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C Y T 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



C Y T 



most of the gardens in England have undergone, have occa- 

 sioned their destruction ; but in some of the old gardens in 

 Scotland, where they have been permitted to stand, there are 

 large trees of this kind, fit to cut down for the use of the tim- 

 ber. Even where it had been broken and injured, it has been 

 observed to girth more than a yard, at six feet from the 

 ground ; and if properly treated, would, of course, have been 

 much larger. It grows fast, and is extremely hardy, and 

 may therefore be well worth propagating upon poor shallow 

 soils, and in exposed situations. The Duke of Queensbury 

 sowed a great quantity of the seeds of this tree, upon the 

 side of the downs, at his seat near Amesbury in Wiltshire, 

 where the situation was very much exposed, and the soil so 

 shallow that few other trees would grow ; yet even here, the 

 young trees were twelve feet high in four years' growth, and 

 became a shelter to the other plantations, for which purpose 

 they were designed ; but as the hares and rabbits greatly 

 injure these trees by feeding upon the bark in winter, they 

 should be fenced, if possible, from these animals. On this 

 account, however, Mr. Boutcher ingeniously suggests, that 

 the Laburnum is very proper to sow in plantations infested 

 with hares and rabbits, who will not touch any other plant 

 while a twig of Laburnum remains. And although they eat it 

 to the ground in winter, yet it will spring again the next sea- 

 son, and thus constantly supply these mischievous animals, 

 so thatyiue shillings worth of Laburnum-seed will effectually 

 secure a whole plantation from their destructive depredations. 

 But the Laburnum is not only useful in preserving more valu- 

 able trees j the wood is very strong, and is much used for 

 pegs, wedges, musical instruments, handles of knives, and a 

 variety of furniture. Mr Boutcher informs us, that he had 

 seen a large table and a dozen chairs made of it, which 

 judges of elegant furniture thought the finest they had ever 

 seen. Pliny has remarked, that its wood is the hardest of 

 any, next to Ebony ; and Malthiolus speaks of its being used 

 for making the best bows. It chars remarkably well ; and, if 

 planted thick to run up tall, would make durable hop-poles. 

 Forthis purpose, it might be planted in large clumps in parks, 

 where it would be also very ornamental; the branches being 

 generally loaded with long strings of flowers hanging down 

 from every part of them in the month of May. Haller says, 

 it is very bitter, and that the seeds purge and vomit violently. 

 He also remarks that the Latin name Laburnum was evidently 

 formed from the Alpine name I'aubours. It was formerly 

 called beau-trefoil, and peascod-tree, in England ; but the La- 

 tin name has superseded these. The Germans call it bohnen- 

 haum ; and the French, cytise des Alpes, aubours, andfaux- 

 efanier. It is a native of Switzerland, Austria, and Provence. 

 It is easily propagated by seeds, which the trees produce in 

 great plenty. If they be sown upon a common bed in March, 

 the plants will appear by the middle or end of April, and will 

 require no other care but to be kept clear from weeds during 

 the following summer ; and if the plants be too close together 

 they should be transplanted in the autumn following, either 

 into a nursery, where they may grow a year or two to acquire 

 strength, or into the places where they are designed to re- 

 main. Where they are cultivated for timber, it will be the 

 best method to sow their seeds upon the spot where they are 

 intended to grow, because these trees send out long, thick, 

 fleshy roots to a great distance, penetrating even gravel and 

 rocks ; and if their roots be cut or broken, it generally retards 

 their growth} therefore, when they are not sown upon the 

 intended spot, they should be transplanted thither young, 

 otherwise they will not grow half so large, as the removing 

 them twice will stop their growth, and cause them to be more 

 productive in flowers : hence all trees intended for timber 



are much better sown on the ground where they are designed 

 to stand, than if transplanted into it from another place. If 

 the seeds of these trees be permitted to scatter in winter, the 

 plants will rise in abundance in the following spring ; so that 

 a few trees will soon supply any person with a sufficient num- 

 ber of the plants. There is a variety with variegated leaves, 

 which can only be continued by cuttings or layers ; the cut- 

 tings should be planted in autumn, when the leaves begin to 

 fall ; and the plants must have a poor soil, for in good 

 ground they are apt to become plain. The Laburnum how- 

 ever will thrive upon many different soils, and in such situa- 

 tions as few other trees will make any progress in, especially 

 in a poor hungry soil, where, if there be any depth, it will 

 increase surprisingly. Mr. Boutcher recommends the seed- 

 ling plants to be removed to the nursery in February or 

 March, shortening their roots, which are not injured by cut- 

 ting them freely when young, and planting them two feet 

 and a half distant from row to row, and a foot asunder in the 

 rows, there to remain during two seasons. Hence they may 

 be removed either in October or February, still reducing the 

 downright roots, and smoothing the extremities of those 

 which spread, pruning off all ill-placed side-branches, but 

 leaving some of the smallest at proper distances. The rows 

 may now be five feet apart, the plants two feet asunder ; and 

 here they may remain three or four years : but these direc- 

 tions are more adapted to raising trees for ornamental planta- 

 tions than for use. If they be designed for poles, they should 

 be kept to smaller distances. The autumn after they are 

 sown, they may be pricked out three or four inches apart, 

 and the following spring to the distance of nine inches or a 

 foot, there to remain three or four years, according to their 

 growth; when they may be removed, being fourteen or six- 

 teen feet high, to the places where they are designed to re- 

 main, only shortening the lateral roots, and just topping the 

 tap-root, and they will then run up with few lateral branches, 

 to the height of from twenty to forty feet. 



2. Cytisus Nigricans ; Black t'ytisus. Racemes terminat- 

 ing, erect; calices hairy, with minute toothlets; leaflets 

 elliptic, hairy underneath. This shrub seldom exceeds three 

 or four feet high in England ; it naturally puts out many 

 lateral branches near the ground, which spread out on every 

 side, forming a low shrubby bush, which is with difficulty 

 raised to a stem. The branches are very slender, and their 

 ends are frequently killed in severe winters. The li 

 grow by threes, are equal in size, and of a dark green colour. 

 The branches grow erect, and are terminated by bunches of 

 yellow flowers, about four or five inches in length, ;iixl 

 making a fine appearance. Native of Austria, Hungary, 

 Silesia, and Italy. This, with the third, seventh, ninth, 

 eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and seventeenth species, may 

 be propagated by seeds, which should be sown upon a bed 

 of light earth in March, covering them about one-third of an 

 inch with fine screened mould; and in the beginning of May 

 the plants will appear, when they must be carefully weeded. 

 which is all the culture they require till autumn, when it will 

 be very proper to arch the bed over with hoops, that in ti 

 weather the plants may be covered with mats, to prevent 

 their tender shoots from being killed ; for as these young 

 plants are apt to continue growing later in the autumn 

 than those which are become woody, they are much more 

 susceptible of cold ; and if some care be not taken to cover 

 them in severe winters, many of them may be entirely de- 

 stroyed, and others killed to the ground. In the next spring 

 after the danger of hard frost is over, they should be carefully 

 taken up, and planted out at the distance of one foot row 

 from row, and six inches asunder in the rows ; they should 



