776 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II 



be paid not to water horses soon after eating this sort of food, as they are apt to hove 

 them. They are likewise asserted to be cultivated for the same purpose in Oxfordshire, 

 and probably in other districts. 



4818. The produce of the lentU in grain is about a fourth less than that of the tare ; 

 and in straw it is not a third as much, the plants seldom growing above one and a half 

 feet high. The straw is, however, very delicate and nourishing, and preferred for lambs 

 and calves, and the grain on the continent sells at nearly double the price of pease. 

 EinhofT obtained from 3840 parts of lentils, 1260 parts of starch, and 1433 of a matter 

 analogous to animal matter. 



4819. The use of the lentil on the continent is very general, both in soups and dressed 

 with a butter sauce as haricot. They are imported from Hamburgh, and sold in Lon- 

 don for the same purpose. 



4820. The chick pea (Cicer arietinum, Jig. 55.), grows naturally in the south of Eu- 

 rope, and is cultivated there for the same purposes as the lentil, but it is too delicate for 

 field culture in this country. 



4821. The kidneybean [Phaseolus vulgaris, IL. Haricot, Fr. ; Schminkbohne, Ger. ; 

 and Fagiuolo, Ital.) is a native of India, but ripens readily in dry summers in most 

 parts of Britain. Its culture has been hitherto confined to gardens, but it might be 

 grown equally well in dry, warm, rich, and sheltered soils, being grown in the fields of 

 Germany, Switzerland, and similar climates. The sort generally used for this purpose 

 is the small dwarf white ; the ground is prepared by several stirrings, and the seed is 

 dibbled in rows eighteen inches or two feet asunder in the beginning of May. The 

 ground is hoed and weeded during the summer, and the crop is ripe in August. It is 

 usually harvested by pulling up the plants, which, being dried, are stacked or threshed. 

 The haulm is of little bulk or use, but the grain is used in making the esteemed French 

 dish called haricot, which it were desirable the cottagers of this country were made 

 acquainted with. There is perhaps no other vegetable dish so cheap and easily cooked, 

 and at the same time so agreeable and nourishing. The 

 beans are boiled and then mixed with a little salt butter or 

 other fat, and a little milk or water, and flour. From 

 3840 parts of kidneybean, EinhofF obtained 1805 parts of 

 matter analogous to starch, 851 of vegeto-animal matter, 

 and 799 parts of mucilage. Haricots and lentils are much, 

 used in all Catholic countries during Lent and maigre days, 

 as they, from their peculiar constituents, form so excellent a 

 substitute for animal food. During the prevalence of the 

 Roman religion in this country, they were probably much 

 more generally used than at present ; as reformations are 

 often carried farther than is necessary, possibly lentils may 

 have been left off by Protestants, lest the use of them may 

 have been considered a symptom of popery. 



4822. The lupin {Lupinus luteus, L. Jig. 566.), was 

 cultivated by the Romans as a legume, and is still occa- 

 sionally grown in Italy. The grain was formerly, and 

 is occasionally now used as food ; but more generally the 

 whole plant is mown and given as herbage to cattle, and 

 sometimes the crop is ploughed down as manure. 



Chap. IV. 



Of Plants cultivated for their Boots or Leaves. 



4823. Plants cultivated for their roots or leaves are various, and most of them ate 

 adapted both for human food and that of domestic animals ; but some are chiefly ot 

 entirely grown for the nurture of live-stock. The plants which we include under thi* 

 head, are the potatoe, turnip, carrot, parsnep, beet, cabbage tribe, lettuce, and chiccory. 

 The culture of roots may be considered a branch of farming almost entirely of modern 

 origin, and more peculiarly British than any other department. Turnips were culti- 

 vated by the Romans, and in modern times brought into notice as objects of field cul- 

 ture in the last century, but they were most imperfectly managed, and of very little 

 utility in agriculture till their culture was undertaken by the British farmer. The 

 potatoe, carrot, and parsnep, were also first cultivated in the fields of this country. Fri* 

 able or light soil, superior pulverisation, and manuring, the row-method, and careful 

 after-culture, are essential to the maturation of the plants to be treated of in this Chapter j 

 and hence the importance of such crops as preparations for those of the bread corns. 



