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SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
have been found among the debris of Swiss lake- 
dwellings and elsewhere. Dr. Oswald Heer (“ Lake- 
Dwellings,” p. 529) tells us of two six-rowed barleys, a 
small and large ; from the smaller he thinks the 
common four-rowed barley has descended, cultivation 
tending to lengthen the axes of the ears, and from this 
came at length the two-rowed species. The small- 
grained six'To wed barley ( Hordeum hexastickum sanc¬ 
tum ) he considers the most ancient cultivated form; 
the other ( H . hexastichum densum) was cultivated by 
the Stone Age people merely for experiment. The 
H. vulgare of to-day is the four-rowed descendant. 
Barley was grown at an early date in Egypt. From 
the barley, the beere plant, as its name implies, was 
early brewed “ barley-broth,” which was assumed 
to be the food of English soldiers in the jeering 
passage, Henry V ., III. v. 18: 
Can sodden water, 
A drench for sur-rein’d jades, their barley-broth, 
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat ? 
And Gerard says: “ Our London Beere-Brewers 
would scorne to learne to make beere of either 
French or Dutch.” 
Barley is named in one other place, viz., the 
Tempest , IV. i. 60, in connection with other cereals. 
The oat is named in the same passage, and as the 
food for horses in Mi dsum m er- Night ’ ,s‘ Hr earn, IV. i. 
35, Taming of the Shrew , III. ii. 207, and other places. 
In Love's Labour s Lost , V. ii. 912 , we have : 
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws ; 
again, we read how Oberon 
in the shape of Corin sat all day, 
Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love. 
Midsummer-Night's Dream, II. i. 66. 
Shepherds had imitated with the oat straws the 
