CHAPTER XIV 



THE SMALL GRAINS 



What was the cause of the greater fruitfulness of the land in ancient times ? 

 Was it because in those days the land was cultivated by the hands of generals, 

 and the earth, delighted to be plowed with a share adorned with laurels and 

 by a plowman who had been honored with a triumph, or was it because these 

 men plowed their fields with the same diligence with which they pitched their 

 camps, and sowed their grain with the same care with which they formed their 

 armies for battle ? PLINY 



I. WHEAT 



190. When wheat-growing began. Man was still a cave 

 dweller when he first gathered the wild wheat berries and 

 ground them into flour with his teeth. Centuries later the 



wheat was stored for future use and 

 then ground in a hollow stone with 

 another stone (Fig. 72), as it was 

 rocked or rolled back and forth. The 

 flour, black but nutritious, was mixed 

 with water and salt and baked in the 

 ashes of the open fire. 



Later, the plow took the place of 

 the crooked stick in the cultivation 

 of the soil. The sickle was followed by the cradle and the cradle 

 by the reaper (Fig. 2) ; then came the self-binder, followed by 

 the header. Lastly there came the combined harvester and 

 thresher, which harvests and threshes forty acres or more a 

 day and deposits the grain in sacks ready for the mills. 



156 



FIG. 72. Stone bowl and pes- 

 tle an ancient flour mill 



