V 



y^3^ ^ f^ y 



CiRcrLAR No. 7.-(Agros,X) • ■ •^^\P'J Y O ti Vi 



United ^ates 



C A 



t:\V 



Ae^riculture, 



DIVIsTo^Cdl^^ApR'OSTOLOGY. 



[Grass and Forage Plant Investigations.] 



GRAM, CHICK-PEA, OR IDAHO PEA.* 



HISTORY. 



Gram, Idaho Pea, or Chick- Pea {Cicer arietinum), has been in 

 cultivation in eastern countries longer than any other leguminous 

 crop. Its native country is unknown, but it is supposed to have 

 originated in Asia Minor. It was one of the plants of the Greeks at 

 the time of Homer, and occupied a prominent place among the food 

 plants of the lower classes during the time of the Roman Empire. 



From Europe it was intro- 

 duced in comparatively re- 

 cent times into India, where 

 it is estimated that there are 

 now over 5,000,000 acres de- 

 voted to its cultivation either 

 alone or as a by-crop with 

 wheat. Next to the cereals, 

 gram forms the largest part 

 of the food used in India 

 and in portions of northern 

 Africa, Spain, and other 

 countries bordering on the 

 Mediterranean. 



DESCRIPTION. 



This plant is a branching 

 annual, with many upright 

 stems from the same root. 

 The leaves resemble those of 

 the vetch, having seven pairs 

 of small leaflets. These are 

 oblong, soft-hairy all over, 

 one-half inch long or less, and 

 sharply toothed on the margins 

 the axils of the leaves, on short stalks about one-half inch long. 



*An article has been going the rounds of some of the agricultural papers and 

 the newspapers concerning a new forage plant, the Idaho pea, which is said to 

 have been a native of the northern Rocky Mountains, first inti-oduced into cul- 

 tivation less than twenty-five years ago. Its cultivation has been highly recom- 

 mended in the West, on account of the value of its seeds both as horse feed and 

 as a coffee substitute. 



Fig. 1.— Gram (Clcer arietinum). 



The flowers are borne singly in 



