320 HISTORY OF 



because it exposeth it to the air, as it is seen in precious 

 stones, lookingglasses, and blades of swords, upon which 

 if you breathe, you shall see at first a little mist, but soon 

 after it vanisheth like a cloud. And thus much for desic 

 cation or drying. 



11. They use at this day in the east parts of Germany 

 garners in vaults under ground, wherein they keep wheat 

 and other grains, laying a good quantity of straw both 

 under the grains and about them, to save them from the 

 dampness of the vault, by which device they keep their 

 grains twenty or thirty years. And this doth not only pre 

 serve them from fustiness, but (that which pertains more 

 to the present inquisition) preserves them also in that 

 greenness that they are fit and serviceable to make bread. 

 The same is reported to have been in use in Cappadocia and 

 Thracia, and some parts of Spain. 



12. The placing of garners on the tops of houses, with 

 windows towards the east and north, is very commodious. 

 Some also make two sollars, an upper and a lower, and the 

 upper sollar hath a hole in it, through which the grain 

 continually descendeth, like sand in an hourglass, and 

 after a few days they throw it up again with shovels, that 

 so it may be in continual motion. Now it is to be noted 

 that this doth not only prevent the fustiness, but conserveth 

 the greenness, and slacketh the desiccation of it. The 

 cause is that which we noted before ; that the discharging 

 of the watery humour, which is quickened by the motion 

 and the winds, preserves the oily humour in his being, 

 which otherwise would fly out together with the watery 

 humour. Also in some mountains, where the air is very 

 pure, dead carcasses may be kept for a good while without 

 any great decay. 



13. Fruits, as pomegranates, citrons, apples, pears, and 

 the like ; also flowers, as roses and lilies, may be kept a 

 long time in earthen vessels close stopped ; howsoever, 

 they are not free from the injuries of the outward air, which 

 will affect them with his unequal temper through the sides 

 of the vessel, as it is manifest in heat and cold. There 

 fore it will be good to stop the mouths of the vessels care 

 fully, and to bury them within the earth ; and it will be 

 as good not to bury them in the earth, but to sink them 

 in the water, so as the place be shady, as in wells or cisterns 

 placed within doors ; but those that be sunk in water 

 will do better in glass vessels than in earthen. 



14. Generally those things which are kept in the earth, 



