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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 Excerpt:... may both be included here, as both are cultivated in the Holy Land, and the meal that they yield is used for food. TARES. The Tares (Gr., zizania) of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matt. 13, 24-30) are the Darnel (Lolium temuientum), a grass that is abundant in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and is peculiar in that its seeds are poisonous. It is a common weed in the cornfields, and in early stages would be indistinguishable from the wheat. LENTILS. Lentils (Heb., 'addshim) are the seeds of a vetch-like plant that is much cultivated on the poorer soils in Palestine. The red pottage for which Esau sold his birthright was of lentils (Gen. 25, 29-34). Lentils, beans, and parched pulse were among the supplies brought to David in Gilead when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. 17, 28). It is generally used as a pottage, but is also mixed with wheat, barley, beans, etc., for bread (./. Ezek. 4, 9). REED. The Reed of Egypt and Palestine is Arundo Donax, the slender yielding stem of which reaches 12 feet in height, and bears at the top a magnificent cluster of blossom. It is doubtless the "reed shaken with the wind " of the wilderness (Matt. 11, 7). BULRUSH. RUSH. The Hebrew gome, translated "bulrush" (as in Exod. 2, 3) and "rush" (as in Isa. 35, 7), is without doubt the Papyrus (Cyperus Papyrus), which formerly abounded on the Nile, flourishing in the mire, as described in Job (8, 11), but is now wholly extinct in Egypt. The stem is 10 or more feet high, and ends in a manyrayed broom-like head of minute flowers. From the white pith, cut lengthwise into thin slices, was made the earliest known paper. FLAX (Linum sativum). The use of linen was universal in Egypt, as it was the exclusive textile fabric. The importance of t...