810 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



direction. If sown over the wheat it should be harrowed in, and afterwards rolled. In 

 whatever method it is sown, as the seeds are larger than those of many other herbage plants, 

 they should be covered in with more care, and to a somewhat greater depth. By some 

 the ploughing the seed in with a very thin or shallow furrow is recommended. In most 

 cases, especially in all the more light sorts of land in which this sort of crop is grown, the 

 use of the roller may be necessary immediately after the seed is put into the ground. It 

 is the practice in some districts to sow a small portion of clover seed with saintfoin, with 

 the idea of increasing the first year's produce ; but as plants of different kinds seldom 

 answer well when grown together, from there being a continual contest in their growth 

 for an ascendancy, it is perhaps a better method to increase the proportion of the seed, 

 without mixing it with that of other sorts. It is, however, supposed by Marshal that 

 such a pretctice is beneficial in ultimately procuring a fine clean crop of saintfoin upon 

 the land. It is a sort of crop that grows in so perfect a manner in the broad-cast method, 

 that there can seldom be any necessity for having recourse to the drill. It may, however, 

 be cultivated in the latter mode with much success. And in Norfolk, it is the practice 

 with some cultivators to have it drilled at nine inches across the barley crops which have 

 been sown in the same way. 



5048. The quantity of seed in the broad-cast method, which is that mostly em- 

 ployed, is about four bushels the acre, though less is frequently given ; but on 

 such soils as are proper for this plant it is always necessary to have a full propor- 

 tion of seed. By some, however, a much smaller quantity is made use of, and where 

 the drill system is had recourse to, a still smaller proportion is used, as from two to two 

 and a half, or three bushels. It has been observed, that in Lincolnshire, where this plant 

 is much grown, " the common allowance of seed is five bushels to an acre, and that a gen- 

 tleman south of Lincoln advises the sowing a small quantity of trefoil with it (about 

 four pounds on an acre). The reason for which is, that in that exposed country, the 

 young plants suffer more by the sun in summer than by the frost in winter. Of course 

 the trefoil coming to perfection the first year, and living only three, will be a shelter for 

 the young plants during the first year or two, and die off" when the saintfoin wants its 

 room. 



5049. In the choice of the seed it is the best practice for the cultivator to select it from 

 the best and most abiding plants in his particular soil, as such as is purchased from the 

 seed-shops can rarely be depended upon. A certain method of knowing the goodness 

 of the seed is, by sowing a number of the seeds, and seeing how many plants are pro- 

 duced by them. But the external signs of the seeds being good are, that the husk is of 

 a bright color, and the kernel plump, of a light grey or blue color, and sometimes of a 

 shining black. The seed may be good, though the husk be black, as that is owing some- 

 times to the letting it receive wet in the field, and not to its being half rotted in the 

 heap. If the kernel be cut across, and appear greenish and fresh, it is a certain sign that 

 it is good. But if it be of a yellowish color, and friable, and looks thin and pitted, they 

 are bad signs. But others observe that the best seed is that which is plump, heavy, 

 bright, and of a yellowish red color, and that it should always be sown while quite fresh, 

 as that which is old, or that has been long kept, never vegetates in a perfect manner. In 

 purchasing seed of this sort it is in general from about three to five shillings the 

 bushel. 



5050. The after-culture and management of saintfoin consists in occasional dressings 

 with manure, and in the judicious intervention of mowing and pasturing. The first 

 year some farmers do not mow, while others do; but the second year, and in the suc- 

 ceeding summers, a crop of hay may be taken, and the after-grass be fed down with any 

 sorts of stock but sheep, till towards December, care being taken that they do not eat it 

 in too close a manner, as where that is the case, from the largeness of the roots, they may 

 be in danger of injuring the crowns of the plants. In the following autumn there will 

 however be less risk in this respect, and sheep as well as cattle stock may be turned in 

 and kept upon the pastures till they are well eaten down, being always careful to shut 

 them up as early as possible in the beginning of the year. This is the opinion of Kent. 



. And it is supposed that as this sort of herbage is considered to be improved in its taste 

 by being nipped by the frost, it may be a proper practice not to turn stock upon these leys 

 too early in the autumnal season. With this intention it may be advisable to defer it till 

 the latter end of September, when this sort of rouen or after-grass will be found to have 

 much effect in promoting the flow of milk in cows, as well as in forwarding the condition 

 of fattening beasts; great store of feed being still left for sheep. But with this sort of 

 stock they should not be too closely fed down, or the sheep remain too long upon them, 

 as mlich injury may be sustained by it. It has been suggested that all sorts of cattle 

 stock should be removed by the beginning of the year from these rouens, as much harm 

 might be done by their continuing longer. 



5051, In top-dressing sainffoin peat-ashes are the best material that can be made use of where they 

 can be procured in sufficient quantity. And other sorts of ashes are likewise found beneficial where 



