line really belongs to him. We have the fact, too, well ascertained, in the opinion of Ateius Capito, that the cooks in those days were in the habit of making the bread for persons of affluence, while the name of “pistor”[232] was only given to the person who pounded, or “pisebat,” the spelt. In those times, they had no cooks in the number of their slaves, but used to hire them for the occasion from the market. The Gauls were the first to employ the bolter that is made of horse-hair; while the people of Spain make their sieves and meal-dressers of flax,[233] and the Egyptians of papyrus and rushes.

CHAP. 29.—ALICA.

But among the very first things of all, we ought to speak of the method employed in preparing alica,[234] a most delightful and most wholesome food, and which incontestably confers upon Italy the highest rank among the countries that produce the cereals. This delicacy is prepared, no doubt, in Egypt as well, but of a very inferior quality, and not worth our notice. In Italy, however, it is prepared in numerous places, the territories of Verona and Pisæ, for example; but that of Campania is the most highly esteemed. There, at the foot of mountains capped with clouds, runs a plain, not less in all than forty miles in extent. The land here—to give a description first of the nature of the soil—is dusty on the surface, but spongy below, and as porous as pumice. The inconveniences that generally arise from the close vicinity of mountains are here converted into so many advantages: for the soil, acting on it as a sort of filter, absorbs the water of the abundant rains that fall; the consequence of which is, that the water not being left to soak or form mud on the surface, the cultivation is greatly facilitated thereby. This land does not return, by the aid of any springs, the moisture it has thus absorbed, but thoroughly digests it, by warming it in its bosom, in a heated oven as it were. The ground is kept cropped the whole year through, once with panic, and twice with spelt; and yet in the spring, when the soil is allowed to have a moment’s repose, it will produce roses more odoriferous by far than the cultivated rose: for the earth here is never tired of producing, a circumstance in which originated the common saying, that Campania produces more unguents[235] than other countries do oil.

In the same degree, however, that the Campanian soil excels that of all other countries, so does that part of it which is known to us as Laboriæ,[236] and to the Greeks as Phlegræum, surpass all the rest. This district is bounded on two sides by the consular high road, which leads from Puteoli to Capua on the one side, and from Cumæ on the other.

Alica is prepared from the grain called zea, which we have already mentioned[237] as being known to us as “seed” wheat. The grain is cleansed in a wooden mortar, for fear lest stone, from its hardness, should have the effect of grating it. The motive power for raising the pestle, as is generally known, is supplied by slaves working in chains, the end of it being enclosed in a case of iron. After the husks have been removed by this process, the pure grain is broken to pieces, the same implements being employed. In this way, there are three different kinds of alica made, the finest, the seconds, and the coarse, which last is known as “aphærema.”[238] Still, however, these various kinds have none of them that whiteness as yet for which they are so distinguished, though even now they are preferable to the Alexandrian alica. With this view—a most singular fact—chalk[239] is mixed with the meal, which, upon becoming well incorporated with it, adds very materially to both the whiteness and the shortness[240] of the mixture. This chalk is found between Puteoli and Neapolis, upon a hill called Leucogæum;[241] and there is still in existence a decree of the late Emperor Augustus, (who established a colony at Capua), which orders a sum of twenty thousand sesterces to be paid annually from his exchequer to the people of Neapolis, for the lease of this hill. His motive for paying this rent, he stated, was the fact that the people of Campania had alleged that it was impossible to make their alica without the help of this mineral. In the same hill, sulphur is found as well, and the springs of Araxus issue from its declivities, the waters of which are particularly efficacious for strengthening the sight, healing wounds, and preventing the teeth from becoming loose.

A spurious kind of alica is made, more particularly of a degenerate kind of zea grown in Africa; the ears of it are larger and blacker than those of the genuine kind, and the straw is short. This grain is pounded with sand, and even then it is with the greatest difficulty that the outer coats are removed; when stripped, the grain fills one half only of the original measure. Gypsum, in the proportion of one fourth, is then sprinkled[242] over it, and after the mixture has been well incorporated, it is bolted through a meal-sieve. The portion that remains behind, after this is done, is known as “excepticia,”[243] and consists of the coarser parts; while that which has passed through is submitted to a second process, with a finer sieve; and that which then refuses to pass has the name of “secundaria.”[244] That, again, which, in a similar manner, is submitted to a third sifting, with a sieve of the greatest fineness, which will only admit of sand passing through it, is known as “cribraria,”[245] when it remains on the top of the sieve.

There is another method, again, that is employed every where for adulterating it. They pick out the whitest and largest grains of wheat, and parboil them in earthen pots; these are then dried in the sun till they have regained their original size, after which they are lightly sprinkled with water, and then ground in a mill. A better granæum[246] is made from zea than from wheat, although it is nothing else, in fact, but a spurious alica: it is whitened by the addition of boiled milk, in place of chalk.

CHAP. 30. (12.)—THE LEGUMINOUS PLANTS: THE BEAN.

We now come to the history of the leguminous plants, among which the place of honour must be awarded to the bean;[247] indeed, some attempts have even been made to use it for bread. Bean meal is known as “lomentum;” and, as is the case with the meal of all leguminous plants, it adds considerably, when mixed with flour, to the weight of the bread. Beans are on sale at the present day for numerous purposes, and are employed for feeding cattle, and man more particularly. They are mixed, also, among most nations, with wheat,[248] and panic more particularly, either whole or lightly broken. In our ancient ceremonials, too, bean pottage[249] occupies its place in the religious services of the gods. Beans are mostly eaten together with other food, but it is generally thought that they dull the senses, and cause sleepless nights attended with dreams. Hence it is that the bean has been condemned[250] by Pythagoras; though, according to some, the reason for this denunciation was the belief which he entertained that the souls of the dead are enclosed in the bean: it is for this reason, too, that beans are used in the funereal banquets of the Parentalia.[251] According to Varro, it is for a similar cause that the Flamen abstains from eating beans: in addition to which, on the blossom of the bean, there are certain letters of ill omen to be found.

There are some peculiar religious usages connected with the bean. It is the custom to bring home from the harvest a bean by way of auspice, which, from that circumstance, has the name of “referiva.”[252] In sales by public auction, too, it is thought lucky to include a bean in the lot for sale. It is a fact, too, that the bean is the only one among all the grains that fills out at the increase of the moon,[253] however much it may have been eaten away: it can never be thoroughly boiled in sea-water, or indeed any other water that is salt.

The bean is the first leguminous plant that is sown; that being done before the setting of the Vergiliæ, in order that it may pass the winter in the ground. Virgil[254] recommends that it should be sown in spring, according to the usage of the parts of Italy near the Padus: but most people prefer the bean that has been sown early to that of only three months’ growth; for, in the former case, the pods as well as the stalk afford a most agreeable fodder for cattle. When in blossom more particularly, the bean requires water; but after the blossom has passed off, it stands in need of but very little. It fertilizes[255] the ground in which it has been sown as well as any manure; hence it is that in the neighbourhood of Thessaly and Macedonia, as soon as it begins to blossom, they turn up[256] the ground.

The bean, too, grows wild in most countries, as in those islands of the Northern Ocean, for instance, which for that reason have been called by us the “Fabariæ.”[257] In Mauritania, also, it is found in a wild state in various parts, but so remarkably hard that it will never become soft by boiling.

In Egypt there is a kind of bean[258] which grows upon a thorny stalk; for which reason the crocodiles avoid it, being apprehensive of danger to their eyes. This stalk is four cubits in length, and its thickness, at the very most, that of the finger: were it not for the absence of articulations in it, it would resemble a soft reed in appearance. The head is similar to that of the poppy, being of a rose colour: the beans enclosed in this head are not above thirty in number; the leaves are large, and the fruit is bitter and odoriferous. The root, however, is highly esteemed by the natives as a food, whether eaten raw or well boiled; it bears a strong resemblance to that of the reed. This plant grows also in Syria and Cilicia, and upon the banks of Lake Torone in Chalcidice.

CHAP. 31.—LENTILS. PEASE.

Among the leguminous plants the lentil is sown in the month of November, and the pea,[259] among the Greeks. The lentil thrives best in a soil that is rather thin than rich, and mostly stands in need of dry weather. There are two kinds of lentil grown in Egypt; one of which is rounder and blacker than the other, which has a peculiar shape of its own. The name of this plant has been applied to various uses, and among others has given origin to our word “lenticula.”[260] I find it stated in some authors that a lentil diet is productive of evenness of temper. The pea requires to be sown in a warm, sunny spot, and is ill able to endure cold; hence in Italy and the more rigorous climates, it is sown in the spring only, a light, loose soil being chosen for the purpose.

CHAP. 32.—THE SEVERAL KINDS OF CHICK-PEASE.

The chick-pea[261] is naturally salt,[262] for which reason it is apt to scorch the ground, and should only be sown after it has been steeped a day in water. This plant presents considerable differences in reference to size, colour,[263] form, and taste. One variety resembles in shape a ram’s head, from which circumstance it has received the name of “arietinum;” there are both the white and the black arietinum. There is also the columbine chick-pea, by some known as the “pea of Venus;” it is white, round, and smooth, being smaller than the arietinum, and is employed in the observances of the night festivals or vigils. The chicheling vetch,[264] too, is a diminutive kind of chick-pea, unequal and angular, like[265] the pea. The chick-pea that is the sweetest in flavour is the one that bears the closest resemblance to the fitch; the pod in the black and the red kinds is more firmly closed than in the white ones.

CHAP. 33.—THE KIDNEY-BEAN.

The pod of the chick-pea is rounded, while in other leguminous plants it is long and broad, like the seed which it contains; in the pea, again, it is of a cylindrical form. In the case of the kidney-bean[266] it is usual to eat the pod together with the seed. This last may be sown in all kinds of soils indifferently, between the ides of October[267] and the calends of November.[268] As soon as ever the leguminous plants begin to ripen, they ought to be plucked, for the pods will very soon open and the seed fall out, in which case it is very difficult to find: the same is the case, too, with the lupine. But before we pass on to the lupine, it will be as well to make some mention of the rape.[269]

CHAP. 34. (13.)—THE RAPE.

The Latin writers have only treated of this plant in a cursory manner, while those of Greece have considered it a little more attentively; though even they have ranked it among the garden plants. If, however, a methodical arrangement is to be strictly observed, it should be spoken of immediately after corn, or the bean, at all events; for next to these two productions, there is no plant that is of more extensive use. For, in the first place, all animals will feed upon it as it grows; and it is far from being the least nutritious plant in the fields for various kinds of birds, when boiled in water more particularly. Cattle, too, are remarkably fond of the leaves of rape; and the stalks and leaves, when in season, are no less esteemed as a food for man than the sprouts of the cabbage;[269] these, too, when turned yellow and left to die in the barn, are even more highly esteemed than[270] when green. As to the rape itself, it will keep all the better if left in its mould, after which it should be dried in the open air till the next crop is nearly ripe, as a resource in case of scarcity. Next to those of the grape and corn, this is the most profitable harvest of all for the countries that lie beyond the Padus. The rape is by no means difficult to please in soil, for it will grow almost anywhere, indeed where nothing else can be sown. It readily derives nutriment from fogs and hoar-frosts, and grows to a marvelous size; I have seen them weighing upwards of forty pounds.[271] It is prepared for table among us in several ways, and is made to keep till the next crop, its fermentation[272] being prevented by preserving it in mustard. It is also tinted with no less than six colours in addition to its own, and with purple even; indeed, that which is used by us as food ought to be of no other colour.[273]

The Greeks have distinguished two principal species of rape, the male and the female,[274] and have discovered a method of obtaining them both from the same seed; for when it is sown thick, or in a hard, cloggy soil, the produce will be male. The smaller the seed the better it is in quality. There are three kinds of rape in all; the first is broad and flat, the second of a spherical shape, and the third, to which the name of “wild” rape[275] has been given, throws out a long root, similar in appearance to a radish, with an angular, rough leaf, and an acrid juice, which, if extracted about harvest, and mixed with a woman’s milk, is good for cleansing the eyes and improving defective sight. The colder the weather the sweeter they are, and the larger, it is generally thought; heat makes them run to leaf. The finest rape of all is that grown in the district of Nursia: it is valued at as much as one sesterce[276] per pound, and, in times of scarcity, two even. That of the next best quality is produced on Mount Algidus.

CHAP. 35.—THE TURNIP.

The turnip[277] of Amiternum, which is pretty nearly of the same nature as the rape, thrives equally well in a cold soil. It is sown just before the calends of March,[278] four sextarii of seed to the jugerum. The more careful growers recommend that the ground should be turned up five times before putting in the turnip, and four for rape, care being taken, in both cases, to manure it well. Rape, they say, will thrive all the better, if it is sown together with some chaff. They will have it, too, that the sower ought to be stripped, and that he should offer up a prayer while sowing, and say: “I sow this for myself and for my neighbours.” The proper time for sowing both kinds is the period that intervenes between the festivals[279] of the two divinities, Neptune and Vulcan. It is said, too—and it is the result of very careful observation—that these plants will thrive wonderfully well, if they are sown as many days after the festival of Neptune as the moon was old when the first snow fell the previous winter. They are sown in spring as well, in warm and humid localities.

CHAP. 36. (14.)—THE LUPINE.

The lupine is the next among the leguminous plants that is in extensive use, as it serves for food for man in common with the hoofed quadrupeds. To prevent it from springing out of the pod[280] while being gathered, and so lost, the best plan is to gather it immediately after a shower. Of all the seeds that are sown, there is not one of a more marvellous nature than this, or more favoured by the earth. First of all, it turns every day with the sun,[281] and shows the hour to the husbandman, even though the weather should happen to be cloudy and overcast. It blossoms, too, no less than three times, and so attached is it to the earth, that it does not require to be covered with the soil; indeed, this is the only seed that does not require the earth to be turned up for sowing it. It thrives more particularly on a sandy, dry, and even gravelly soil; and requires no further care to be taken in its cultivation. To such a degree is it attached to the earth, that even though left upon a soil thickly covered with brambles, it will throw out a root amid the leaves and brakes, and so contrive to reach the ground. We have already stated[282] that the soil of a field or vineyard is enriched by the growth of a crop of lupines; indeed, so far is it from standing in need of manure, that the lupines will act upon it as well as the very best. It is the only seed that requires no outlay at all, so much so, in fact, that there is no necessity to carry it even to the spot where it is sown; for it may be sown the moment it is brought from the threshing-floor:[283] and from the fact that it falls from the pod of its own accord, it stands in need of no one to scatter it.

This is[284] the very first grain sown and the last that is gathered, both operations generally taking place in the month of September; indeed, if this is not done before winter sets in, it is liable to receive injury from the cold. And then, besides, it may even be left with impunity to lie upon the ground, in case showers should not immediately ensue and cover it in, it being quite safe from the attacks of all animals, on account of its bitter taste: still, however, it is mostly covered up in a slight furrow. Among the thicker soils, it is attached to a red earth more particularly. In order to enrich[285] this earth, it should be turned up just after the third blossom; but where the soil is sandy, after the second. Chalky and slimy soils are the only ones that it has an aversion to; indeed, it will never come to anything when sown in them. Soaked in warm water, it is used as a food, too, for man. One modius is a sufficient meal for an ox, and it is found to impart considerable vigour to cattle; placed, too, upon the abdomen[286] of children, it acts as a remedy in certain cases. It is an excellent plan to season the lupine by smoking it; for when it is kept in a moist state, maggots are apt to attack the germ, and render it useless for reproduction. If cattle have eaten it off while in leaf, as a matter of necessity it should be ploughed in as soon as possible.

CHAP. 37. (15.)—THE VETCH.

The vetch,[287] too, enriches the soil, and its cultivation entails no labour on the agriculturist. It is sown after the ground has been but once turned up, and requires neither hoeing nor manuring; nothing at all, indeed, except harrowing. There are three periods for sowing it; the first is about the setting of Arcturus, when it is intended for feeding cattle in the month of December, while in the blade; this crop, too, is the best of all for seed, for, although grazed upon, it will bear just as well. The second crop is sown in the month of January, and the last in March; this last being the best crop for fodder. Of all the seeds this is the one that thrives best in a dry soil; still, however, it manifests no repugnance to a shaded locality. This grain, if gathered when quite ripe, produces a chaff superior to that of any other. If sown near vines supported by trees, the vetch will draw away the juices from the vines, and make them languid.

CHAP. 38.—THE FITCH.

The cultivation of the fitch,[288] too, is attended with no difficulty. It requires weeding, however, more than the vetch. Like it, the fitch has certain medicinal[289] properties; for we find the fact still kept in remembrance by some letters of his, that the late Emperor Augustus was cured by its agency. Five modii will sow as much ground as a yoke of oxen can plough in a day. If sown in the month of March,[290] it is injurious, they say, to oxen: and when sown in autumn, it is apt to produce head-ache. If, however, it is put in the ground at the beginning of spring, it will be productive of no bad results.

CHAP. 39. (16.)—SILICIA.

Silicia,[291] or, in other words, fenugreek, is sown after a light ploughing[292] merely, the furrows being no more than some four fingers in depth; the less the pains that are bestowed upon it the better it will thrive—a singular fact that there should be anything that profits from neglect. The kinds, however, that are known as “secale” and “farrago” require harrowing only.

CHAP. 40.—SECALE OR ASIA.

The people of Taurinum, at the foot of the Alps, give to secale[293] the name of “asia;” it is a very inferior[294] grain, and is only employed to avert positive famine. It is prolific, but has a straw of remarkable thinness; it is also black and sombre-looking, but weighs extremely heavy. Spelt is mixed with this grain to modify its bitterness,[295] and even then it is very disagreeable to the stomach. It will grow upon any soil, and yields a hundred-fold; it is employed also as a manure for enriching the land.

CHAP. 41.—FARRAGO: THE CRACCA.

Farrago, a mixture made of the refuse of “far,” or spelt, is sown very thick, the vetch being sometimes mingled with it; in Africa, this mixture is sometimes made with barley. All these mixtures, however, are only intended for cattle, and the same is the case with the cracca,[296] a degenerate kind of leguminous plant. Pigeons, it is said, are so remarkably fond of this grain, that they will never leave the place where it has been given to them.

CHAP. 42.—OCINUM: ERVILIA.

Among the ancients there was a sort of fodder, to which Cato[297] gives the name of “ocinum;” it was employed by them to stop scouring in oxen. This was a mixture of various kinds of fodder, cut green before the frosts came on. Mamilius Sura, however, explains the term differently, and says that ten modii of beans, two of vetches, and the same quantity of ervilia,[298] were mixed and sown in autumn on a jugerum of land. He states, also, that it is a still better plan to mix some Greek oats[299] with it, the grain of which never falls to the ground; this mixture, according to him, was ocinum, and was usually sown as a food for oxen. Varro[300] informs us that it received its name on account of the celerity with which it springs up, from the Greek ὠκέως, “quickly.”

CHAP. 43.—LUCERNE.