Book VI. EXOTIC LEGUMES. 775 



for all sorts of cattle. Cows give more butter when fed with this plant than with any 

 other food whatsoever. Horses thrive better upon tares tlian they do upon clover and rye- 

 grass; and the same remark is applicable to fattening of cattle, who feed faster upon 

 this article of green fodder, than upon any kind of grass or esculent with which we are 

 acquainted. Danger often arises from their eating too many, especially when podded ; 

 as colics, and other stomach disorders, are apt to be produced by the excessive loads 

 which they devour. Perhaps a great quantity of fixed air is contained in this vegetable j 

 and as heavy crops are rarely dry at the root when cut, it is not to be wondered that acci* 

 dents often happen, when the animal is indulged with the unrestrained consumption of 

 them. Were oat straw mixed with the tares in the racks or stalls in which they are de- 

 posited, it is probable that fewer accidents would follow, though this assistant is only re-. 

 quired when the tares are wet, foul, or over succulent. If the plants be cut green, and 

 given to live-stock, either on the field, or in the fold-yards, there is, perhaps, no green crop 

 of greater value, nor any better calculated to give a succession of herbage from May to 

 November. The winter-sown tare, in a favorable climate, is ready for cutting before 

 clover. The first spring crop comes in after the clover must be all consumed or made into 

 hay ; and the successive spring sowings give a produce more nourishing for the larger 

 animals than the aftermath of clover, and may afford green food at least a month longer. 

 In the county of Sussex, Young observes, "tare crops are of such use and importance that 

 not one-tenth of the stock could be maintained without them; horses, cows, sheep, hogs, 

 all feed upon them ; hogs are soiled upon them without any other food. Tliis plant main-? 

 tains more stock than any other plant whatsoever. Upon one acre, Davis maintained 

 four horses in much better condition than upon five acres of grass. Upon eight acres he 

 has kept twelve horses and five cows for three months without any other food : no artificial 

 food whatever is equal to this excellent plant." This statement must be coupled with the 

 .usual produce of turnips in Sussex, 10 or 15 tons per acre: hence the supposed supe- 

 riority of tares to every other green crop. Tares cut green. Professor Timer observes, 

 draw no nourishment from the soil whatever, while made into hay, they aflford a fodder 

 preferred by cattle to pease-straw, and more nutritive than hay or any other herbage. 



4812. The use of the grain of tares is generally for reproduction ; but they are also given 

 to pigeons, by whom they are highly relished, and it is thought they would form a very 

 good food for poultry. In Germany they are given to horses, cows, sheep, and swine. 



4813. The diseases of tares are so fe w as to be of no consequence. A crop is sometimesj 

 but rarely, lost by mildew. 



Sect. IV. Of other Leguminous Grains, which might be cultivated in British Farming. 



4814. The lentil, kidneybean, and chick pea are grown both in France and Germany 

 as field plants for their grains, to be used as food. They 565 



are by no means likely to become articles of general cul- 

 ture in Britain ; but it is worth while to know that they 

 may be cultivated here instead of being imported, and 

 also that they form Very excellent articles of human 

 food. 



4815. The lentil is the Ervumlens, L. Les lentilles, 

 Fr. ; Lentzen, Ger. ; and Lenticcia, Ital. (fg. 565.) It 

 is a legume of the greatest antiquity, being in esteem in 

 Esau*s time, and much prized in eastern countries ever 

 since. In Egypt and Syria, they are parched in a frying- 

 pan and sold in the shops, and considered by the natives 

 as the best food for those who Undertake long journeys. 

 The lentil is considered a native of France, but has been 

 known in England from the earliest agricultural records. 

 In Gerarde's time, they were sown like tares, their haulm given to cattle, and the grain to 

 pigeons, and used in meagre soups. 



4816. There are three varieties of lentils cultivated in France and Germany; the small 

 brown, which is the lightest flavored, and the best for haricots and soups ; the yellowish^ 

 which is a little larger, and the next best ; and the lentil of Provence, which is almost 

 as large as a pea with luxuriant straw> and more fit to be cultivated as a tare, than fot 

 the grains as human food. 



4817. A dry ibarm saiidy soil is requisite for the lentil ; it is so^n rather later than 

 the pea, at the rate of a bushel or one and a half busliels to the acre ; in other respects 

 its culture and harvesting are the same, and it ripens sooner. The lentil, Young ob- 

 serves, is a crop not uncommon about Chesterford in Essex, where they sow a bushel 

 an acre on one ploughing in the beginning or middle of March. It is there the custom 

 to make hay of them, or seed them, for Cutting into chaff for trough-meat for sheep and 

 horses, and they sow them on both heavy and dry soils. It is, however, added, that 

 the whole country is of a calcareous natiire. It is likewise stated, that attention should 



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