THE Farmers* Register. 



211 



and the eame. That may be true, botanically 

 speaking, as I have said above, but in culture it 

 is otherwise. 1 have cultivated the first for many 

 years, and I have made comparative experiments 

 with them both, of many acres at a time, and 

 have always Ibund decided diH'erences between 

 them. I am not singular in this opinion ; many 

 practical men, who have tried both of these plants, 

 have come to the conclusion at which I had ar- 

 rived. I will mention among them that distin- 

 guished agriculturist, Mons. Deecolombicrs, 

 whose opinion on this subject coincides entirely 

 with mine. A third variety has been announced 

 and recommended, by Mons. Juery, of Toulouse, 

 it is the Trefle incarnat tardif. [te name indicates 

 its quality ; it is sown and cultivated like the com- 

 mon variety, and comes in later. According to 

 accounts published at Toulouse, this clover does 

 not commence to flower until the other variety is 

 out of bloom. But in the experiments that I 

 have made, both in the environs of Paris, and at 

 Gatinais, I have (bund only the difference of five 

 or six days in the blooming of the two varieties. 

 Perhaps 1 may not have received the decided 

 species, or this difference may be owing to the 

 difference of the climate, which has more effect on 

 the early than on the later variety. Be that as it 

 may, the culture of it has made considerable pro- 

 gress in the south. Mons. Descolombiers, has 

 informed me that in the department ol' AUier, he 

 and his brother-in-law, Mons. the Marquis Saint 

 George, have sown much of it, and have derived 

 positive advantages from it. If one is obliged to 

 resow, with the trefle incarnat, a clover field that 

 is too thin, this late variety should be very much 

 preferred, as it accommodates itself better to the 

 mowing of the red clover, than the ordinary 

 variety. 



Vesce commune, Vicia sativa, is an excellent 

 annual forage, is suitable to render waste lands 

 useful, and offers many other considerable ad- 

 vantages; the most important of which is that it 

 may be seen as late as June on strong and moist 

 land, and in that manner affords an opportunity 

 of providing against a scarcity of hay, if the crop 

 in the meadows should fail. There are two 

 main varieties of tare, that of the spring, which is 

 sown in March, April or May, and sometimes in 

 June, and that of the winter, which is sown in 

 the autumn. Both prefer good land, which is 

 rather stiff than light. A considerable quantity 

 of moisture in the winter will destroy the winter 

 tare ; it will grow more readily on dry and hght 

 soils than the spring tare, which, on the contrary, 

 delights in moisture, particularly when sown late. 

 It is necessary to cover the seed with care, to pro- 

 tect them from the pigeons, which are very fond 

 of it. They cut the hay whilst the plant is m 

 blossom, or when a part of the pods have com- 

 menced to die, or indeed after their entire matu- 

 rity, if one desires the grain rather than the hay. 

 The tare is a very good Ibod to give green in the 

 stable or to graze, but it should be used with the 

 precautions that are necessary to be taken with 

 all grasses that are very succulent and nutritious ; 

 for given too damp and too abundantly, it affects 

 the cattle not less dangerously than clover that 

 is too moist. The ordinary quantity of seed that 

 is used is about 26 decalitres per hectare. It is 

 well to sow a little oata or rye with the tares to 

 support them. 



La Vesce blanche, Vicia saliva alba, is less 

 common than the two preceding varieties, but it 

 is just as valuable as forage, and in addition, its 

 white and larger grain affords a means of subsis- 

 tence to man. In many cantons the inhabitants 

 use ii to make pea-soup, or use its flour in their 

 bread, mixing it in small proportions with wheat 

 flour. Many other varieties of tare might bo 

 usefully cultivated. 



Ajonc, Ulex JEuropeus, Furze, is an ex- 

 tremely thorny shrub, -a native of the unculti- 

 vated lands of Europe. The abundance and 

 the durability of its yellow leguminous flowers 

 would render it an appropriate ornament for plea- 

 t^ure grounds, did not the sharp and hard thorns 

 at the ends of the branches and leaves render it 

 objectionable. ' It is very good for making in- 

 closures, which are almost impenetrable, for 

 which purpose, after having sown it on the sides 

 of ditches in March, they protect ils young shoots 

 from the attacks of cows and horses, which will 

 eat it with great eagerness; which circumstance 

 first led to the cultivation of the furze, in districts 

 which were destitute of meadows and artificial 

 pastures. They sow about 30 pounds of seed 

 per hectare, on indifferent, but well worked land, 

 the second year they begin to cut the young 

 shoots before the blooming of the plant, which 

 takes place from January to March, alter that 

 year they cut it in the winter as they require it. 

 They give it to the cattle, after having crushed 

 the thorns under a mallet or a stone. This plant 

 has also the advantage of furnishing very good 

 fuel, and they grow it expressly for that purpose 

 in a part of Normandy. The furze is said to be 

 a fertilizer. They get very good crops of wheat 

 alter it, which is owing without doubt to the cus- 

 tom of burning the stumps and roots, on the land 

 vyhen they extirpate it. The small variety of 

 liirze, Ulex nanus, common about the environs of 

 Paris, serves whilst it is young to nourish the 

 cattle of the poor, and *n the autumn furnishes 

 them with the means of heating their ovens. 



Lenthille a une fleur, Ervum monanthos, is 

 cultivated in some parts of France, (or its forage 

 and its farinaceous grain. Without being very pro- 

 ductive, it possesses qualities which render it 

 valuable in some cases ; for example, it succeeds 

 in indifferent lands, where one can neither raise 

 the tare on the pois gris. Its small and climbing 

 stalks require the support of oats or rye, which 

 must be sown with it. Its grain is used as that 

 of the lathyrus sativa in makmg pea-soup. They 

 have made great use of it for many years about 

 the environs of Orleans, where it is cultivated 

 under the mcorrect name of lathyrus cicera. It ia 

 generally sown in the autumn, and stands the 

 winter very well. I have for many years been 

 acquainted with the value of this plant, both from 

 the exp'eriments that 1 myself have made, and 

 Irom those of my enterprising neighbor, J\lons. 

 Valentin de Culloin, which are on a very large 

 scale. The masses of forage that he has obtained 

 from the Ervum monanthos and the Pois gris, on 

 land that until then was thought to be incapable 

 of producing a single truss of hay, are euch as 

 have already resulted in the immense ameliora- 

 tion of his farm. I cannot too earnestly urge 

 upon farmers, who possess gravelly lands, and 

 who are stinted in their forage, to introduce 

 amongst them the culture of this plant, as I am 



