I 



Book VI. SAINTFOIN. 809 



Sect. III. Saintfoin. Iledysarum Onobrychis, L. Diadel. Decan. L. and LegumU 

 nosecB, J. L'esparcet, Fr. ; EsparzetlCy Ger. ; and Cedrangola, Ital. (Jig. 571.) 



5042. Saintfoin is a deep rooting perennial with branching 

 spreading stems, compound leaves, and showy red flowers. 

 It is a native of England and many parts of Europe, but 

 never found but on dry warm chalky soils, where it is of 

 great duration. It has been long cultivated in France and 

 other parts of the continent, and as an agricultural plant 

 was introduced from the latter country to England about 

 the middle of the seventeenth century. It has since been 

 a good deal cultivated in the chalky districts ; and its pe- 

 culiar value is, that it may be grown on soils unfit for being 

 constantly under tillage, and which would yield little under- 

 grass. This is owing to the long and descending roots of 

 the saintfoin, which will penetrate and thrive in the fissures of 

 rocky and chalky understrata. Its herbage^ is said to be 

 equally suited for pasturage or for hay. and that eaten green 

 it is not apt to swell or hove cattle like the clovers or lucern. 

 Arthur Young says, that upon soils proper for this grass no 

 farmer can sow too much of it, and in T/ie Code of Agricxd- 

 ture it is said to be ' * one of the most valuable herbage plants we owe to the bounty of 

 Providence." 



5043. There are no varieties of the saintfoin, but many other species of the same nume- 

 rous family that might be cultivated, such, for example, as the French honeysuckle, a 

 biennial, that might be substituted for red clover on rich soils. 



5044. The best soil for this plant is that which is dry, deep, and calcareous ; but it will 

 grow on any soil that has a dry subsoil. Kent thinks that the soils most suited to the 

 culture of this sort of grass are those of the chalky loam, and light sandy or gravelly 

 kinds, or almost any of those of a mixed quality, provided they be not too wet, and have 

 a rocky or hard calcareous bottom to check the roots at the depth of afoot or fifteen inches 

 below the surface, which he, notwithstanding the above, conceives necessary, as the plants 

 are apt to exhaust themselves in running down. And for this reason he considers it as 

 improper for being sown where there is great depth of mould or soil. It is a plant that 

 is asserted by Marshal to afford a large produce even on those soils which are of the 

 poorest quality, and that on such as are of a more rich and friable nature it frequently 

 produces abundant crops. Still, he conceives, that it is only in the calcareous soils, as 

 the dry chalk and limestone, or such as have been well impregnated with that sort of 

 matter, that it succeeds in a perfect manner or becomes durable. . The advantages result- 

 ing from growing this plant on sandy soils in Norfolk have been already stated (4379.). 



5045. The best preparation which any soil fit for this plant can undergo, is unquestion- 

 ably that of trenching-; and we have little doubt that in most cases, all things considered, 

 it would be found the cheapest. The usual preparatory culture, however, is the same as 

 for clover, ploughing however, deeper than ordinary, either by means of the trench plough, 

 or, whatis better because more simple, by thecommon plough going twice in the same track. 

 Boys (^Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. iii.) recommends as a preparation 

 for saintfoin ; 1 st year, pare and burn for turnips, to be eaten on the land by sheep, with 

 the aid of some fodder ; 2d, barley, to be sown very early with clover seed ; 3d, clover eaten 

 oflP by sheep; 4th, wheat; 5th, turnips with manure ; and, 6th, barley with saintfoin. 

 The corn crops must be carefully weeded, and in particular cleared of charlock. Undef 

 this system, the produce has been great, and the ground has been laid down in the highest 

 order with saintfoin, or any other grass calculated for this species of soil. 



.5046. With respect to the season of sowing saintfoin, it may be observed that the earlier 

 it can be put into the soil in the spring the better, as from the greater moisture of such 

 soils there will be a greater probability of their vegetating in a perfect manner. Where 

 the sowing is executed at a late period, and dry weather succeeds, Bannister thinks that 

 much of the seed would be prevented from growing, and the young plants be more exposed 

 to the destruction of the fly ; therefore, according to this writer, the sowing of saintfoin 

 seed ought never to be deferred longer than the beginning of Marchj and that it is still 

 better to complete this work in February. Some, however, suppose it may be deferred 

 to the middle of March without injury. 



5047. The manner of soivhig is almost always broad cast, but it may be sown in drills 

 and even transplanted, though neither of these modes can be recommended. Some advise 

 its being sown with about half the quantity of barley which is usually sown for a full 

 crop, as it may shade and keep it moist during the first summer, and at the same time 

 ot injure it from the crop being lighter, which is sometimes the case. Where the barley 

 is drilled the saintfoin may afterwards be put in, in the same manner, but in a contrary 



