816 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



576 



577 



Jig. 576,) might be grown perhaps still more advantageously than the common 

 species, 



5081. The parsley, (Jpium 



petroselinum, L. Jig. 511) is 



a well known biennial with a 



large sweet tap-root. It is a 



native of Sicily, but endures the 



British winter like a native 



plant. It is sown along with 



clover and grass seeds in some 



places, and especially in Lin- 

 colnshire, as a preventive of 



the rot in sheep. Fleet, of 



Hampshire, famous for curing 



the rot in sheep, cultivates it 



largely with success; he sows 



half a bushel to the acre, with a 



bushel of rye-grass, with spring 



corn ; and he finds that it lasts 



in the ground till it is permitted 



to seed. He feeds it constant- 

 ly, it being excellent for sheep, and when suffered to get a-head pigs feed wonderfully 

 upon it in the autumn. After September, it will not, he says, run to seed. When it 

 was ploughed up he obtained good oats. The land was poor, and in the next round of 

 the course, the clover was much the better for the parsley having been sown or the clover 

 omitted; for in a field half parsley, half clover, when the clover came again to be sown, 

 it was excellent on the parsley half, but bad on the clover part. In laying down land to 

 grass, Hoyte, in the fourth volume of Communications to the Board oj Agriculture, ad- 

 vises the sowing with twelve pounds of white clover, two pounds of red clover, two pecks 

 of rye-grass, and two pounds of parsley to the acre, as the parsley stands two years, and. 

 by its diuretic qualities prevents the sheep from dying of the red-water, which too luxu- 

 riant clovers are apt to produce. It has also been sown with success in Scotland, where 

 it was greedily eaten by horses, cows, and hogs. The seed requires a longer period to 

 germinate than that of any other agricultural plant, and might probably be advantageously 

 prepared by steeping and turning. It must be fresh, as two year old seed will not grow ; 

 it is easily procured by the pound or bushel, from the seedsman, and as easily raised by 

 letting a few drills in a garden shoot into flower stems. 



5082. The wall Jlower, {^Cheiranthus cheiri, L.) is a well known garden flower, and 

 at the same time a native, and very hardy on dry soils. Like the parsley it is an antisep- 

 tic, and has been recommended to be cultivated for the same purposes, and in the same 

 manner. 



5083. The bird' s Joot trefoil, (Lotus comiculatus, L. Jig. 578.) has been tried as a 

 substitute for white clover on moist lands, and seems to succeed very well, but to have 

 no particular advantages over the clover. 



5084. The oriental bunias, (Bunias orientalis, L. Jig. 579 a.) is a perennial 



579 



578 



plant, with leaves, branches, and its general habit of herbage, not unlike the wild chic- 

 cory. It is a native of the Levant, and has been cultivated by way of experiment in the 



