H ED 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



H E D 



669 



roots ; and, if large cattle were let in upon it, they would 

 trample it down so much as to prevent its shooting again ; 

 the first year therefore it should be mowed, and this should 

 be done when it is in flower. The sooner it is carried off 

 the ground when cut, the better it will be for the plants. It 

 does not require to be so often turned as other hay, for the 

 stalks being large they will not lie so close in the cocks as 

 to ferment; in catching-weather, therefore, the cocks maybe 

 made large, and, if they be turned and spread every other 

 day, or once in three days, there will be little danger of its 

 heating so as to receive damage ; but if it be spread, and 

 much exposed to rain and dew, the goodness of the hay will 

 be exhausted. The crop will be fit to cut the first year 

 towards the end of July, or at the beginning of August. 

 After this is cleared off, the roots will soon shoot again, and 

 by the end of September, provided the season be favourable, 

 there will be a fine crop fit for feeding. Sheep will enrich 

 the ground with their dung, and greatly strengthen the 

 roots ; but they should not be suffered to remain upon it 

 longer than the middle of November the first year; and the 

 succeeding years, when the crop is cut early, it should not 

 be fed upon longer than the middle of September. The 

 most common time of sowing Saintfoin is in the spring; and 

 it is even commonly reputed bad husbandry to sow it in the 

 autumn, because the.frost is apt to draw it out of the ground. 

 It has, however, been sown with success in October along with 

 Wheat or Rye, after Winter Tares. The crop was good, even 

 the first season, though it happened to be a very dry one ; 

 whereas it is well known that Saintfoin sown in the spring 

 yields a very scanty crop the first year, even when assisted 

 with manure. At either season it is commonly sown with 

 corn ; but it is still doubtful whether the crop of artificial 

 grass may not be diminished in proportion as the crop of corn 

 flourishes. Other seeds are sometimes sown with it, to give a 

 crop the first year, as White Clover, common Red Clover, and 

 Trefoil : of these the first is much the best. The quantity of 

 seed usually sown is at least four bushels, and some sow five ; 

 though Mr. Miller is for sowing a less quantity. In drilling, 

 two bushels are sufficient; but this is not a common practice 

 with Saintfoin. One of the best preparations for Saintfoin 

 is, to take two crops of Turnips in succession, and then in the 

 spring to sow four bushels of this seed with two bushels of 

 Barley. Coal-ashes are a good dress for Saintfoin ; and soot 

 a still better, in the quantity of from ten to twenty bushels 

 on an acre, laid on early in the spring. It is much infested 

 with a kind of grass which botanists call Bromus Sterilis, 

 and farmers know by the name of Black-grass. The scythe 

 slips over it; the seed ripens very early, and is difficult to 

 separate from the Saintfoin seed. It may easily be pulled 

 up by hand. When the crop begins to fail, or the land is 

 wanted for something else, a Saintfoin lay may be broken up 

 successfully for Potatoes ; for the red worm, which makes 

 such ravages if corn be sowed without paring and burning, 

 will not touch the Potatoes. The hay made from plants 

 saved for seed is no better fodder than chopped straw or 

 chaff; and to have the hay in perfection, it should be cut 

 before it begins to flower, when the juice abounds, and it will 

 nourish cattle much more than when it stands to be in full 

 flower. This plant is exceedingly wholesome for horses, and is 

 esteemed one of the best sorts of food for cattle, especially in 

 the spring, nor is there any danger attending the use of it, as 

 there is in Clover. It produces abundance of milk ; and butter 

 made of that milk is very good. Since it has been introduced 

 into England, many dairy farms have been set up, where it 

 was formerly impracticable : and if this plant and Lucerne 

 was properly cultivated to such an extent as they might be, 

 VOL. i. 56. 



not only a much greater quantity of milch cows could be 

 maintained, but a greater number of black cattle might be 

 fattened, and more sheep and hogs, which would be a great 

 improvement to many estates in hilly countries : for, by- 

 increasing the live-stock, there will be an addition of manure 

 for dressing the land in proportion. Saintfoin is allowed on 

 all hands to bean admirable improvement on lime-stone rocks 

 and chalk downs; which, in order to be cultivated to the 

 greatest advantage, should be in this course, with no more 

 arable than is necessary for the change. Thus, if Saintfoin 

 last sixteen years, as it certainly will, if properly managed, 

 then sixteen parts of the down should be Saintfoin, and as 

 many more parts as there are years necessary for tillage before 

 the ground should be sown with it again: suppose this period 

 to be five years, the portions would then be, 

 10 Saintfoin. 



1 Saintfoin pared and burnt, and under Turnips. 



I Barley or Oats. 



I Clover. 



1 Wheat. 



1 Turnips. 



1 Barley or Oats, and with this crop Saintfoin sown again. 



16 



Suppose each part to contain twenty-seven acres, then there 

 would be two hundred and seventy acres of Saintfoin ; and 

 soon. Saintfoin is also a vast improvement in thin, loose, dry, 

 sandy loams, upon marl or chalk bottoms. Thin soils that 

 wear out or tire of clover, are laid down to great advantage 

 with it, will last twenty years, and pay the farmer as well as 

 his best corn crops. If a flock of sheep be an object of 

 primary importance, this plant will afford them plenty of dry 

 food for winter in hard weather. An acre of indifferent 

 land will yield two tons of Saintfoin dry, and therefore twenty 

 acres will serve a thousand sheep for a month, supposing a 

 sheep eats three pounds of hay in a day, which is a large 

 allowance. Now, the expense of an acre of Saintfoin, includ- 

 ing fourteen shillings for rent, tithe, and poor, is about one 

 pound; whereas that of an acre of Turnips will be two pounds 

 seven shillings. Eight acres and a half of Turnips then 

 balance twenty acres of Saintfoin. Now, a thousand sheep 

 will eat two acres and a half of Turnips in a day ; and there- 

 fore seventy-five acres will be required for a month, or, at the 

 lowest calculation, twenty-four acres; the expense of which 

 is fifty-six pounds eight shillings, to be set against twenty 

 pounds, the expense of Saintfoin. Some green food, however, 

 should be joined with the hay, for milch ewes or cattle. 

 Green Borecole, the Turnip-rooted Cabbage, or the Swedish 

 Turnip, would answer this purpose; being hardy, and stand- 

 ing above the snow. One great advantage of this, in common 

 with other artificial grasses, is, that even in a dry season from 

 a ton to a ton and a half of hay may be obtained from an 

 acre, when natural meadows unwatered will produce only 

 half a ton. Modern authors affect to write Sainfoin, as if 

 the term meant wholesome hay; whereas it is called Saintfoin, 

 or holy hay, from a presumption of its superior excellence. 

 Ignorant persons confound it with Cinquefoil, from the sound 

 merely; for no two vegetables can be more different. 



78. Hedysarum Saxatile ; Rocky Hedysarum. Legumes 

 one-seeded, furrowed, without prickles ; wings of the corolla 

 very short ; scapes subradicate ; stems under ground woody, 

 above ground scarcely any : the spike resembles that of the 

 foregoing species, but is whitish. Native of Provence, the 

 county of Nice, and Siberia. Perennial. 



79. Hedysarum Caput Galli; Cock's-Head Hedysarum. 

 Legumes one-seeded; teeth of the crest subulate; wings very 



8 H 



