214 HORTUS GRAMITSEIS WO HI RNENSIS. 



ploughing it in, getting a good crop of wheat after it on 

 indifferent soils. Mr. Zappa, of Milan, says, that it likes 

 deep ground, rich, and exposed to the sun ; multiplies very 

 well from the seed, grows chiefly in the spring, flowering at 

 the beginning of May, and ripening the seed at the begin- 

 ning of June; it grows but little towards the end of sunnner 

 and autumn. It is cut with poa trivialis, fifteen inches high, 

 but is naturally procumbent. The seed of this plant falls so 

 readily that great loss ensues from moving it, and, in thrash- 

 ing, the least stroke clears it. It is a good way, therefore, 

 to thrash it in the field on a cloth, which is moved to the 

 seed, and not the seed to the cloth. This account, extracted 

 from Mr. Young's Annals, perfectly agrees with what I liavc 

 observed of the habits of this plant, only that it does not 

 flower here till the middle or end of May, For light soils 

 only it appears to be adapted, and these must be deep, as 

 the root penetrates to a considerable depth, and is but little 

 fibrous. It does not appear fit for separate cultivation, nor 

 even to be employed in a large proportion in a mixture of other 

 seeds. The root is annual, or at most a two-year-lived plant, 

 and its use is therefore confined to the alternate husbandry. 

 To sow the seeds of this plant with others on land intended 

 to remain for permanent pasture, would be subversive of the 

 intention ; as every spot this plant occupied would be naked 

 the second year; and these spots aftbrd every encourage- 

 ment to the growth of weeds, as well as the decaying roots 

 aflbrd nourishment to the life of grubs. 



HEDYSARUM otiobrychis. Sainfoin, or Cock's-head. 



Generic cltaracler : Keel transversely obtuse ; legume 

 • jointed, with one seed in each joint. 



Specific character: Legumes one-seeded, prickly; wing.s 

 of the corolla equal in length to the calyx; stem elon- 

 gated. 



Native of Britain. Root perennial. 



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



. a poor siliceous sandy soil is 6,806 lbs. per acre. 



The produce of sainfoin on a clayey loam with a sandy 

 subsoil, is greater than on a siliceous sandy soil incumbent 



