125 
Leguminous Fruits ^ 
occasionally. There is, therefore, no proof, that among the an- 
cients the cytisus was much cultivated as fodder ; and the pro- 
posal of Aristomachus seems to have met with the same fate, 
which has attended so many proposals of our modern learned 
economists. Although the learned poet at the court of the Pto- 
lemies, and his imitator Virgil, frequently speak in their poems 
of the cytisus^ it does not follow that the plant was generally 
cultivated. 
A very ancient fodder is the Herba medica. Theophrastus 
mentions it, and says manure injures it, (Hist. PI. 1. viii. c. 7. 
§ 7. ed. Schn.) Dioscorides (1. ii. c. 177.) describes it as the 
T^/<pyAAov ( Psoralea hituminosa J, but with small leaves, seeds re- 
sembling those of lentils, and twisted pods. The latter mark, 
which is an essential one, is wanting in our editions, but there is 
a hiatus ; and in the Arabian translations the words are found. 
He adds, that the plant is cultivated for fodder. This exactly 
suits the Medicago sativa, the Lucern. W^hat Columella says 
(1. ii. c. 11.) of its culture, and of its lasting for ten years, like- 
wise agrees with this. Of the name, Pliny says, (1. xviii. c. 16.) : 
Medica externa etiam GrtEciae^ et a Medis advecta per Leila Per^ 
sarum quae Darius intulit. The lucern is not a native ofTEu- 
rope, for it only grows wild where it is now cultivated, or for- 
merly had been. It also is easily frozen in cold climates. 
Of the Vetch, the Trigonella Foenum Gr cecum and the Ervu 
lia I have already spoken. Pliny has explained what the an- 
cients called farrago and ocymum^ (1. xviii. c. 16.) The for- 
mer consists of beer or barley sowed along with vetches ; the latter 
of a mixture of beans, vetches, Frvilia and Avena Grceca^ cui 
non cadit semen. What this Avena Grceca is, we cannot exact- 
ly determine. According to Varro, this mixture has the ocyr^ 
mum from moist, because it grows rapidly. But in Pliny’s 
time, ocymum was altogether unknown. An improved hus- 
bandry had done away with the mixed fodder. 
Grains and Culinary Plants. 
Most of the species of grain which we grow in Europe are 
from foreign countries, and are not natives of Europe. On the 
other hand, most of the garden plants and greens are natives of 
Europe, and have been transplanted to other parts of the world. 
* Vicia ervilia, Ervurn ervilia, Linn. 
