5^0 TheeighteeiitliBookeof 



tiaSjStrangtaSj and Seliniifium ; elksming the goodnelleof the cornc by the thickncflc and G 

 bigneffe oi the ftraw, and attributing thcfe three kinds by that figne and argumentjto the good^ 

 nelFc and riches of the foile : and therefore they prefcribed tofow this corne in a fat and battle 

 ground.But thch'ghteft in weight & pooreftin fubftance^becaufeit required much nutriment^ 

 they appointed to be fowed in moift places. Of this opinion and judgement were the auncient 

 Greekes, during the reigne of Alexander x\\q Grcatjat what time as Greece was in the flowre and 

 heigth of her gloric, as having the monarchic and foveraigntic over the whole world . Howbeit^ 

 before his death 145 yearcs or thereabout3^^>/^<7^/<?^thePoetin a Tragoedie entiiuledTripto- 

 lemusj praifed the Italian wheat above all other 5 for in cffed thus he faith word for word : 



Etfortumtamltalkm frumentoCAnerecandidc, ^ 



And Italic, a land (I fay) fo happie and fo bleftj 



Where ftand the fields all hoare and gray^ with white wheat of the beft. 



And in very truth, our Italian wheat at this day carricth the name alone in that regard. I wonder 

 therefore fo much the more at the moderne Greekes of late time, who made no mention at all 

 of this our wheat.Nowatthisprelentjof allthofe kinds of oudandilh wheat which are tran(^ 

 ported by fea into Italy^ the lighteft is that which commcih out of Frauncc, and Cheffonefu&> 

 [t. the ftreights of CallipolisJ for a Modius or pecke therof conteineih not above twentie pound 

 weight, weigh the very^raine it lelfe as it groweth uncleanfed^huske & all.The Sardinian wheat 

 ismoreweightiethanitbyhalfcapoundinaModius.And that of Alexandria exceedeth the | 

 */ 4ounccs. French, halfe a pound and * one third part, in every meafure before-named . And this is the 

 very poife alfo of the Sicilian wheat. The Boeotian is yet a full pound heavier : and that of Africk 

 ounces, as n)uch and*three fourth parts of a pound more. In Lombardie^and that tra^t of Italy beyond 

 the river Po, I know full well thataMoxiiusof their wheat weighed 25 pounds; and about Clu- 

 fium, fix and twentie. But be the corne whatlbever it will, this is the ordinarie proportion by the 

 courfe of Nature^That being made into downright houfhold bread foifouldiers and toferve 

 • the campc, it ought to weigh as much as it did in coxi\U one third part over and above. As alfa 

 this is a rule, That the beft wheat is that,which to every Modius will take and drinke up a gallon 

 of water^ere it be made dough . And yet fome kinds of wheat there be , that will yceld the full 

 weight aforefaid in brcad,and never count the water going therecOjand namely that which com- 

 mech out of the Balear lilands , for a iModius of that wheat yeeldeth in bread 30 pound weight : 

 yet othcrwhiles it falleth out infbme kinds of wheai(being blended two forts togither, as name- 

 ly that of Cyprus and Alexandnaj wherofneithercxceedlitile or nothing more than aopound 

 weight to the Modius) that the bread made therof will arife to the ordinarie proportion : for the 

 Cyprian wheat is not bright jbut brown and duskillijand therforemaketh abiackkind of bread 5 

 in which regard the Alexandrian wheat, which is faire and white, is mixed with it : and fo both 

 togither doe yeeld in bread 2 5 pound weight. The wheat of Thebes addeth a furpluf^ge thereto 

 of one pound. 



As for the manner of working and kneading dough, I like not their fafhions who take fea- 

 water for that purpofe; asmofldoeihatinhabitthefca coaftsjthinking thereby to fave the char- 

 gcs of fait 5 fori hold this very hurtful! and daungerous : neither do I thinkCjthat upon any other 

 caufe, mens bodies are made more fubjed to maladies, than by this mcancs. In Frauncc and 

 SpainCj when the Bruers have fteeped their wheat or frument in water, and mafht it for their 

 *iythum& ^drinke of divers forts, as heretofore hath been fhewed; they take the "^skum or froth that ga- 

 *yeftorbarm. thcrcth aloft by the workingof the woort, and ufe the fame inifeadof levcn for to make their 

 bread 5 which js the reafon that their bread is lighter and more houved up than any other. 



M oreover, there is a great difference in whear, by reafon of the firaw or ftaftce that beareth it : 

 for the thicker that it is and more full, the better is the cornc taken to be. The Thracian wheat 

 is enclofed and well clad (as it were) with many tunicles or coats .-throughly provided by that 

 meanes (and good caufe why) to reiift the exceifwe cold of that climat ; which gave thcThra- M 

 cians juit occafion alfo to caft about and devifc to have a kind of wheat that remaineih upon the 

 ground not above three moneths, by reafon that the fnow over-fprcadeth the face of the earth 

 all the yearcbcfidcs,' and venly this kind of corneiscome into other parts of the world, and 

 ji ghtly within three moneths after that it is fowed, you (hall have it readic 10 bee reaped : A pra- 



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