BOOK XVIII. XII. 65-68 



tinguished for whiteness, which makes it more 

 surprising to me that the later Greeks have made no 

 mention of this corn. 



At the prcsent the Ughtest in weight among the /mported 

 kinds of wlieat imported to Romc is the wheat of ];,p^" y,"J^ 

 Gaul, and that brought from the Chersonese, as 

 they do not exceed twenty pounds a pcck, if one 

 weighs tlic grain hv itself. Sardinian grain adds 

 half a poiuid to this figure, and Alexandrian a third 

 of a pound more — this is also the wcight of SiciUan 

 wheat— while that of Southern Spain scorcs a whole 

 pound more and that of Africa a pound and three- 

 quartcrs. In Italy north of the Po the peck of emmer 

 to my knowledge weighs 25 pounds, and in the 

 Chiusi neighbourhood even 26 pounds. It is a fixed 

 law of nature that in any kind of commissariat 

 bread " a third part is added in the making to the 

 weight of the grain, just as that the best whcat is 

 that which absorbs three quarts of Matcr into the 

 pcck of grain kneaded. Some kinds of grain used 

 by themselves give their full weight, for instance a 

 pcck of Balearic wheat produces 35 pounds of bi'ead, 

 but some only do so when blcnded — for example, 

 Cyprian wheat and Alexandrian, which used by them- 

 seh'es do not go beyond 20 pounds a peck. Cyprus 

 wheat is of a dusky colour and makes black brcad, 

 and conscquently the white Alexandrian is mixed 

 with it, and that gives 25 pounds of bread to the peck. 

 The wheat of the Thebaid in Egypt makes a pound 

 more. To knead the flour with sea water, which they 

 frequently do in seaside places for the sake of econo- 

 mizing salt, is extremely inexpedient, as there is 

 nothing elsc that rcndcrs the body more Uable to 

 disease. WTien the corn of Gaul and Spain of the 



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