BARLEY. 4J) 



" Ruth gleaned in the field until even, and 

 beat out that she had gleaned ; and it was 

 about an ephah of barley." 



— " So she kept fast by the maidens of 

 Boaz, to glean unto the end of barley harvest, 

 and of wheat harvest." 



— " Behold he winnoweth barley to-night 

 in the threshing-floor." * 



In the seventh chapter of the second book 

 of Kings, we learn what proportion barley 

 bore in price to wheaten flour in Samaria, 

 about 892 years b. c. 



" To-morrow, about this time, shall a mea- 

 sure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two 

 measures of barley for a shekel." 



We have also very early accounts of this 

 corn having been cultivated in Egypt; and it 

 is supposed to have been used before any 

 other sort of grain. 



Artemidorus says, it was the first food which 

 the gods imparted to mankind -f . Pliny says, 

 " In Chalica (an island belonging to the 

 Rhodians) there is one place so fruitful, that 

 the barley, which was sown in proper time, 

 is mowed and committed to the ground a se- 

 cond time, which is ready to cut again with 

 the other corn." 



* Ruth, 1312 r. c. f Plut. Marcello, Livius, lib. 27. 



VOL. I. E 



