Piinies Natural! Hiftone. 



A leane and hiingrie foile will well agree v^ich barley, for the root is contented mm lefle niitriiurc : 

 whereas contrariwife we allow both lighter^ and aifo more malTic and richer ground for our ordi- 

 naric wheat. In a low and wet peece of ground, iris good to fow the red wheat Adoreumjrather 

 than the common wheat Triticum : but both it and barky will fort well with a (oile of a middle 

 temperature. The hills yeeld a firmCjfaftj and ftrongkind of wheat, but the graine is but fmall. 

 An<l to conclude, the beft kinds ofwheaiatowit^Far and Siligo,chalienge for their lot to be fea- 

 red in a chalkic foile^and therewith alwaies wet and foked in water. 



C H A p. X V I II. 



Offirmngc prodi^ieUnd wonders ohferved in csrne : the knowledge &nd skill of 

 B earing and idling the ground aJfi divers forts of flough-jlhires, 



ALbeit I have in the title of this chapter purpofed to write of prodigies feene in corne,yct 

 to my knowledge, there never happened but once the like wonder and portenteous fighs 

 to this which I fhall tell, and which befell in the time that P.Mhus and Cn. Cornchm were 

 Confulsof Romejihat very ycarc wherein with his whole armie was defeated and 



vanquiflied : for then (by report) there was corne grew upon trees. 



Bucforafmuch aslhavedifcouiledatlargeof thefundriekindsaswell of come as of ground, 

 I will proceed now forward and come to the manner of ploughing the earth, after I have firft 

 fet downe before all things elfe, how eafie the husbandric is in ^gypt :for there the river Nilus 

 C fervmginfteadof a good ploughman, bcginneth to fwell and overflow (as wee have before re- 

 heaifed) at the firft new moone after the Summer funftead. He beginneth fairc and foftly,and fo 

 encreafeth more and more by little and little-, but all the while thattheSunne pafTeth under the 

 figne Leo, hehighcth apace untill he berifcn to hisfuil heigth : being entred once into Virgo, 

 Ills furie (lakeih ; then dcd reafcth hee as fafl, until! he be falne againe into his won ted channell^- 

 which ordinarily happeneth by the time that the funne is in Libra, Now this is obferved. That 

 if he rifcnot plumb above twclvecubits high, die people are fure to have a famine of come ihac 

 yeere : the like slfo doe they make account of, in cafe hee paffe the gage of fixteene cubits : foe 

 the higher that he is rifcn,the longer it is againe ere he be iully falne, by which time the Seed- 

 nesispatl, and men cannot low the ground m due feafon. It hath been generally received for a 

 D truth. That prefently upon the departure of this deluge and overflowing of Nilus, they were 

 woont to call their feed-corne upon the floten ground, and prefently let in their fwinc after for 

 to trample it with their feet into the earth whiles it was foft and drenched . And verily, for mine 

 owne-parr, 1 beleeve well they ufed fo to doe in old time : for even now adaies alfo, much more 

 ado they make not about u/Howbeir, this iscertein,thattir(t they caft their feed upon the flime 

 and mud fofbone as the river is downe, whicli commonly fallcthout in the very beginning of 

 November: which done^tjiey goe over it with the plough and give it a light tilth, lo as it may be 

 'covered only & He under a fniall furrow. Some few there be that afterwards fall to weeding,which 

 point of husbandrie they call Botanirmos:butthe molt parr, after they have once fbwed and 

 turned their feed into the ground, never alter make a ftcp into field to iee how their cotne grow- 

 E eth,untill they go once for all wi;hfython neckeorfiekle in hand, namely at the endof March 5 

 for then they fail to reaping and cutting it downe : fo as by the moncthof May they fingin 

 gypr, Harveft in, and all is done for that ycarc. As touchingthis corne gathered in Safe /Egypt, 

 the ftraw is never a cubit long: thereafcnis,becaufethe feed lyeth very eb, and hath no other 

 iiuirimcnt than from the mud andflimeaforefaidsforunderitis nothing but fandand gravelL 

 But thofe that inhabit higher up into the countrcy, namely about 1 hebais, they be farre bettec 

 providedforcornesbecaufe^gypt indeed (for the moif part) lyeth low upon marais ground. 

 Toward Babylon likewife and Scleucia (where the rivers Euphrates and Tigris doc fwell over 

 their banks and water the countrey)the fame husb^aidrie is praaifcd,but tobetter cffca & grea- 

 \ terproficjbyreafon that the people may let in the water at fluces and floud-gates, moreorleffe 

 F with their owns hands, according as they lii^t thcmfelves. Alfo in Syria, they have their finall 

 ploughs for thenones to take a fallow ftitch and make light worke: whereas in many places 

 here with us in ltalie,cighr oxen arc little anough toeveryplough,andto gobway withall they 

 muft labour at it till they blow and pant againe. It is an 6ld faid Saw, and may goe for an oracle 

 to bepraaifedin allpartsof husbandrie; but in this point of ploughing efpeciall, Bseruledby 

 ■ Ddd ths 



