GENERAL USES. 



11 



religious customs, and so far as discovered the bas reliefs <>t the tombs 

 and' monuments show do convincing evidences of their use. A has 

 relief in the tomb of Thy at Sakkara,of which a part is even tllustrated 

 in Baedeker's Egypt (p. L39), represents several calves tethered ma 

 field of some forage plant or other in a manner quite resembling that 

 of the present day. This bas-relief is about 4,500 years old. In the 

 collection of seeds and dried plants in the Gizeh Museum which was 



made by Professor Schweinfurt is a small howl of the seed oi an 

 unmistakable leguminous plant, probably a Medicago, from the temple 

 of Isis at Dendera, which was. however, of comparatively recent tunes, 

 being in the first Christian century. 



Dr. Schweinfurt, who is an authority on the botany of Egypt and 



the ancient Egyptians, states that no picture, has relief, name, or 



authentic seeds of berseem had ever been discovered in any of the 



tombs <>f Egypt. He discredited the correctness of certain finds made 



at Kahun by Flinders Petri.- and identified by Percy Newberry as 



seeds of berseem, saying that there is in his mind a question as to 



whether these cam.- from really ancient tombs. The name berseem 



bears a close resemblance to the Arabic name for lentil (" belsem ' or 



"bersem"), and Dr. Schweinfurt thinks it not unlikely that when the 



Arabs conquered Egypt they applied this to the clover then cultivated 



in the country. The plant has nowhere been discovered wdd. but a 



Byzantine variety [TrifoWwm aleawndrmum var. phleoides, Boiss.) 



exists at Kilsali, near Smyrna, and it is probable that the plant was 



introduced into Egypt about the sixth century. 



GENERAL USES. 



Berseem is not only an annual clover, but it is a winter clover for 

 warm countries where irrigation is practiced. Where the conditions 

 of mild winter and abundant water supply for irrigation exist it can 

 scarcely fail to prove a most profitable introduction, for it starts into 

 growth with remarkable rapidity, outgrows most kinds of weeds, and 

 yields one of the most palatable and nutritious green fodders known. 

 Anyone having once seen it in Egypt can not fail to be impressed with 

 its great value. It resembles quite closely when young our common 

 alfalfa, but its flowering heads, although white, are in form like a loose- 

 headed variety of red clover. (PI. I and PI. VI, fig 1.) The hollow 

 stems are exceedingly succulent; in fact the whole plant is in every 

 way more delicate than either clover or alfalfa, and it is eaten not only 

 by domestic animals, but even by the feilahin." 



The root system of the berseem is not a large one, but remarkable 

 for its abundant and succulent tu bercules. (PI. VIII, figs- 1 and 2 ; PI. 



«The writer is aware that the fenugreek, which resembles berseem somewhat, is 

 a common green food of the peasants. 



