30 PLINY'S NATTJBAL HISTOKY. [Book XVIII. 



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 ^Egyptian. The tests of its goodness are its 

 being light and smooth : it should be used, too, while it is 

 fresh. Cato, 57 among our writers, has made mention of it. 



CHAP. 18. -THE KATUKE 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 

 Adth 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, 58 and in others more ; in some cases, as many as six. 59 

 The grain itself, too, presents certain differences, being long 

 and thin, or else short or round, white, black, 60 or, in some 

 instances, of a purple colour. This last kind is employed for 

 making polenta : the white is ill adapted for standing the se- 

 verity of the weather. Barley is the softest of all the grains : 

 it can only be sown in a dry, loose soil, 61 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 



57 De Be Rust. c. 87. This " amylum" seems somewhat to resemble our 

 starch. 58 The Hordeum distichum of Linnaeus. 



59 Hordeum hexastichum of Linnaeus. The Hordeum vulgare, or com- 

 mon barley, has but four rows. 



60 These varieties are not known at the present day, and Fee questions 

 if they ever existed. There is a black barley found in Germany, the Hor- 

 deum nigrum of Willdenow. 



61 A calcareous soil is the best adapted for barley. 



