Note (44) — BOOK II. (continued 2)

44. Alica is reckoned among the vernal seeds. It is a species of wheat which degenerates after being sown in soils not proper for it, as in Africa, where it has the name of zea. It is ground to meal, and the husks taken from it, and then chalk is added to it, which renders it exceedingly white and soft. The best chalk for this purpose is found between Puteoli and Naples. A common way of counterfeiting it is to take the largest and whitest grains of wheat, and after parboiling these, and drying them in the sun, to sprinkle them, and after drying a second time, to grind them. Plin. lib. xviii. cap. 7. and 11. The same author says, this is an invention of the Romans, and not very old, unknown to the Greeks, otherwise they would not have bestowed so many encomiums upon their ptisan; because it was not mentioned by any of the followers of Asclepiades, he believed it was not used in the time of Pompey the Great. Id. lib. xxii. cap. 25.