812 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



the teeth of the'rake, let'the'stub-side be lifted up, and the ears rested on the earth. If it be cocked at all, 

 the sooner it is done the better ; because, if the swaths are dry, much of the seed will be lost in separating 

 them, the ears being entangled together. When moist, the seeds stick fiist in the ear; but, when dry, 

 it drops out with the least touch or shaking. It is, however, the best practice, as soon as the proper 

 degree of maturity has been attained by the crop, that it should be mown in as short a time as can pos- 

 sibly be made convenient, and remain exposed in the swath until the upper surface is fully dried, when it 

 must be wholly turned over, but in a very careful manner, so as to prevent the seeds from shedding and 

 being lost, as much as the nature of the work may admit of. When this side has been rendered perfectly 

 dry and crisp in the same way as the other, the crop should either be threshed out upon cloths in the 

 field where it is grown, or laid up in stacks to be afterwards performed when the farmer has more leisure 

 and convenience for the work. 



5059. The voork of threshing out the seeds in this kind of crop is much less troublesome and ex- 

 pensive than in that of the clover kind. In cases where threshing-machines are in use, the business 

 may be executed with great ease and facility in that mode. It has, however, been observed by a late 

 writer, that " when the season is favorable, the practice of threshing it out in the field is probably the 

 most beneficial, as the stems or haulm may be laid up for the purpose of fodder in the stack," 



5060. As the threshing in the field cannot be done but in very fine weather, and while the sun shines in 

 the middle of the day, the best manner of performing it is to have a large sheet pegged down to the 

 ground, for two men to thresh on with their flails, while two others bring them fresh supplies in a smaller 

 sheet, and two more clear away the hay that has been threshed. The seed is emptied out of the larger 

 sheet, and riddled through a large sieve, to separate it from the chaff and broken stalks ; after which it 

 is put into sacks, and carried into the barn to be winnowed. Care should be taken not to let the hay get 

 wet, as in that case it would be spoiled. It is a very important, but difficult matter, to keep the seed that 

 has been threshed in the field, without becoming wet. If it be winnowed immediately, and only a little 

 of it laid amidst a great heap, or put into a sack, it will ferment to such a degree in a few days, that the 

 greatest part of it will lose its vegetative quality. During that fermentation it will be very hot, and 

 smell sour. Spreading it upon a barn-floor, though but seven or eight inches thick, will answer no end, 

 unless it be frequently and regularly turned, until the heating is over : but even this will not make its 

 color keep so bright as that which is well housed, well dried, and threshed in the winter. This last, laid 

 up and unthreshed, will keep without any danger of spoiling, because it does not Me close enough to 

 heat. The best way to preserve the seed threshed in the field is to lay a layer of straw upon a barn- 

 floor, and upon that a thin layer of seed, then another layer of straw, and another layer of seed, and so 

 on alternately. By this means the seed, mixing with the straw, will be kept well, and come out in the 

 spring with as fresh a color as when it was put in. 



5061. In respect to the produce in seed, it is said to be usually " from about four to 

 five sacks in some districts, but in others it will probably be much less, especially on the 

 shallower sorts of saintfoin soils." But this must obviously be liable to great variation 

 rom season, &c. 



5062. The diseases nf saintfoin are few, there being little danger of failure after it has 

 escaped the fly, which attacks the clover tribe in germinating. 



Sect. IV. Of various Plants which are or may he cultivated as Herbage and for Hay. 



5063. Among the inferior herbage plants which are occasionally cultivated, are burnet, 

 ribwort, chiccory, furze, and spurry. Those which might be cultivated are very numerous, 

 and include several species of vicia, lathyrus, galega, lotus, trifolium, medicago, and others 

 of the native leguminoseae, or pea-like flowering plants ; and achillea, alchemilla, cheiran- 

 thus, spartium, apium, and a variety of others of different families. With the exception 

 of the chiccory and furze, there are none of these plants that deserve the attention of the 

 professional farmer ; ribwort and burnet are occasionally sown ; but they are of little 

 value as hay plants, and in most pastures their place might be more advaptageously occu- 

 pied by one or other of the natural grasses. With respect to the other plants enumerated, 

 they have never been tried but by way of experiment, and are " ' 

 only mentioned as resources under peculiar circumstances, 

 and as a field of inquiry and exertion for the amateur 

 cultivator. 



5064. The burnet [Poterium sanguisorba, "L. fig. 572.) 

 is a native plant, a hardy perennial with compound leaves, 

 blood-colored flowers, and a long tap-root. It was origi- 

 nally brought into notice by Roque, a commercial gardener, 

 at Walham-green, near London, who found means to 

 procure the patronage of the Dublin and other societies to 

 this plant, which, being a novelty, attracted the attention, 

 and called forth the eulogies of Arthur Young, and other 

 leading agriculturists of the day. Miller, however, at the 

 time observed, that whoever will give themselves the trou- 

 ble to examine the grounds where it naturally grows, will 

 find the plants left uneaten by tlie cattle, when the grass 

 about them has been cropped to the roots ; besides, in 

 wet winters and on strong land, the plants are of short 

 duration, and therefore very unfit for the purpose of pasture or hay, nor is the produce 

 Tsufficient to tempt any persons of skill to engage in its culture. 



5065. Curtis says of burnet, that it is one of those plants, which has for some years past been attempted 

 to be introduced into agriculture, but not answering the farmer's expectations is now in a great degree laid 

 aside. Cattle are said not to be fond of it ; nor is its produce sufficient to answer the expense attending 

 its culture. It is to be lamented that jjcrsons do not pay a little attention to the nature of plants before 

 they so warmly recommend them. It seems very unlikely that a small plant, .scarcely ever met with but on 

 JiJlly and chalky ground, and to which cattle in such situations do not show any particular attachment, 

 should afford better, or more copious hourishihcnt, than the clovers and otlier plants already in use. 



