MED 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MED 



99 



spring cut off, either by tapping or otherwise, it is then 

 necessary to determine whether the drain should be open or 

 covered. If it can at the same time be made a fence, it had 

 better be open; if not, it should be covered. No appre- 

 hension need be entertained of the holes made by the auger 

 being filled up, in either case, unless other waters be admit- 

 ted; because such is the force of the spring, that it will 

 throw up any stones, earth, or other substances, that might 

 accidentally get into it, and can be injured by nothing but 

 great quantities coming upon it at once. This system of 

 draining is sometimes attended with extraordinary conse- 

 quences: by it not only the land below the natural spring, 

 or even above the artificial spring, is drained, but the waters 

 from the neighboring heights, finding a new and readier 

 channel, abandon the places to which they formerly went, 

 and thus a tract of country may be drained without any appa- 

 rent communication with the spring intended to be drained, 

 or the trench made to it. Nay, a drain made on one side of 

 a hill has been known to make springs and wells on the other 

 side quite dry, by opening a channel to which the water 

 more naturally draws. This practice may not only serve the 

 purpose of draining land, but the complete command of a 

 treasure of water being thus obtained, it is probable it may 

 in many cases be used for flooding land, for mills and navi- 

 gations, for supplying private houses, and even villages and 

 towns, with wholesome water. A country thus loses that 

 dampness which is so pernicious to the health of its inha- 

 bitants, and is also at the same time freed from its trouble- 

 some attendant, a foggy atmosphere. The produce of the 

 soil is considerably increased in quantity, and improved in 

 quality; while the rot, that destructive malady, to which so 

 many millions of sheep fall a sacrifice, is prevented. In 

 short, the advantages of draining are so many, that it is 

 astonishing that the principles of the art have not been better 

 understood, and that greater and more extensive exertions 

 have not been made in so salutary and beneficial a practice. 



Meadow Grass. See, Poa, Cynosurus, and Grass. 



Meadow Rue. See Thulictrum. 



Meadow Saffron. See Colchicum. 



Meadow-Saxifrage. See Peucedamtm and Sescli. 



Meadow Sweet. See Spircea. 



Medeola; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Trigynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none, unless the corolla 

 be called so. Corolla : petals six, ovate-oblong, equal, 

 spreading, revolute. Stamina : filamenta six, awl-shaped, 

 the length of the corolla; antherse incumbent. Pistil: ger- 

 mina three, horned, ending in styles ; stigmas recurved, 

 thickish. Pericarp: berry roundish, three-cleft, three-celled. 

 Seeds: solitary, heart-shaped. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: none. Corolla: six-parted, revolute. Berry: three- 

 seeded. The species are, 



1. Medeola Virginiana ; Virginian Medeola. Leaves in 

 whorls; branches unarmed. It has a small scaly root, from 

 which arises a single stalk about eight inches. Corolla four- 

 petalled. It flowers in June. Native of Virginia. This is 

 hardy enough to live in the open air; but producing no seeds 

 here, can be increased only by offsets. 



2. Medeola Asparagoides ; Broad-leaved Shrubby Mede- 

 ola. Leaves alternate, ovate, subcordate, at the base oblique. 

 This has a root composed of several oblong knobs, which 

 unite at the top, like that of the Ranunculus, from which 

 arise two or three stiff winding stalks, dividing into brandies; 

 the flowers come out from the side of the stalks, singly, or 

 two on a short slender peduncle; petals dull white. Native 

 of the Cape. This and the next species propagate freely by 

 the offsets from the roots; so that when they are once ob- 



VOL. ii. 74. 



tained, there will be no necessity of sowing their seeds, which 

 commonly lie a year in the ground, and the plants will not be 

 strong enough to flower in less than two years more; whereas 

 the offsets will flower the following season. The time for 

 transplanting and parting the roots is in July, when their 

 stalks are entirely decayed, for they begin to shoot towards 

 the end of August, and keep growing all the winter, and de- 

 cay in the spring. They should be plantedjn pots filled with 

 good kitchen-garden earth, and may remain in the open air 

 till there is danger of frost, and must then be removed into 

 shelter, as they are too tender to live tr .ough the winter in 

 the open air. As the flowers make no great appearance, the 

 plants are not preserved for their beauty, but on account of 

 their climbing stalks and leaves, that are in full vigour in 

 winter, as an addition to the variety of the green-house. 



3. Medeola Angustifolia; Narrow-leaved Shrubby Medeola. 

 Leaves alternate, ovate, lanceolate. This has a root like the 

 preceding, but the stalks are not so strong, though they climb 

 higher. Native of the Cape. 



Medicago; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order Decan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 straight, campanulate-cylindrical, half five-cleft, acuminate, 

 equal. Corolla : papilionaceous ; banner ovate, entire, the 

 margins bent in, the whole bent back; wings ovate-oblong, 

 affixed by an appendage to the keel, with the sides converg- 

 ing under the keel ; keel oblong, bifid, spreading, blunt, 

 bent down from the pistil, and gaping from the banner. 

 Stamina: filamenta diadelphous, united almost to the tops ; 

 antherae small. Pistil: germen pedicelled, oblong, curved 

 in, compressed, involved in the filamenta, starting from the 

 keel, bending back the banner, ending in a short awl-shaped, 

 almost straight style; stigma terminating, very small. Peri- 

 carp: legume compressed, long, bent in. Seeds: several, 

 kidney-shaped or angular. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Legume: compressed, bent in. Keel: bent down from the 

 banner. The species are, 



1. Medicago Arborea ; Tree Medick, or Moon Trefoil 

 Legumes crescent-shaped, quite entire about the edge; stem 

 arboreous. This shrub, which is also called Moon Trefoil, 

 from the shape of the pods and its trifoliate leaves, bids the 

 fairest of any to be the Cytisus of Virgil, Columella, and the 

 other ancient writers on husbandry ; and being celebrated by 

 them, has been recommended for cultivation here. But how- 

 ever useful it may be in Candia, Rhodes, Sicily, and other 

 warm countries, it will not thrive in England so as to furnish 

 food for animals, nor is it worth the trial, as we have so many 

 other plants preferable to it. Yet though of no use to us as 

 fodder, the beauty of its hoary leaves, which abide all the 

 year, together with its long continuance in flower, render it 

 deserving of a place in every good garden and plantation 

 with shrubs of the same growth. It grows from four to eight 

 feet high, dividing into many branches, with ternate leaves 

 at each joint, several together, the whole shrub covered with 

 them ; flowers on peduncles from the sides of the branches, 

 four or five together, of a bright yellow. It may be propagat- 

 ed by sowing the seeds upon a moderate hot-bed, or a warm 

 border of light earth, in the beginning of April, and when the 

 plants come up, they should be carefully cleared from weeds; 

 but must remain undisturbed, if sown in the common ground, 

 till September following; if on a hot-bed, they should be 

 transplanted about Midsummer into pots, placing them in the 

 shade until they have taken root, after which they may be 

 removed into a situation wlrcre they may be screened from 

 strong winds, and abide till the end of October, when they 

 must be put into a common garden frame, to shelter them 

 from hard frosts. In April following, these plants may be 

 2 C 



