BOOK II. IX. 13-15 



Further, if a red grain, when cut in two, shows the 13 

 same colour throughout, we ha\e no doubt that it is 

 sound ; but one that is whitish outside and is also seen 

 to be white inside, that should be set down as light 

 and lacking in substance. And let us not be misled 

 into thinking that siligo is desirable for farmers ; for 

 this is a degenerate kind of wheat, and though 

 superior in whiteness, it is inferior in weight. It 

 does well, however, in a humid climate, and for that 

 reason is better suited to springy places. Still we 

 need not go a great distance or to great pains to find 

 it ; for in wet ground every kind of wheat turns into 

 siligo after the third sowing. 



Next to these grains in utility is that vainety of 14 

 barley which country people call hexastichum ; " some 

 also call it cantherinum * because it is a better food 

 than wheat for all animals that belong on a farm, and 

 is more wholesome for humans than is bad wheat ; and 

 in times of scarcity there is nothing better in guarding 

 against want. It is sown in loose, dry ground, either 

 very rich or poor, because it is agreed that land is 

 weakened by crops of it ; for this reason it is com- 

 mitted to a very fertile field, whose excessive strength 

 cannot be impaired, or to a lean one to which nothing 

 else is entrusted. The seed should be cast at the 15 

 second ploughing, after the equinox, about the middle 

 of seed-time if the soil is rich, and earlier if it is poor. 

 One iugenim will take five modii of seed. And when 



■ I.e. " six-rowed " barley. 



* " horse-barley," from cantherius, a gelding (Varro, R.R. 

 11. 7. 15). 



' modii occni)a.hunt Aid., Oesn.,Schn.; sed modils occupabit 

 mnluit Schn. in twt., ex PalUid., Sept. 4. 



