CHAP. XLI. LEGUMINA‘CE®. GENI’STA. 577 
course of the month of August; and, after having been made up into little 
bundles, are dried in the sun. These are afterwards beaten with a mallet, and 
then steeped in water for three or four hours ; after this they are steeped in a 
ditch, among water and mud, for eight or nine days, and then taken out and 
washed, which operation has the effect of separating the parenchyma from 
the fibres. The bundles are then opened, and thinly spread out to dry, 
after which they are combed in the manner of flax; and the better part 1s 
laid aside for being spun, and woven into sheets, table linen, or shirts; the 
remaining part being used for sacking, or for stuffing mattresses. In various 
parts of France, Italy, and Spain, where neither hemp nor flax is grown, 
owing to the poverty of the soil, Spartium janceum is found an excellent 
substitute. In Italy, about Mount Cassiano, advantage is taken of a hot 
spring, by alternately immersing the shoots in it, and drying them in the sun, 
instead of the more tedious process of immersing them in cold water: when 
thus treated, the parenchyma is rendered fit for separation, and the fibres for 
combing, in three or four days. This process is said by Rosier to be also 
performed with the C¥tisus scoparius ; though, according to Desfontaines, this 
is doubtful. In Languedoc, sheep and goats are fed with the branches of 
Spartium jinceum during winter, not because it is an excellent fodder, but 
because there is a general deficiency of forage at that season. Both in Spain 
and France, the shoots are used for forming baskets, and for tying up vines and 
other fruit trees. The bees are said to be very fond of the flowers; and the 
seeds are eaten with great avidity by poultry, partridges, &c. Medicinally, 
the flowers and leaves, in infusion, act as an emetic, or, in a larger quantity, 
as an aperient. In Britain, the plant is solely regarded as an ornamental 
shrub, having the appearance of an evergreen, from its smooth dark-green 
shoots, and fastigiate form, even in winter, when without leaves. To produce 
a harmonious effect, some judgment is required in the quantity of plants of 
this species which ought to be grouped together. Three or four plants of 
Spartium jinceum, placed among three or four plants of any broad-leaved 
shrub, from the equal balance of opposite forms and characters, will not form 
a harmonious whole; while one plant of Spartium, in a group of six or eight 
broad-leaved plants (and more if the Spartium be not large), will be effective, by 
the contrast which it exhibits to the others; in the same manner as a single 
Lombardy poplar sometimes produces a good effect in a mass of round- 
headed trees. In planting Spartium janceum along with Cytisus scoparius 
and other plants of the same general character and habit, less attention in 
regard to proportion is requisite, as the assimilation is more natural. In 
shrubberies, where the Spartinm jianceum is planted here and there at random, 
though the plants form a beautiful objects, considered separately, yet they 
often destroy the unity of expression of the scenery. 
Propagation and Culture. Seeds are produced in abundance, and they will 
come up in any soil that is tolerably dry. In the nursery, they ought to be 
transplanted every year, as they are apt to form long taproots and very few 
fibres. Where,the plants are wanted as shelter for game, or to be grown 
as a substitute for flax or hemp, they may be treated in the same manner as 
the seeds of Ulex europze‘a. (See p. 574.) 
Commercial Statistics. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, seedlings 
5s. per 100; transplanted plants, 12s. per 100; the double-flowered variety, 
1s. 6d. each: at Bollwyller, 50 cents. 
Genus VII. 
ree earn 
Paes ale 
GENYVSTA Lam. Tue Genista. Lin, Syst. Monadélphia Decandria. 
Identification. Lam. Dict., 2. p. 616.; Ill, t.619.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 145. ; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 148. 
Synonymes. Genista, et Spartium, spec, Lin. ; Genet, Ir. ; Ginster, Ger. 
RR 2 

