the LENTIL: A genus of the decandria order, belonging to the diadelphia clas of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 32d order, Papilionaceae. The calyx is quinquepartite, the length of the corolla. There are six species; of which the most remarkable is the lens, or common lentil. It is cultivated in many parts of England, either as fodder for cattle, or for the seeds which are frequently used in meagre soups. It is an annual plant, and rises with weak stalks about 18 inches high, garnished with winged leaves composed of several pairs of narrow lobes, terminated by a clasper or tendril, which fasten to any neighbouring plant, and is thereby supported: the flowers come out three or four together, upon short footstalks from the side of the branches. They are small, of a pale purple colour, and are succeeded by short flat pods, containing two or three seeds which are flat, round, and a little convex in the middle. The seeds of this plant are most commonly sown in the month of March, where the land is dry; but in moist ground, the best time is April. The usual quantity of seed allowed for an acre of land is from one bushel and a half to two bushels. If these are sown in drills in the same manner as peas, they will succeed better than when sown in broadcast: the drills should be a foot and a half asunder, to allow room for the Dutch hoe to clean the ground between them; for if the weeds are permitted to grow among them, they will get above the lentils and starve them.

There is another sort of lentil also cultivated in this country under the name of French lentil. It is twice the size of the former, both in plant and seed; and is much better worth cultivation than the other. It should be sown in March, after a single ploughing, in the ground that bore corn the year before. Manure is not absolutely necessary, though it will undoubtedly increase the crop. Its grass is said to be very copious; it may be mowed many times in the year, and affords a healthy as well as an agreeable food to horses, cows, and sheep: the milk of cows fed with it is said to be very copious and good. Long and numerous pods ripen about the beginning of winter, which afford a new kind of legumen, to be eaten as common lentils: when fresh, it makes admirable pea-soup; dry, it is greedily eaten by the poultry. The dried herb is also a good resource for cattle in winter. It grows on any kind of ground.