Scriptures, which is distinguished from the wine of the country in several passages. Lev. x. 9; Numb. vi. 3.

Barley appears in some slightly different varieties; but the kind known to the ancients is an Oriental variety now considered the best. In the Scriptures, allusion is made to its uses for food and in the offerings, and also to its time of growth as a method of distinguishing the seasons of the year.

From the first class of references, it seems to have formed a great part of the bread of the people, and was generally confined to the poorer sort, as not quite so rare as wheat, in connection with which it seems to be mentioned very frequently.

In the sacrifices, barley was offered in case of jealousy on the part of the husband, and it was to be unaccompanied by any spices or oil, as was customary in other offerings. More than four hundred years before the Christian era, the nations of the northernmost parts of Europe sent offerings to Delos; and Herodotus tells us that these offerings were conveyed from town to town wrapped in barley-straw. This author also relates that the same singularity is practised among the Thracian and Pæonian women, who in their sacrifices to Diana, the goddess of the chaste, make use of barley-straw. In this there seems to be a similarity to the practice of the early Hebrews, and one is led to suppose that in some way the custom among the Thracians was derived from the Israelites.

The third class of references have respect to the season of the year. As we have seen, the times of the present crops vary with the distance north or south of Jerusalem. We shall be

Melpomene, xxxiii.

nearest the proper times if we remember that the barley-seed generally requires from ten to twelve weeks to ripen from the period when the seed is first put into the soil, provided the weather during that time is favorable to its growth. The barley is ready for harvest, in the latitude a few miles south of Jerusalem, about the 20th of March, varying a few days sometimes in the plains near the coast or in the warmer vales to the east. North of Jerusalem and around Samaria it is a week or ten days later, and about Mount Lebanon still later by another week. On the east of Lebanon and in the plains of Damascus it seems to be several days in advance of the crops on the sea-side slopes and plains of the mountain-ranges, because of the soil and the sun which encourage the eastern growths. The wheat-season is still later in all parts than that of the barley. Hence, when Ruth began her gleaning in the fields of Boaz, it is evident that, being in the region of Bethlehem, her visit to the land of her motherin-law must have been near the last week of March. On the other hand, as the entrance of Holofernes into the land with his army was in the season of wheat-harvest, it must have been at a time much later, determined by the ripening of the wheat. As the first mention of barley in the Scriptures is in connection with the destruction of the grain by the plague of thunder and hailstones, we are enabled to ascertain the date of that plague, for it is stated that "the barley was in the ear;" hence it must have occurred somewhat earlier than the middle of March for the Israelites were at that time at Rameses, in latitude about seventy miles south of Gaza. As barley ripens in the latter place about the 18th, the difference of the season

could not have been more than a week or ten days at the utmost, and the barley, being "in the ear," would soon have ripened; so that some of the plagues occurred in the first week of March.

The last mention of barley is in the narrative of the feeding the multitude upon the hill-sides near the Lake of Galilee. In this humble but miraculous feast a lesson of deep importance is associated with the use of the barley loaves and fishes. It suggests the humble origin of the peasant from whose hands those few loaves came; and, moreover, it speaks of the state of mind of the thousands who waited on the Saviour. Of the vast number there assembled it is highly improbable that all were aware of the miraculous fact that these few loaves were rapidly and silently growing in the hands of the apostles. It was to the crowd but common barley bread. And yet we hear of no complaints. All ate and seemed to be thankful for the plain fare to which they were invited. From this, it is evident that either they were all of the poorer sort and accustomed to this common diet, or else it speaks of the wonderful interest which must have attended the Saviour's visits, that those who were of the better classes should have been so interested in his appearance, his words and his acts, as to submit to fatigue and eat of the lowly feast alike with all the rest. This however is the characteristic of

a faithful Christianity.

It places all on the same platform when embracing the truths and hopes of the gospel, and leads us often to see a miracle of power and love resulting from the presentation of the most common and the simplest truths.

LAURINEÆ.

(Sweet Bay.)

(Oleander.)

Laurus Nobilis.
Nerium.

green

HE green bay attains the height of a small tree or large shrub, with healthy-looking, dark-green leaves. It is not generally met with throughout the land, but flourishes in some places where the soil is rich, especially in the old gardens of Tyre and Sidon. Notwithstanding the supposition that the above is perhaps the " bay-tree” referred to in the 37th Psalm and 35th verse, yet a "green tree that groweth in its native soil," or, simply, a “flourishing plant," might be the signification of the word translated "green bay-tree" in that verse; and the celebrated botanist Hasselquist noticed, as every one who has travelled through Judea has also, that the oleander or nerium, called the rose-bay, flourishes throughout the land and especially by the watercourses. Hasselquist was the first to suppose that the oleander was the plant referred to as the green bay-tree, springing up in crowds along the damp banks or overhanging the rivulets. It mingles with the tamarisk and willow upon the sides of the Jordan and the shores of Lake Tiberias, and gives life and beauty to many a rugged rock on the Mediterranean.

It is supposed that the "bay-tree," or oleander, is alluded to