100 



MED 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



MED 



shaken out of these pots, and placed in the full ground where 

 they are designed to remain, which should be in a light soil 

 and a warm situation, in which they will endure the cold of 

 our ordinary winters extremely well, and continue to produce 

 flowers most part of the year. Those also which were sown 

 in an open border may be transplanted in August following, 

 in the same manner; but in doing this, be careful to take 

 them up with a ball of earth to their roots, if possible, as also 

 to water and shade them until they have taken root; after 

 which they will require little more care than to keep them 

 clean from weeds, and to prune off the luxuriant branches 

 to keep them within due compass; but never prune them 

 early in the spring, nor late in autumn, for if frost should 

 happen soon after they are pruned, it will destroy the tender 

 branches. They may also be propagated by cuttings, which 

 should be planted in April upon a bed of light earth, and 

 watered and shaded until they have taken root, after which 

 they may be exposed to the open air; but they should remain 

 in the same bed till July or August following, before they are 

 transplanted, by which time they will have made strong roots, 

 und may be removed with safety to the places where they are 

 to remain. You may train them up with straight stems, by 

 fastening them to sticks, otherwise they are apt to grow 

 crooked and irregular; and when you have reared their stems 

 to the intended height, they may be reduced to regular heads, 

 and with pruning their irregular shoots every year, may be 

 kept in very good order. 



2. Medicago Virginica; Virginian Medick. Stem upright, 

 very much branched; flowers in terminating bundles. The 

 corolla is red and white variegated. Native of Virginia. 



3. Medicago Radiata ; Ray-podded Medick. Legumes 

 kidney-form, toothed at the edge; leaves ternate. Flowers 

 small, yellow. Native of Italy and the Levant. This, and 

 the two following species, are annuals, and preserved in the 

 gardens of those who are curious in botany. The seeds 

 should be sown upon an open bed of fresh ground, in the 

 places where the plants are to remain, because they do not 

 bear transplanting well, unless where they are very young. 

 As the plants spread their branches on the ground, they 

 should not be sown nearer than two feet and a half asunder: 

 when the plants come up, they will require no other care but 

 to keep them clean from weeds. In June they will begin to 

 flower, and as the stalks and branches extend, there will be a 

 succession of flowers till autumn; but the early flowers will 

 only have good seeds succeed them; for those which come 

 late in summer, have not time to ripen before the cold weather 

 comes on. 



4. Medicago Circinata ; Kidney-podded Medick. Legumes 

 kidney-form, toothed at the edge ; leaves pinnate. The 

 whole plant is pubescent. Native of Spain and Italy. 



5. Medicago Obscura ; Doubtful Medick. Peduncles 

 racemed; legumes kidney-form, quite entire; stem diffused, 

 rough-haired. Root annual; stems decumbent, long, four- 

 cornered. Probably a native of Germany. 



6. Medicago Saliva; Cultivated Medick, or Lucern. Pe- 

 duncles racemed; legumes contorted; stem upright, smooth. 

 Root perennial; stalks annual, smooth, and striated, one to 

 two or three feet high ; leaves ternate ; flowers in thick spikes ; 

 corolla purple, varying with pale blue, and with variegated 

 flowers. This plant has been greatly celebrated for increas- 

 ing the milk of cows; though Haller, who was certainly well 

 acquainted with it, asserts that the cattle are liable to be 

 blown by it, and soon grow tired 3 of it. It may possibly have 

 been a native of Europe, continuing to be disregarded till it 

 was imported into Greece from the East, after Darius had dis- 

 covered it in Media, whence its name. It is said to be the 



principal green fodder for horses in Persia to this day. The 

 Germans and other northern nations have adopted the modern 

 name Lucern from the French, who also call it, Trefle, or Foin 

 de Bourgogne, and Grand Trefie; the Italians name hMedica, 

 Lucerna, and Erba Spagna; the Spaniards, Alsatfa, Mielga, 

 and Medico. ; the Portuguese, Luzerna, and Medicagem dos 

 pastosi and the Persians, Gunscha. It has not been cul- 

 tivated in England in very considerable quantities, though 

 it is evident that it will succeed here as well as in France or 

 Switzerland, and that it resists the severest cold of our climate. 

 Propagation and Culture. A rich loamy earth is certainly 

 an excellent soil for Lucern, but not being the most common, 

 we must frequently be contented with such soils as are worse. 

 Rocque says, that the strongest is to be preferred; and Mr. 

 Belcher, that although it will succeed on middling sorts of 

 land, it should, if possible, have a soil both stiff and dry, or, 

 as he elsewhere says, such as is close, firm, and sound; in 

 opposition to the foreign writers, with Tull and Miller, who 

 recommend a light, loose, sandy soil. The right soils, 

 according to others, are deep, rich, friable loams, whether 

 sandy or gravelly, or flexible loams, dry, deep, and rich; 

 in a word, all rich soils that are dry. In Kent, it is sown 

 in dry lands. Under the South Downs of Sussex, in the 

 vicinity of Eastbourn, where Lucern is a common article 

 of cultivation, they rarely sow it upon any but the richest 

 and deepest soils, thinking that it does not answer on any 

 other. Their land is such a happy mixture of the calcareous 

 and argillaceous, and is of so deep a staple, that any thing 

 will grow upon it; and Lucern, Saintfoin, and Clover, may 

 be found side by side. Good crops of Lucern have, how- 

 ever, been produced in gravelly, sandy, and stony loams, 

 which were by no means rich, and even upon poor sandy 

 gravel apt to burn. It has a better chance on thin loams, 

 on rock, and on poor sands, (though no man would choose 

 such soils for it if he had better,) because the roots of Lucern 

 will travel far in search of nutriment. The great business of 

 the culture is to keep it free from weeds, especially whilst 

 it is young; much depends upon preparing the soil in such a 

 manner that all sorts of useless plants shall be killed. It is 

 much cheaper to prevent weeds than to destroy them ; and 

 every shilling laid out in cleaning the land, will save a crown 

 in hoeing the crop. For this reason two successive crops of 

 Turnips or Carrots prepare the land well for it: but as Turnips 

 upon good loams, if carted in a wet season, are apt to pre- 

 vent that friability which is necessary for Lucern, the Turnips 

 should be fed off in autumn, and the land immediately 

 ploughed. Carrots are not liable to any objection, for they 

 should always be drawn and laid up before winter; and the 

 incessant hoeing which they require, cleans the land admira- 

 bly. If the land be prepared by a fallow, let a man with a 

 basket and four-pronged fork follow the plough in every 

 furrow, and the harrows whenever they work, to pick up 

 all roots and weeds, and to clear away such knots and tufts 

 as the plough does not go deep enough to eradicate. Carrots, 

 Turnips, or Cabbages, may be made the preparatory crops; 

 at least there should be two hoeing crops in succession. In 

 the second spring, previous to the sowing, there should be 

 three ploughings, and harrowings enough to pulverize the 

 soil well. In Kent, the common tillage is a good summer 

 fallow, ploughed as deep as possible, with a good covering 

 of manure. Circumstances must decide whether broad-cast 

 or drilling should be preferred in sowing the seed. If the 

 farmer be doubtful whether he shall be able to give a regular 

 and constant attention to hand and horse hoeing, or if he 

 be satisfied with his crop lasting eight or ten years, then the 

 broad-cast may be preferred. But if he be willing and able 



