Chap. Vm. OF S A I N-F O I N. 341 



** that which I have feen in feveral parts of Berkshire, Wiltfhire, So- 

 " merfetfhire, and many other counties, is a baftard fort, and much 

 " inferior to the true €t. Foyne, which may be had, very reafonably, 

 *' from Dunkirk, or Calais, and is yeady imported in great quan- 

 " tities, and fold in the feed-fhops at London and elfewhere. — As 

 ** to the time of letting it grow, that may, if you pleafe, be five 

 " years *, for fo long it will continue in its prime perfedlion \ and, 

 " running into a large knotty root, does fo enrich the ground it 

 *' grows on, that, after it has borne faint foyne five years, it will 

 " afford three excellent crops of what corn you pleafe; and fo im- 

 " prove itfelf, by alternate burthens of grafs and grain, till it arrives 

 *■ at the utmoll perfedlion wliich land is capable of reaching. — 

 " Nothing is fo fweet, nothing fo innocent, nothing fo nourifliing, 

 " as this faint foyne ; but, above all, it is obferv'd to increafe milk> 

 " in quantity, and quality, beyond any grafs, yet known." 



We fhall now give the fubftance of a few experiments on the 

 culture of this plant, as related by M. Duhamel. 



SECT. IL 



Experiments on Sainfoin. 



N 1754, M. Eyma planted lucerne, fainfoin, and clover, the 

 plants 16 inches afunder one way, and 8 feet the other. They 

 yielded him an immenfe increafe. The alleys were horfe-hoed after 

 every cutting. 



In 1755, a field of 888 fquare toifes planted with fainfoin accord- 

 ing to the new hufbandry, produced him ten thoufand weight of 

 dry hay. M. de Chateau-vieux had 15340 pounds of lucerne off 

 one acre, which he cut five times : but M. Eyma thinks that 

 1 4445 pounds, Geneva weight, of fainfoin, which he had at one 

 cutting, is a greater crop than M. de Chateau-vieux's lucerne ; be- 

 fides the after crop, which indeed was but inconfiderable on account 

 of the drought of the feafon. He fays he cuts his fainfoin three 

 times in good years, and that tlie two lafl cuttings produce nearly 

 as much as the firfl : but he allows that fuch years are not to be 

 expected often. 



M. Eyma 



* TTio' this author limits the prime perfection of fainfoin to five years, in the com- 

 mon hufbandry ; it will continue equally flouriihing a much longer time, when culti- 

 vated according to the new method. 



I 



