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Article VIII. 

 On -the Culture of the Bujh-Fetch. 

 By the Rev. Mr. Swayne^ in a Letter to the Secretary. 

 Sir, 



SEVERAL gentlemen at the laft meeting, ha- 

 ving expreflcd great furprize at the acreable 

 account of the produce of a piece of lucern in 

 fome former feafon, communicated by the Rev. 

 Mr. Clofe, I here fend you a (imilar account of the 

 produce of an indigenous vegetable of this country 

 in the prefent feafon; a vegetable, which has hi- 

 thertb, as far as I know, been uncultivated;, but 

 which, if I am not greatly miftaken, would, under 

 proper cultivation, pro/e a valuable addition to the 

 farmer's Flora, and be in many refpe(5ts of more 

 value to him than that celebrated exotic, lucern. 



The plant which the ftatement refpeds is^, the 

 Bulh Vetch, \_Viciafepium, Lin.] It is a plant of 

 the clafs diadelphia of the Linnaean fyftem, the 

 order decandria, the genus vicia : the ' fixth fpecies 

 of Withering, and the fcventh of Hudson. The 

 root is perennial, fibrous, and branching; the fialks 

 are many, fomc of them fliooting immediately 

 upwards, others creeping jufl: under the furfacc of 

 the ground, and emerging fome hear to, and others 



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