VIC 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



VI C 



745 



wood near Whiteham, in Berks. See the preceding species 

 for its cultivation. 



4. Vicia Cassiibica; Cussubian Vetch. Peduncles about 

 six -flowered; leaflets ten, ovate, acute; stipules entire. Root 

 woody, creeping; stems trailing, three feet long, their lower 

 part becoming more woody towards autumn, but dying to 

 the root in winter ; flowers disposed in short axillary spikes, 

 each generally containing six pale blue flowers, which appear 

 in July, and are succeeded by short smooth pods, like those 

 of Lentils, including three or four round seeds. Native of 

 Denmark, Germany, Austria, and the south of France. 



5. Vicia Cracca; Tufted Vetch. Peduncles many-flow- 

 ered; flowers imbricate ; leaflets lanceolate, pubescent ; sti- 

 pules semisagittate, mostly entire. Root perennial, creep- 

 ing; stems two, three, or four feet high, and even more when 

 climbing upon bushes ; branches numerous, short, alternate, 

 from the axils of the upper leaves ; the corolla has the standard 

 emarginate, reflexed, without any sharp point in the notch, 

 of a violet or bluish purple colour, striped with veins of a 

 deeper colour; wings closing; keel whitish, marked on 

 each side at the tip wiih a deep violet spot. Found in 

 thickets, hedges, and fields throughout Europe, as also in 

 North America. Dr. Plot observes, that this and the third 

 species advance starved or weak cattle above any thing yet 

 known. Mr. Miller also remarks, that this and other peren- 

 nial Tares have been recommended to be sown in fields, as 

 fodder for cattle ; but as their stalks are slender and less 

 succulent than the Common Tares or Vetch, it is doubtful 

 whether they will answer the purposes of cultivation. Their 

 stalks trailing to a great length if they have not support, 

 will be liable to rot by lying upon the ground; and although 

 their roots are perennial, yet as it is late in the spring before 

 they shoot to a height sufficient to cut for use, they do not 

 serve until there is a sufficiency of other green food for 

 cattle. 



6. Vicia Onobrychioides ; Saintfoin Vetch. Peduncles 

 many-flowered; flowers distant; leaflets linear; stipules 

 toothletted at bottom. Stem erect, angular, striated, pu- 

 bescent; corolla blue. Native of France, Switzerland, Pied- 

 mont, and Mount Atlas. 



7. Vicia Nissoliana; Red-flowered Vetch. Peduncles many- 

 flowored ; leaflets oblong; stipules entire; legumes villose, 

 ovate, oblong. Root annual; stem grooved; flowers very 

 small, and dark purple. Native of the Levant. 



8. Vicia Biennis ; Biennial Vetch. Peduncles many- 

 flowered ; petioles grooved, having- about twelve leaflets, 

 which are lanceolate and smooth ; root biennial ; seeds glo- 

 bular, dirty yellow, spotted with black. This promises to 

 become a useful plant for fodder; the stalks growing to a 

 great length, and being well furnished with leaves, they do 

 not decay in autumn, but continue green through the winter, 

 in defiance of the most severe frost ; hence in February and 

 March, when there is often a scarcity of green feed for ewes 

 and Iambs, this plant may be of great service. Native of 

 Siberia. It is propagated by seeds, which may be sown in 

 the spring or autumn ; and when the plants come up, they 

 will require no other culture but weeding. 



9. Vicia Altissima; Tall Vetch. Stipules toothed; leaflets 

 elliptic, truncate, very smooth ; flowers racemed ; peduncles 

 longer than the petiole ; stem scandent, striated ; corolla 

 pale blue. Native of Barbary, in hedges near Arzean. 



10. Vicia Benghalensis; Bengal Vetch. Peduncles many- 

 flowered; leaflets quite entire; stipules entire; legumes 

 nearly erect; corollas of a very deep red colour, with the 

 apex of the keel black. Native of Bengal; and found on 

 the Hieies Islands, off the coast of France. 



11. Vicia Atropurpurea; Dark-purple Vetch. Leaflets 

 linear-lanceolate; racemes many-flowered, directed one way; 

 calices extremely villose, with bristle-shaped teeth ; legumes 

 ovate- oblong, drooping, very hirsute. Stem four-cornered, 

 striated, villose; flowers nodding; corolla smooth, very dark 

 purple at the tip. Native of Algiers. 



12. Vicia Canescens; Hoary Vetch. Peduncles many- 

 flowered ; upper leaves subcirrhose ; stipules semisagittate, 

 entire ; leaflets oval-oblong, hoary. Stem herbaceous, erect, 

 a foot high or more, four-cornered, somewhat striated; 

 flowers in loose spikes, all one way, blue: annual. Native 

 of Mount Libanus. 



** Flowers axillary, subsessile. 



13. Vicia Saliva; Common Vetch or Tare. Legumes ses- 

 sile, subbinate, nearly erect; lower leaves retuse; stipules 

 toothed, marked: seeds smooth and even. Stems various in 

 size, weak a,nd procumbent, if the tendrils meet with nothing 

 to cling to, but supporting one another tolerably well, when 

 scrwn thick enough. A very variable annual plant, more or 

 less pubescent; flowers solitary, or in pairs, subsessile, red- 

 dish-purple, of different shades. There are several varieties. 

 In dry soils it has a procumbent stem, sharper leaflets, the 

 flowers mostly solitary, and the stipules spotted but obscurely. 

 It varies also in the colour of the pods ; and of the seeds, from 

 black to brown and white. This plant derives its trivial name, 

 Sativa, from its long cultivation under the names of Tares 

 and Vetches, proviucially called Fitches, for the seed, which 

 are an excellent food for pigeons, and also for green feed for 

 horses, cows, and sheep, particularly for soiling horses; and as 

 a meliorating crop, it is very generally esteemed. Tares are 

 said to produce good milk and butter, only they dry cows 

 when too near maturity, and hence they are best for horses 

 in their advanced state. They are very useful in May, or 

 for keep till Midsummer, at which time, in a dry season, 

 their soils are apt to burn up. Winter Tares are excellent 

 for soiling beasts, and to spare grass ; for if bullocks be 

 turned to graze as soon as the grass rises in the spring, they 

 keep the ground so bare, that if a hot season ensue it is burnt 

 up, and the farmer has no resource but to turn them to hay 

 a second time. They begin to flower in May, and from that 

 time stock may be advantageously supported on them, till the 

 flowers fall off, and the pods begin to form; thn all that are 

 left may be made into hay, or remain to seed. Upon dunged 

 land, with good seed, there will probably be twelve tons of 

 green food per acre, which in favourable seasons will make 

 three tons of excellent hay. But in wet or uncertain seasons 

 it is far better to use the whole crop green, for by so doing 

 the stock will be taken off the grass-land long enough to allow 

 of its being mown for hay ; and by the time the cattle have 

 consumed the green Tares, the after-grass will be ready for 

 consumption. Spring Tares produce a lighter crop, and are 

 subject to some rise from a dry summer, but coming a fort- 

 night later, they will make a succession of green food all the 

 summer. The most advisable method of giving them to 

 cattle, is to mow the Tares of the first half acre, and to carry 

 the produce into the stables, cow-houses, and fold yards, or 

 on to poor land, to be there consumed by the stock ; then 

 to hurdle oif the growing Tares from such cleared ground, 

 into which put the stock, feeding them in racks, and remov- 

 ing the hurdles with the racks daily, to the edge of the 

 growing Tares ; by which the land will be manured uni- 

 formly, and all the urine deposited in the soil. Or, they 

 may be fed through rack hurdles, made the same with the 

 common ones, only leaving the middle rail out, and nailing 

 upright pieces across, at proper distances to admit the 

 heads of the animals. After a swathe has been mown >n U.e 



