POT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



POT 



395 



noticed. Cattle may be turned into a Burnet field so hungry 

 that they might feed on it for a time, without proving it to 

 be good food in general. From actual practice, however, 

 the following facts may be deduced. First, the balance of 

 the account is greatly in favour of horses eating it in the 

 common manner of all other food. Secondly, we cannot 

 deny it to be a good food for sheep, as the balance of expe- 

 riment inclines greatly in its favour. Thirdly, in a few 

 instances cows and oxen dislike it, but in many they eat it 

 freely. Thas, upon the whole, the reports are favourable : 

 but the proper application of Burnet seems to be, to leave it 

 a good head in autumn ready for sheep in the spring, for 

 them to keep it down as close as possible about two months, 

 upon the plan of Ray Grass, and to let it stand afterwards 

 for hay ; but the most advantageous method seems to be, to 

 sow it with other Grasses in laying down land to pasture. 

 Subsequent trials have confirmed Mr. Young's judgment, 

 from which he collects the following advantages, derived by 

 properly cultivating this plant on a suitable soil. The pro- 

 duce of it, both in hay and seed, is considerable ; the pas- 

 turage, not only in autumn and spring, but in winter, main- 

 taining its growth and verdure in drought and frost, render 

 it particularly valuable : in general cattle and sheep are fond 

 of it, and grow fat by it ; the milk, cream, and butter of 

 cows fed upon it, are excellent in quality, and great in quan- 

 tity : it will flourish and afford large crops on sandy, gravelly, 

 and shaley soils. These are valuable qualities, and yet Bur- 

 net is not cultivated to any great extent, because it is not 

 universally admitted that cattle and sheep will always eat 

 it. -There are some varieties scarcely worth mentioning : as, 

 one that is much smoother; a second, that has no smell; 

 and a third, with larger seeds. It is easily propagated in 

 gardens for salads, by seeds sown in autumn soon after they 

 are ripe. If the seeds be permitted to scatter, the plants 

 will come up in plenty ; and if these be transplanted into a 

 bed of undunged earth, at about a foot distance every way, 

 and kept clean from weeds, they will continue some years 

 without further care, especially if the soil be dry. It may 

 be increased by parting the roots in autumn ; but as it grows 

 so freely from seeds, this method is seldom adopted. Mr. 

 Rocque directs the ground to be prepared for Burnet in the 

 same manner as for Lucerne : to be ploughed or trenched as 

 deep as the staple will admit, and to be well dunged ; the 

 seed to be sown broad-cast, without corn, twelve pounds to 

 the acre, in April or any of the succeeding months, till 

 August : before sowing, harrow and roll ; after sowing, harrow 

 with a light harrow, and roll again ; ten days after, the seed 

 will come up with a round leaf; but it is generally said by 

 others, that the seed takes about twenty-three days to vege- 

 tate : keep the crop very clean the first year, and it will keep 

 itself clean afterwards. Unless it be sown early, Burnet 

 must not be grazed the same summer, because when young 

 it. bleeds too much; but it should be left till February or 

 March ; it may then be fed till the beginning of May, when 

 the cattle should be taken out, and it may be mowed for seed 

 about the middle of June. The same agriculturist, who di- 

 rects the ground to be prepared alike for Burnet and Lucerne, 

 says, in order to grow Burnet after Turnips are cleared off, 

 in March plough the same depth as was ploughed for the 

 Turnips : then about the middle of May to trench-plough it, 

 to break the staple and facilitate the growth of the roots. In 

 the middle of June trench-plough again, but no deeper than 

 the first time, not to bring up the dead earth. Harrow and 

 roll well, and then sow ; after which run a light harrow over 

 it, not to bury the seed too deep, and then roll it again : 

 then let it lie till August, when, if there are any weeds, har- 



VOL. II' 99. 



row backwards and forwards, and hoe or handweed it if 

 necessary. A dry soil suits it best. It grows in stony and 

 gravelly lands, but its natural bed is calcareous. The ill 

 success which has sometimes attended this crop, may perhaps 

 be principally owing to its having been sown in an improper 

 soil. It will not do where water settles on the surface, or on 

 a wet bottom, nor on newly broken up land, except after 

 Oats or Potatoes ; and the ground should be worked very 

 fine for its reception. For hay, it should be mown when in 

 full blossom. When mown for seed, much of it will be lost; 

 for what is full ripe is apt to shed, and, as it ripens succes- 

 sively, some will be quite green when the forwardest is quite 

 mature. 



2. Poterium Ancistroides. Suffruticose : leaflets very 

 smooth, roundish, deeply toothed ; flowering-stem angular, 

 procumbent. Native of Barbary, near Tlemsen, in the fis- 

 sures of rocks, flowering early in the spring. 



3. Poterium Hybridum ; Sweet Burnet. Unarmed : stems 

 cylindrical, strict. Native of the south of France, Italy, and 

 Hungary. Sow the seeds in autumn, and the plants will 

 come up in spring : thin and keep them clean from weeds. 

 The second year they will flower, ripen their seeds, and decay. 



4. Poterium Caudatum ; Smooth Shrubby Burnet. Un- 

 armed, f rutescent: branches round, villose; spikes elongated, 

 loose. Native of the Canary Islands. This and the next 

 species may be increased by slips or cuttings, planted in a 

 bed of light earth during any of the summer months, covering 

 them close with a hand or bell glass, or shading them from 

 the sun. When they have taken root, take them up, and 

 plant them singly in small pots, filled with fresh undunged 

 earth. Place them in the shade till they have struck root, 

 and then remove them to a sheltered situation. When frosts 

 come on, place them under a hot-bed frame. They require 

 little water, especially in cold weather. 



5. Poterium Spinosum ; Prickly Shrubby Burnet. Stem 

 shrubby, with branched spines ; branches villous, somewhat 

 angular; spikes oblong, lax. A bushy prickly shrub, with 

 abundance of small pinnate leaves, and oblong purplish 

 spikes. Native of the Levant. 



Pathos ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : spathe globular, one- 

 leafed, gaping on one side ; spadix quite simple, thickened, 

 covered all over with sessile fructifications ; perianth none, 

 unless the corolla be taken for it. Corolla: petals four, 

 wedge-shaped, oblong, erect. Stamina: filamenta four, flat- 

 tish, erect, narrower than the petals, and of the same length ; 

 antherse very small, twin. Pistil: germen parallelopiped, 

 truncate ; style none ; stigma simple. Pericarp : berries 

 aggregate, roundish, two-celled. Seed: single, roundish 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Spathe: spadix simple, covered 



Perianth : none. Petats : four. Berries : two-seeded. 



The species are, 



1 . Pothos Scandens ; Climbing Pothos. Petioles the 

 breadth of the leaves ; stem rooting. This shrub climbs like 

 Ivy, throwing out fibres by which it adheres to walks, and 

 the trunks of trees. Native of the East Indies. 



2. Pothos Acaulis ; Stcmless Pothos. Leaves lanceolate, 

 quite entire, nerveless. This species also is parasitical, and 

 in habit resembles the Aloe. It is called Rat's Tail by the 

 French in Martinico, from the form of the flowering spadix. 

 Native of South America, and the West Indies. 



3. Pothos Lanceolata ; Lance-leaved Pothos. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, quite entire, three-nerved ; scape three-sided at the 

 tip. Native of South America. 



4. Pothos Crenata ; Notch-leaved Pothos. Leaves lance- 

 olate, crenate, Native of the island of St. Thomas. 



5H 



