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Ghap. IX. O F L U C E R N E; ' 3^4^ 



*' great improvement, efpecially as this plant will grow upDn'di-y 

 " barren foils, where grafs will come to little, and be of great ufe 

 "in dry fummers, when grafs is often burnt up: and as it is an 

 ** early plant in the fpring, fo it will be of great fervice when fod- 

 " der falls fhort at that feafon, when it will be fit to feed at leaft d 

 ** month before grafs or clover ; for I have had this plant eight 

 ** inches high by the tenth of March, old ftyle, at which time 

 ** the grafs in the fame place has fcarcely been one inch high. 



" That cold would not injure this plant, I am fully fuisfied*"J 

 ** for in the very cold winter. Anno 1728 — 9, I had fome roots of 

 *' this plant which were dug up in Odober, and laid upon the 

 *' ground in the open air till the beginning of March, when I 

 " planted them again, and they fbot out very vigoroully foon af- 

 *' ter: nay, even while they lay upon the ground, they llruck out 

 *' fibres from the under fide of the roots, and had begun to fhoot 

 " green from the crown of the roots. But that wet will deftroy 

 " the roots, I am fully convinced ; for I fowed a little of the feed 

 *' upon a moifl fpot of ground for a trial, which came up very 

 " well, and flouriflied exceedingly during the fummer feafon, but 

 *' in winter, when the great rains fell, the roots began to rot at bot- 

 *' tom, and before the fpring mod of them v^ere deflroyed. 



" The beil places to procure the feed from, are Switzerland and 

 *' the northern parts of France, which fucceeds better with us, than 

 " that which comes from a more fouthern climate : but this feed 

 *' may be faved in England in great plenty; in order to which, a 

 ** fmall quantity of the plants fhould be fuifered to grow uncut till 

 " the feeds are ripe, when they muft be cut, and laid to dry in an 

 " open barn where the air may freely pafs through : but the feed 

 " mud be defended from the wet; for if it be expofed thereto, it 

 " will Ihoot while it remains in the pod, whereby it will be fpoiled: 

 *' When it is quite dry, it muft be threfhed out, and cleanfed from* 

 *' the hufk, and preferved in a dry place till the feafon for fowing 

 *' it: and this feed faved in England is much preferable to any 

 " brought from abroad, as I have feveral times experienced, the' 

 " plants produced from it having been much flronger than thofe' 

 ** produced from French, Helvetian, and Turkey feeds, which' 

 " were fown at the fame time, and on the fame foil and fituation. f '* 



Y y 2 M P 



* This is confirm'd by M. Duhamel, who fays, that the hard winter in lyogt 

 which killed almoft all the olive and walnut-trees in France, did no great damage to 

 the lucerne. ^::i,.{«a-.M« 



