352 Man's Work on the Farm 



Large crops are, however, still grown in the plains 

 of Lombardy. 



So much was done by the Arabs to make the vege- 

 tation of the East known in Europe, that the Crusaders 

 found little to bring home in the way of useful plants ; 

 and the next important addition to the food-plants of 

 Europe, though that too came from Asia, was a much 

 more northerly one. 



Buckwheat grows wild about the river Amoor, and 

 in some other parts of Asia, and as it made its first 

 appearance in Europe at the same time as the gipsies, 

 early in the fifteenth century, they have generally had 

 the credit of introducing it, as its many names, such as 

 ' heathen ' and ' Saracen ' corn, sufficiently testify, for 

 these were applied indiscriminately to the gipsies also. 

 It seems not improbable that they should have carried 

 it with them, for it grows on poor soil, and takes but a 

 short time to come to perfection, and would therefore 

 be well suited to the needs of those who lead a wander- 

 ing life. 



Another plant which is said also to have followed 

 the gipsies from Asia all across Europe is the deadly 

 thorn-apple, which is unpleasantly suggestive of some 

 of their evil practices. 



Hitherto the various migrations of plants, of which 

 we have any certain knowledge, had been, with few 

 exceptions, from east to west. And now, with the 

 wonderful discovery of the New World, fresh fields 

 were opened out to them, still in the same direction. 

 Europe was, as it were, but a stepping-stone for many, 

 on their way to the Far West ; and in the case of not a 

 few, it was only when they reached the western hemi- 

 sphere that they showed what they were capable of. 



