at
of our English culture, was the plant which, whenever the attributes
of Ceres were to be represented on ancient coins, was selected for
that purpose; but the Lucchese territory, where the _Cerealia_ in
general abound, offers few specimens of either kind. These productions
seem afraid of their _ears_ in the neighbourhood of the _Great Turk_,
who is the great tyrant here, and, together with the rice, monopolizes
three-fourths of all the land devoted to the culture of grain; the
_millet_ (_miglio_,) the _panixa_ (_panico_,) Indian wheat (_sagena_,)
together with the lupins, and a variety of peas, beans, and lentiles,
occupy the remainder. "The Great Turk is a great eater, is he not?"
"Yes," replied the peasant who cultivated him, "_mangia come
Cristiano_,"--he eats like a Christian all he can get out of the
ground; only, the more he gets the better he looks for it--which is
not always the case with Christians. There are two kinds of _Gran
Turco_, or _maize_; that sown in May is of rather better quality than
the other, and produces on an average 10 lbs. more per sack in weight
than that which is sown afterwards in June. In order to secure a good
crop, it is necessary that the ground should be well manured with
lupins, which are either grown for this single purpose the year
before, and left to rot, or boiled to prevent their germination, and
then scattered over the field. The Grand Turk commonly carries but one
head on his shoulders, but occasionally we have remarked two or more
on the same stem. In the year 1817, the sack (160 lbs.) fetched
fifty-eight pauls; while wheat was seventy-eight, and even the
chestnut flour sold at fifty; so that, even in the Lucchese territory,
they have their approach to famine in bad years.

SAGENA.

Pliny mentions the _Sagena_, under the name of Saracenic millet, as a
thing which came from India, and was first brought into Italy in his
own time. Herodotus speaks of its cultivation by the Babylonians. The
Saracens used it in the fourteenth century for making bread, as do the
Lucchese to this day; it is, however, lightly esteemed, and not used
at all when other corn abounds, but thrown into the hencoop to fatten
poultry. It is a beautiful thing to see the high jungle of this most
elastic plant bending to the breeze, and displaying, as it moves, its
beaded top, looking at a distance like so many flowers; but, when seen
nearer, exhibiting _racemes_ (on highly polished stems) of small
pedun