vetches were formerly called fetches: thus, in Milton's "Comus," the lines which now stand,

"If all the world

Should, in a fit of temperance, feed on pulse,"

stood originally, "feed on fetches."

*

The red pottage, for which the weary hunter, Esau, sold his birthright to his brother Jacob, was made of the seed of a species of vetch, or tare, the lentile, (Ervum lens.) The lentile is still highly prized in eastern lands; and in Egypt, and throughout Syria, the bean is parched in frying-pans, and sold in shops. The mess of red pottage is still an esteemed dish, as it was when Esau coveted it, and sinned, by undervaluing his birthright, in order to procure it; and it is now, as it was then, a very important article of diet to the labouring classes, and often cooked, too, for the rich. Dr. Shaw relates, that "lentiles dissolve easily, in boiling, into a mass, and form a pottage of a red, or chocolate colour, much valued in Egypt and Western Asia." The yellow flowers of the plant called familiarly kidney vetch, or lady's finger, (Anthyllis vulneraria,) are blooming on dry pastures by the latter end of this month, and continue in bloom till August. These flowers grow in heads, or clusters, two clusters on each stem, and may be known from any other of our papilionaceous plants by the quantity of white silky wool in which they lie as in a nest. The flower, which, in Kent and most

* Gen. xxv. 31, 34.

other counties, is always yellow, grows in Devonshire, and in Wales, with cream-coloured, white, or red blossoms. Linnæus observed of

this plant, that in Eland, where the soil is a red calcareous clay, the flowers are red; but that on the white chalky soil of Gothland, they are white.

The

From every hedge we may now gather the flower called treacle mustard, (Erysimum alliaria.) It grows to the height of two or three feet, has small white flowers of the shape termed by botanists, cruciferous, and forming a cross, like those of the wallflower. leaves are as large as those of the nettle; and, when broken, yield a most powerful odour of garlic, which renders the plant very offensive in a nosegay, and which even scent the dried specimens in an herbarium. It was formerly cultivated in kitchen gardens, as a salad plant.

A large number of yellow cruciferous flowers, as the wild cabbage, or coleseed, (Brassica napus,) the common turnip, (Brassica rapa,) and the various kinds of mustard, now show themselves among the young spires of the green corn-field; and in neglected fields, threaten destruction to the blade. The charlock, or wild mustard, (Sinapis arvensis,) is, too, common on the cultured land, and gives much trouble to the farmer. Its seeds are pungent and acrid; and are often mixed with those of the species cultivated especially for mustard. It is called in the different counties, charlock, garlock, or chadlock; and in Yorkshire is commonly known

as runsh. The foliage is rough, and the flowers large and yellow. The kind chiefly planted for the table condiment, is the black, or common mustard, (Sinapis nigra,) which is also a wild flower on waste places; but the seeds of all the species are hot; and afford, on expression, a pungent oil; or when dried, a stimulating powder. Our word, mustard, and the French word, moutarde, are corruptions of the words, mustem ardens, (hot must,) as the French prepare the mustard used at their tables with the sweet-must of new wine.

All the plants which have cross-shaped flowers, contain, in greater or less degree, the acrid, volatile, oily principle, which is so abundant in the mustard-seed, and the root of the horseradish; and is less perceptible in the common wall-flower, or the water-cress. In all cases, cruciferous plants may be eaten with safety; but, in many instances, the acrid principle must be reduced by culture, or by blanching, before they become palatable. When the texture of a cruciferous plant is very succulent and juicy, it is always eatable; as in the case of the common cabbage-leaf, and in the radish, or turnip.

The sight of any of our numerous wild mustard plants will often suggest to the reader of Scripture the words of our Saviour, "The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustardseed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and

becometh a tree; so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. "* A great variety of opinion has been entertained as to the species intended in this text. The eastern mustard, (Sinapis orientalis,) has been often considered as the Scripture mustard. It is very common in Palestine, and very similar in its appearance to our charlock. The warmth of the climate, however, renders it far more luxuriant; and it attains the height of a shrub, or even a tree; but as it has not a woody stem, or branches, and it dies down to the ground every winter, it can scarcely be called a tree. Here again, we must refer to that valuable work, the "Pictorial Palestine." The author of this book quotes from the travels of captains Irby and Mangles. Speaking of vegetable productions in the neighbourhood of the Dead sea, these travellers say, "There was one curious tree, which we observed in great plenty; and which bears a fruit in bunches, resembling in appearance the currant, with the colour of the plum. It has a pleasant, although strongly aromatic taste, exactly resembling mustard; and, if taken in any quantity, produces a similar irritability of the nose and eyes, to that which is caused by taking mustard. The leaves of the tree have the same pungent flavour as the fruit, although not so strong. We think it probable that this is the tree our Saviour alluded to, in the parable of the mustard-seed, and not the plant we have in the north: for although, in our

Matt. xiii. 31, 32,

journey from Bysan to Adjeloun, we met with the mustard plant growing wild, as high as our horses' heads; still, being an annual, it did not deserve the appellation of a tree; whereas the other is really such, and birds might easily, and actually do, take shelter under its shadow." Kitto, commenting on this quotation, remarks, "The Jewish writers speak of a mustard-tree common among them, in quite corresponding terms; seeming to show that a species of the sinapis or some analogous genus, existed in Palestine, with which we are not well acquainted; and which may very probably prove to be that which captain Mangles has pointed out."

One of our wild species of mustard, the broad hedge mustard, or London rocket, (Sisymbrium irio,) is exceedingly common on waste grounds, in the neighbourhood of the metropolis; and is remarkable as having sprung up immediately after the great fire of London, in 1666, and quickly covered the ground where the city had stood. So profuse was this flower, in a few weeks after the fire, that it was supposed by the botanists of those days, that a greater quantity existed on that one spot, than could have been collected from over the whole surface of Europe; and it is a singular instance of vegetable growth, for which no naturalist has ever been able to account.

A peculiar circumstance connected with a flower of this, and the coming month, is, that it has bloomed for centuries on a lone place in the sea, and is almost unknown as a wild flower in