HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 395 



Leafets oftener alternate than opposite, more or less hoary on 

 both sides, with silky hairs, commonly rounded at the end, 

 and terminated by a short point. Flowers of a purple or 

 violet bluish colour. Legume half an inch long, containing 

 four or five globular seeds, the size of a lentil. Fl. Rust, 

 t. 117; Fl. Dan. t. 804; Wither, ii. 363; Engl. Bot. 

 t. 1168. 

 Experiments. — At the time of flowering, the produce from a 



clayey loam in an exposed situation is — 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. lbs. 



Herbage, 16 oz. The produce per acre - 10890 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - 30 7 4083 \'^ 



The produce of the space, ditto - 96 > 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 6806 4 



64 dr. of grass aflbrd of nutritive matter 2 > oaq c q 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 8 3 



This species of vetch is chiefly confined to woods and hedges 

 in its natural state : I have found it in two instances among the 

 herbage of irrigated meadows. When growing among bushes, a 

 space of ground equal to that above mentioned, afforded 48 oz. of 

 herbage, or three times the weight of that cultivated in an open 

 situation. Dr. Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, says, that this 

 and the Vicia sylvatica advance starved or weak cattle above any 

 thing yet known ; and Dr. Anderson, in his Essays, speaks highly 

 of this plant. It is inferior to common tares {Vicia sylvatica) in 

 the quantity of nutritive matter it affords, but contains much less 

 superfluous moisture. This must give it a superiority, in regard to 

 nutrient properties, over tares, which contain an excess. But it 

 has a strong creeping root that will always prevent its admission 

 to arable lands. It might be best cultivated on tenacious soils, 

 and used after the manner of lucern, than which, though greatly 

 deficient in the weight of crop, it is nevertheless more nutritive. 



Forty-three grains of nutritive matter consisted of — 



Saccharine matter or sugar - - 20 grains. 



Mucilage - - - - 12 



Insoluble and saline matters - - 11 



Flowers about the middle of July and the beginning of August^ 

 and the seed is ripe at the beginning of September. 



