CHAP. 15.—PTISAN.
With barley, too, the food called ptisan[149] is made, a most substantial and salutary aliment, and one that is held in very high esteem. Hippocrates, one of the most famous writers on medical science, has devoted a whole volume to the praises of this aliment. The ptisan of the highest quality is that which is made at Utica; that of Egypt is prepared from a kind of barley, the grain of which grows with two points.[150] In Bætica and Africa, the kind of barley from which this food is made is that which Turranius calls the “smooth”[151] barley: the same author expresses an opinion, too, that olyra[152] and rice are the same. The method of preparing ptisan is universally known.
CHAP. 16.—TRAGUM.
In a similar manner, too, tragum is prepared from seed[153] wheat, but only in Campania and Egypt.
CHAP. 17.—AMYLUM.
Amylum is prepared from every kind of wheat, and from winter-wheat[154] as well; but the best of all is that made from three-month wheat. The invention of it we owe to the island of Chios, and still, at the present day, the most esteemed kind comes from there; it derives its name from its being made without the help of the mill.[155] Next to the amylum made with three-month wheat, is that which is prepared from the lighter kinds of wheat. In making it, the grain is soaked in fresh water, placed in wooden vessels; care being taken to keep it covered with the liquid, which is changed no less than five times in the course of the day. If it can be changed at night as well, it is all the better for it, the object being to let it imbibe the water gradually and equally. When it is quite soft, but before it turns sour, it is passed through linen cloth, or else wicker-work, after which it is poured out upon a tile covered with leaven, and left to harden in the sun. Next to the amylum of Chios, that of Crete is the most esteemed, and next to that the Ægyptian. The tests of its goodness are its being light and smooth: it should be used, too, while it is fresh. Cato,[156] among our writers, has made mention of it.
CHAP. 18.—THE NATURE OF BARLEY.
Barley-meal, too, is employed for medicinal purposes; and it is a curious fact, that for beasts of burden they make a paste of it, which is first hardened by the action of fire, and then ground. It is then made up into balls, which are introduced with the hand into the paunch, the result of which is, that the vigour and muscular strength of the animal is considerably increased. In some kinds of barley, the ears have two rows of grains,[157] and in others more; in some cases, as many as six.[158] The grain itself, too, presents certain differences, being long and thin, or else short or round, white, black,[159] or, in some instances, of a purple colour. This last kind is employed for making polenta: the white is ill adapted for standing the severity of the weather. Barley is the softest of all the grains: it can only be sown in a dry, loose soil,[160] but fertile withal. The chaff of barley ranks among the very best; indeed, for litter there is none that can be compared with it. Of all grain, barley is the least exposed to accidents, as it is gathered before the time that mildew begins to attack wheat; for which reason it is that the provident agriculturist sows only as much wheat as may be required for food. The saying is, that “barley is sown in a money-bag,” because it so soon returns a profit. The most prolific kind of all is that which is got in at Carthage,[161] in Spain, in the month of April. It is in the same month that it is sown in Celtiberia, and yet it yields two harvests in the same year. All kinds of barley are cut sooner than other grain, and immediately after they are ripe; for the straw is extremely brittle, and the grain is enclosed in a husk of remarkable thinness. It is said, too, that a better polenta[162] is made from it, if it is gathered before it is perfectly ripe.
CHAP. 19. (8.)—ARINCA, AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN THAT ARE GROWN IN THE EAST.
The several kinds of corn are not everywhere the same; and even where they are the same, they do not always bear a similar name. The kinds most universally grown are spelt, by the ancients known as “adorea,” winter wheat,[163] and wheat;[164] all these being common to many countries. Arinca was originally peculiar to Gaul, though now it is widely diffused over Italy as well. Egypt, too, Syria, Cilicia, Asia, and Greece, have their own peculiar kinds, known by the names of zea,[165] olyra, and tiphe.[166] In Egypt, they make a fine flour from wheat of their own growth, but it is by no means equal to that of Italy. Those countries which employ zea, have no spelt. Zea, however, is to be found in Italy, and in Campania more particularly, where it is known by the name of “seed.”[167] The grain that bears this name enjoys a very considerable celebrity, as we shall have occasion to state[168] on another occasion; and it is in honour of this that Homer[169] uses the expression, ζείδωρος ἄρουρα, and not, as some suppose, from the fact of the earth giving life.[170] Amylum is made, too, from this grain, but of a coarser[171] quality than the kind already mentioned;[172] this, however, is the only difference that is perceptible.