EARLY HISTORY OF 243 



are equally common; and on the Continent in Italy, 

 Sicily, France, and Germany they enter into cultivation 

 largely for food purposes. In Egypt and in other coun- 

 tries of the East at the present day they are commonly 

 sold in a partially cooked condition, having been parched 

 over a fire in an iron vessel, and in this dried state are 

 considered by the natives as the best food to take with 

 them on their long journeys. Owing to the large pro- 

 portions of nitrogen compounds the seeds contain, they 

 have been for centuries past, and are still, made use of 

 largely in Catholic countries as substitutes for animal 

 food in Lent and other periods of fasting; indeed, the 

 name lentil is said to have a direct connection with 

 the name given to that particular period of fasting and 

 penitence of the Roman calendar, and that either the 

 title of Lent was adopted from the practice of substituting 

 this vegetable food for flesh at that period of the year, 

 or that the lentil received its name from the ordinances 

 of the Roman church. 



Several of our early English authors speak of their 

 cultivation in different parts of this country. They ap- 

 pear to have been introduced into this country about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century. In Gerarde's time (the 

 commencement of the 1 7th century) we find them being 

 grown like vetches, their seed being either used in soup 

 and other culinary preparations, or given to pigeons, 

 and the straw used as fodder for cattle. Arthur Young 

 states, at the beginning of the present century, that 

 they were not an uncommon crop near Chesterford, on 

 the borders of Essex, where they were grown both for 

 their seeds and as a forage crop. He remarks that it is 

 necessary to prevent the cattle drinking water while 

 eating them, as they are apt to be hoven. Some few 

 years ago attention was again directed to their cultiva- 

 tion, as offering a very nutritious and palatable substitute 



