Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

56 AGRICULTURA. AGRICULTURA.
for man when made into polenta than wheat of an be the fplca described by Galen (De Alimzent.
indifferent quality, and furnished excellent straw Fazcult. i. 2) as cultivated in Thrace and Macedonia
and chaff (stram7entum, palea). (but this, in all probability, was a coarse variety of
The species most generally cultivated, termed spelt), nor by Cato, Varro, Columella, nor Palla:
hexastichun or cantherinuzm, was, we can scarcely dius. Pliny alone (H. N. xviii. 40) speaks of it,
doubt, identical with what we now call bear or and in the following terms:-" Secale Taurini sub
bigg, the Hordeumn hexastich/on or six-rowed Alpibus Asians vocant, deterrimum, et tantum ad
barley of botanists. It was sown after the vernal arcendam famem: foecunda sed gracili stipula,
equinox (Rence called'pLgsisYV, Theophr. Hr. P. nigritia triste, sed pondere praecipumin. Admlisviii. 1), upon land that had been twice ploughed, cetur huic far ut mitiget amaritudinem ejus; et
at the rate of five modii to the jugger; succeeded tamen sic quoque ingratissimum ventri est. Nasbest in a dry, loose, rich soil; and being an ex- citur qualicunque solo cum centesimo grano, iphbausting crop, the land from which it had been sumnique pro laetamine est." In the previous
reaped was summer fallowed, or recruited by ma- chapter he makes it identical with fitrralo, that
nure. It was cut as soon as it was ripe; for the is, corn sown for the purpose of being cut green as
stalk being brittle, was liable to be beaten down; fodder. See remarks upon Etarrago below.
and the grain not being enclosed in an outer husk, Avena, the oat (Bp/o'os s. 3p&Juos, Theophr.
was easily shaken. H. P. viii. 4; Dioscorid. ii. 16), the A rena sativa
Another species, termed Galaticumn or disti- of botanists, need scarcely be noticed in this place
chum, the same apparently with the modern Hor- since it cannot be raised as a grain with any addeune vulgare, or with the Hlorclezie disticklsn, vantage in a climate so warm as that of Greece or
varieties of the common two-rowed barley, was of Italy. Columella (ii. 10. ~ 9) and Pliny (H. N.
remarkable for its weight and whiteness, and an- xviii. 42, Avena Graeca) recommended that it
swered well for mixing with wheaten flour in should be sown for green fodder, and the latter
baking bread for slaves. It was sown in autumn, remarks that it became a sort of corn (fylznenti fit
winter or early spring, at the rate of six modii to instar) in Germany, where it formed a regular
the juger. Five modii of seed hordeumn required crop, and where oatmeal porridge was a national
six days and a half of labour to bring it to the dish (neque alia pulte vivant, H. Nr. xviii. 44.
thrashing-floor; viz. ploughing three days, harrow- ~ 1. comp. iv. 27, vi. 35). In another passage
ing (occatoria opera) one, hoeing (sarritoria) one (H. N. xxii. 68) the same author prescribes oatand-a-half, reaping (snessosia) one. meal (avenacea farina) steeped in vinegar as a
Pliny speaks of hordeum as the lightest of all remedy for spots on the skin. The Arena confrumenta, weighing only 15 pounds to the modius demned as a troublesome weed by Cato (R. 1i.
(Roman pound-118 oz. avoird.). In mild cli- xxxvii. ~ 5) and Virgil (steriles avenae, G. i. 154)
mates it might be sown early in autumn. (Theophr. is, probably, the Arena fltdua of botanists, alH. P. viii. 1; Cat. 35; Varr. i. 34; Colum. ii. though Pliny (FI. N. xviii. 44. ~ 1) makes no dis9. ~~ 14, 15, 16; Virg. Geor. i. 210; Plin. H. N. tinction between this and the cultivated kind.
xviii. 7, 10; Geopon. ii. 14.) Other cereals we may dismiss very briefly.
c. Panicum and Miliznum are commonly spoken of Oryza (lpvae, iO'pv~ov), rice, was imported from
together, as if they were only varieties of the same the East, and was much esteemed for making gruel
grain. The first is in all probability the PPanicume (ptisana).
nziliaceuem or common smillet of botanists, the Zea (CEa, Cea), Olyra (`Xovpa), Tips.he (*r/mn),
aAvglos or /zEXrl of the Greeks; the second is and Arinca, of which the first two are named by
perhaps the Setaria Iltalica or Italian millet, which Homer, must be regarded as varieties of the Triticorresponds to the description of KetyXpos; while the cure Spelta or Far (Herod. ii. 36; Theophr. II. P.
species noticed by Pliny as having been brought ii. 5, viii. 9; Dioscorid. ii. 110; Galen. de Alifrom India less than ten years before the period ment. Facult. i. 2, 13). The statements found in
when he wrote is, we can scarcely doubt, the the eighteenth book of Pliny's Natural History in
Aorghum vulgare, or Duirra of the Arabs, reference to these four are altogether unintelligible
Panicum and miliumn were sown in spring when compared with each other. He evidently
(Virg. Georg. i. 216), towards the end of March, copied, as was too often his custom, from a nnum
at the rate of four sextarii (pints) only to the ber of discordant authorities without attempting
juger, but they required repeated hoeing and to reconcile or thinking it necessary to point out
weeding to keep them clean. They succeeded well their contradictions. In one place (xviii. 20. ~ 4)
in light loose soil, even on sand if well irrigated; he says distinctly that Arinca is the 01.ra of
and as soon as the ears were fairly formed, they Homer, and in another he seems to say (xviii. l 1)
were gathered by the hand, hung up to dry in the that Olyra in Egypt became Far (fiar in _Eqpto
sun, and in this state would keep for a longer ex olyra conficiter). Now we know from Heroperiod than any other grain. Milium was baked dotus (ii. 36) that in his time Olyra and Zea were
into bread or cakes, very palatable when eaten considered synonymous, and that these exclusively
hot; and both panicum and milium made good were cultivated by the Egyptians. Hence we
porridge (puls). Although not much used by the shall be led to conclude that the wheat which
population of Italy, except perhaps in Campania, has been raised recently from the seeds discovered
they formed a most important article of food in in the mummy cases is in reality the ancient Zea
the Gauls, in Pontus, in Sarmatia, and in Ethio- or Olyra, and from its appearance we should furpia. (Cat. 6; Colum. ii. 9. ~ 17; Plin. H. N. ther be induced to identify it with the Tritic2sZe
xviii. 7, 10, 26; Pallad. iv. 3; Geopon. ii. 38; ramzosulmn of Pliny (H. N. xviii. 21).
Theoplr.. 11.. A. ii. 17, H. P. viii. 3; Dioscor. With regard to Irio and Horminnmun, of which
in. 119.) the former seems to have been called EpV'aiuomov by
Secale, rye, the Secale cereale of botanists, is not the Greeks, both enumerated by Pliny among
mentioned by any of the Greek writers unless it ftiunenta, although he afterwards somewhat quali.