158 CHICK PEA. 



furnished with wings, it appears, perforates the pod and diminishes 

 the fruit nearly a half. Buggy peas scalded half a minute, then cooled 

 and sown immediately, destroys the bug and hastens the growth of the 

 fruit. The bugs do not infest peas on new settlements, if not carried 

 and planted in the pea. Peas degenerate faster than most plants, and 

 should be had for seed from more northern places ; they should be 

 changed once in 2 or 3 years ; and when cut with a sickle, should be 

 spread to dry, and not stirred till carefully taken to the barn. After 

 thrashing, they should be spread on the floor to be aired 2 weeks, and 

 then put into casks. For mildew, water applied copiously once a 

 week, is recommended. 



Peas steam-boiled, or when ground, fatten swine well ; and the 

 flour is greatly used for human food, mixed with the flour of the 

 grains, particularly rye, as bread, for soups, and in various ways. 



P. Sativum ; foot-stalks cylindrical ; stem branched, leafy, smooth ; 

 leaves alternate, pinnate, eliptical, opposite leaflets ending in climb- 

 ing tendrils ; stipules in pairs ; flowers white, inodorous ; seeds 5 to 9 ; 

 many varieties. 



CHICK PEA, Cicer-arietinum, C. 22. O. 4. sp. 19. This plant be- 

 longs to the same class, order and family as the common pea and 

 bean. It is a small legume much cultivated in the S. of Europe as a 

 dying ingredient, and as an article of food. It was the parched pulse 

 which constituted the common food of the Hebrews in the field. It is 

 called on the coast of the Mediterranean, garavance. The seeds are 

 not eaten alone ; for, unlike most other pulse, they do not form a pulp 

 by boiling. They are commonly used as a garnish strewed over viands ; 

 and in Spain they form the favorite dish, o/Zu, composed of bacon, cab- 

 bage, pumpkin, &c. Parched, they have been greatly esteemed from 

 a very early period, and they are still much eaten in Europe and Asia. 

 They were a common food of the lower orders of Rome. What was 

 before said as to the use of peas as food in crossing the desert, applies 

 especially to this species. 



In Nubia the seeds of a small pulse, called Kerkedan, grows wild, 

 and is much eaten, made into a kind of bread, and as a substitute for 

 coffee. 



Another plant of the kind, called symka, and indigenous to that 

 country, produces seeds resembling the pea, and affords a valuable food 

 for the camel; and when green, for man. An oil is also obtained from 

 it, by boiling, which is used by the natives, as they use butter, for oil- 

 ing their hair and bodies. 



Numerous other small legumes are cultivated in the East, like the 

 grains. Rains being very unfrequent, the legumes are necessarily 

 much cultivated there, as the pulse sustain dryness better than the 

 cerealia, by their absorption of atmospheric vapor. The smaller and 

 more hardy these are, the more certain are they of affording a crop. 





