Lens 



Italian botanists tiiink that Virgil may be right in 

 assigning it to Egypt. Others hold that it was 

 developed in Italy out of some other vetch with 

 smaller and less valuable seeds. Ancient authorities 

 agree with Virgil that it should be sown in Novem- 

 ber, but those who wish to grow it in England 

 would do well to wait till March and choose a warm 

 spot. In our climate it is of less value than the 

 Dutch brown bean and other varieties of Phaselus 

 which we owe to America. The seeds are imported 

 in considerable quantities for use as a vegetable and 

 in soup. 



The turn of Virgil's phrase must imply either that 

 lentils are of less value than corn or that their culti- 

 vation is so easy that a scientiiic farmer might leave 

 it to less able hands. 



Flower, July and August. 



Italian names, Lente and Lenticchia. 



LiGUSTRUM. 



' alba ligustra cadunt' (Ec. ii. i8). 



It were much to be desired that our English 

 gardeners shared Corydon's contempt for the privet 

 (Ligustrum vulgare), against which Mr. William 

 Robinson has waged a righteous war almost in vain. 

 The wretched shrub claims the power of resisting 

 London smoke, and one is minded to wish that it 

 could not. However much it is planted, perhaps no 

 one chooses to gather its sickly smelling flowers. 

 The shrub is closely akin to the olive and the ash, 



67 



