THE LENTIL. 



31. 5 



wind, or they are planted neai' a building or fence 

 from which slender cords are suspended, and the 

 flexile stems as they rise clasp and entwine them- 

 selves with these. " It deserves notice, that in 

 their voluble habit of gi-owth the tendrils turn 

 to the right, or in a direction contrary to the ap- 

 parent diurnal course of the sun. This aberra- 

 tion from the common habit of plants has been 

 accounted for by supposing that the native cli- 

 mate of the scarlet runner will be found to lie 

 south of the equator, and that the plant, although 

 removed to the northern hemisphere, is still obe- 

 dient to the course originally assigned to it, 

 turning in a direction which in its native climate 

 would be towards the sun." * 



Both species are tender plants, and seldom 

 thrive if they are sown very early in the season ; 

 but in favourable weather they are prolific 

 bearers, especially the scarlet runner, which for 

 a long continuance yields a plentiful crop from 

 one sowing. Though generally supposed to be 

 annuals, the runner is in fact a biennial, fresh 

 shoots springing up from the root the second 

 year. 



In England, only the immature pod is used as 

 a legume. The ripe seeds known by the name 

 of haricots are prepared in various ways as a fa- 

 vourite edible in France, where the dwarf white 

 kidney-bean is extensively cultivated as a field 

 crop, to furnish a supply of their seeds, which 

 are in so constant demand. The seeds of the 

 Dutch runners, which are larger than these, and 

 of a superior quality, are made into a kind of 

 soup, which is held in much esteem in Holland. 

 The leaves likewise of the kidney-bean affbrd 

 when boiled a culinary vegetable which the Nu- 

 bians consider an excellent esculent. 



Some varieties of the kidney-bean are found 

 in cultivation throughout almost every civilized 

 country of the western as well as the eastern 

 hemisphere. The small black beans called fri- 

 collis, which are in general demand all over 

 Mexico, are no doubt a kind of kidney-bean. 

 Recent travellers in that country relate that im- 

 mense fields of these are under cultivation for 

 the supply of the large cities, where they form a 

 part of every meal, and are not only in great fa- 

 vour with the inhabitants, but are considered 

 excellent even by strangers. 



Another species, the Snail Flower (phaseolus 

 caracalla), so named from the Celtic caracalla, 

 a hood or head dress, is a very curious plant, and 

 will grow and flower freely if kept clear from 

 the red spiders. This species was brought by 

 the Portuguese from South America, and thus 

 introduced into the gardens of Europe. 



Among the productions of Bomou, Major 

 Denham enumerates four kinds of beans, which 

 arc raised in great quantities, called mussaqua, 



* Loud. Enoy. of Gardening. 



mari/a, hleeny, and kiinmay, all known by the 

 general name oi gafooly. These are eaten by the 

 slaves and the poorer people. A psiate com- 

 pounded from beans and fish was the only eat- 

 able the Major and his companions could find in 

 the towns near the river. 



The Lentil (ermitrt), is a small climbing 

 plant, with weak stalks, about a foot and a half 

 high. The leaves are winged, and each is ter- 

 minated by a tendril. The flowers, of a pale 

 purple colour, are succeeded by short flat pods, 

 containing two or three flat round seeds. Ano- 

 ther sort, distinguished as the French lentil, is 

 of much larger growth than the foi-mer, and al- 

 together more worthy of cultivation. These 

 plants are rarely raised in England, and then 

 only as food for cattle. In most parts of the 

 continent they are cultivated for the use of man, 

 and the seeds are made into soups, or become an 

 ingredient in other culinary preparations. They 

 are readily softened by, and mixed with, water, 

 forming with it a pottage of a chocolate colour. 

 In Catholic countries, where the formulary of 

 the church enjoins a number of meagre days, 

 such plants as the kidney-bean and the lentil are 

 more cultivated than they are in countries where 

 the religion of tjie people does not prescribe the 

 same observances. In England there are no 

 fasts scattered through the year on which the 

 people are expected to subsist upon pulse with 

 the addition of vegetable oils. The use of hari- 

 cots and lentils is therefore but little known in 

 this country. 



The CMch Pea, (cicer arietinum,) is another 

 small legume which is occasionally cultivated in 

 the south of Europe, especially in Spain, where 

 it is used as a dyeing ingredient as well as an 

 article of food. It is known there, and on the 

 opposite coast of the Mediterranean, by the name 

 of garavance or garvansos. These seeds do not, 

 like most other pulse, become of a soft and pulpy 

 consistence by boiling, and therefore they never 

 constitute a dish by themselves, but are strewed 

 singly as a garnish over certain savoury viands, 

 and form part of the olla, a dish composed of 

 bacon, cabbage, pumpkin, and garvanzos, with 

 which a Spanish dinner almost invariably com- 

 mences. The chick pea, when parched, has been 

 much esteemed among many nations from the 

 earliest periods of history, and in that state it 

 still continues an article of great consumption. 

 According to Bellonius, this pea was the parched 

 pulse which formed the common provision 

 of the Hebrews when they took the field; and 

 Cassianus supposes it to have been the terrified 

 seed mentioned by Plautus and Aristophanes. 

 The frictwm cicer seems also to have constituted 

 a part of the usual food of the lower orders at 

 Rome. 



In those warm and arid countries where tra- 

 vellers are constrained to carry their scanty pro- 



