48 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



the cattle, in the same manner as other tares. 

 The seeds were used in meagre soups, and 

 are said to be the best food for pigeons. 

 Lentils make excellent sweet fodder, and are 

 therefore to be preferred to all other kinds 

 for calves and other young cattle. 



Coles says the people of Hampshire leave 

 out the first syllable and call them Tills, and 

 in Oxfordshire they were called Dills, in his 



time (1657). 



The French Lentil, which is the Lens 

 major of Caspar Bauhine, being twice the 

 size of the common lentil, has been more cul- 

 tivated. These are called Tills in many parts 

 of England. 



Chick pea, or, according to early English 

 writers, Ciche pease, is called in Latin Cicer 

 arietinum, on account of the pods resembling 

 a ram's head. 



Theophrastus says, this pea takes the 

 deepest root of all the pulse kind. Galen 

 says, it is more nutritious than the bean, but 

 that, if eaten too freely, it breeds the leprosy. 



The ancients gave them to stallion horses, 

 on account of a particular virtue which they 

 were thought to possess. 



Dioscorides, who was physician to Antony 

 and Cleopatra, recommended a decoction of 



