PLANTS WHOSE SEEDS WE EAT 97 



Sweet peas are a race developed for their blos- 

 soms alone. 



LENTILS 



One of the oldest food plants that supplies in 

 satisfying quantities the muscle-building ele- 

 ments is the lentil, a puzzle to the botanist, but 

 cultivated by men as far back as the Bronze Age. 

 We are familiar, perhaps, with the little, dark, 

 flattened seed, that the grocer keeps chiefly for 

 his customers of the Latin races. They have no 

 prejudices against foods that are dark-colored 

 and have a strong taste. We can buy canned 

 lentils, ready to eat, and learn what they taste 

 like, or make soup of the dry seeds that act and 

 look like small, dark split peas. 



Any vegetable that has saved the race from 

 famine, and came with the Aryan civilization into 

 Europe, and on to this country, is one worth know- 

 ing, from a historical standpoint, if from no other. 

 There are so many legumes far more useful, how- 

 ever, that it will be surprising if the lentils should 

 not decline with the advance of civilization in the 

 years to come. 



The lupines and vetches, pod-bearing plants 

 once important as food for cattle, have value, but 

 better forage plants will surely beat them in the 



