Book VI. SAINTFOIN. 881 



furrow is recommended. In most cases, especially in all the more light sorts of land in which this sort of 

 crop is grown, the use of the roller may be necessary immediately after the seed is put into the ground. 

 It is the practice in some districts to sow a small portion of clover seed with saintfoin, with the idea ot 

 increasing the first year's produce ; but as plants of different kinds seldom answer well when grown 

 together, from there being a continual contest in their growth for an ascendancy, it is perhaps a better 

 method to increase the proportion of the seed, without mixing it with that of other sorts. It is, however, 

 supposed by Marshal that such a practice is beneficial in ultimately procuring a tine clean crop of saintfoin 

 upon the land. It is a sort of crop that grows in so perfect a manner in the broad.cast method, that there 

 can seldom be any necessity for having recourse to the drill. It may, however, be cultivated in the latter 

 mode with much success ; and, in Norfolk, it is the practice with some cultivators to have it drilled at nine 

 inches across the barley crops which have been sown in the same way. 



5601. The quantity of seed in the broad-cast method, which is that mostly employed, is about four 

 bushels the acre, though less is frequently given ; but on such soils as are proper for this plant it is always 

 necessary to have a full proportion of seed. By some, however, a much smaller quantity is made use of; 

 and where the drill system is had recourse to, a still smaller proportion is used, as from two to two and a 

 half or three bushels. It has been observed, that in Lincolnshire, where this plant is much grown, " the 

 common allowance of seed is five bushels to an acre, and that a gentleman south of Lincoln advises the 

 sowing a small quantity of trefoil with it (about four pounds on an acre)." The reason for this is, that in 

 that exposed country, the young plants sutler more by the sun in summer than by the frost in winter. 

 Of course the trefoil coming to perfection the first year, and living only three, will he a shelter for the young 

 plants during the first year or two, and die off when the saintfoin wants its room. 



5602. In the choice of the seed the safest practice for the cultivator is to select it from the best and most 

 abiding plants in this particular soil, as that purchased from the seed-shops can rarely be depended upon. 

 A certain method of knowing thegoodness of the seed is, by sowing a number of the seeds, and seeing how 

 manv plants are produced by them. But the external signs of the seeds being good are, that the husk is 

 of a bright colour, and the kernel plump, of a light grey or blue colour, and sometimes of a shining black. 

 The seed may be good, though the husk be black, as that is owing sometimes to letting it receive wet in 

 the field, and not to its being half-rotted in the heap. If the kernel on being cut across appears greenish 

 and fresh, it is a certain sign that it is good : but if it is of a yellowish colour, and friable, and looks thin 

 and pitted, it is a bad sign. Others observe that the best seed is plump, heavy, bright, and of a yellowish 

 red colour, and that it should always be sown while quite fresh, as old seed, or seed that has been long kept, 

 never vegetates in a perfect manner ; seed of this sort is in general from about three to five shillings the 

 bushel. 



5603. The after-culture and management of saintfoin consists in occasional dressings 

 with manure, and, in the judicious intervention of mowing and pasturing. 



5604. Some farmers do not mow in the first year, while others do ; but in the second year, and in the 

 succeeding summers, a crop of hay may be taken, and the after-grass fed down with any sorts of stock but 

 sheep, till towarus December. These should not be permitted to eat it too close, as, from the largeness of the 

 roots, they might bv so doing injure the crowns of the plants. . In the following autumn there will, however, 

 he less risk in this respect, and sheep as well as cattle stock may be turned in and kept upon the pastures 

 till they are well eaten down, being always careful to shut them up as early as possible in the beginning 

 of the "vear. This is the opinion of Kent. As this sort of herbage is thought to be improved in its taste 

 by being nipped by the frost, it mav be a proper practice not to turn stock upon these leys too early in the 

 autumnal season ; perhaps not before the latter end of September, when this sort of rouen or after-grass 

 will be found to have much effect in promoting the flow of milk in cows, as well as in forwarding the con- 

 dition of fattening beasts ; great store of feed being still left for sheep. But with this sort of stock they should 

 not be too closely fed down, nor should the sheep remain too long upon them. It has been suggested that 

 all sorts of cattle stock should be removed by the beginning of the year from these rouens, as much harm 

 might be done bv their continuing longer. 



5605. In top-dressing saintfoin peat ashes are the best material that can be made use of where they 

 can be procured in sufficient quantity ; and other sorts of ashes are likewise found beneficial where these 

 cannot be bad. They should be applied so as to form a thin, even, regular dressing over the whole surface 

 of the crop. In this view soot has also been found of great utility when spread evenly over such leys 

 about the beginning of Januarv, in the proportion of about twenty-five or thirty bushels to the statute 

 acre; and malt-dust has been employed ill the same way with great success and advantage, as shown by 

 Bannister in his Synopsis of Husbandry. It is supposed that where those sorts of top-dressings can be 

 applied every third or fourth vear, the saintfoin crops, when well established in the soils, may be preserved 

 in a state of vigorous growth 'for ten or fifteen years, or more, and the land be considerably improved by 

 the roots striking so deeply into it. 



5606. In taking and iisi?ig the saintfoin crop, the same practices may be followed as in 

 taking clover : it may be mown for soiling, hay, or seed ; and eaten on the spot by 

 tethering, hurdling, or common pasturing. 



5607. In making it into hay, it is cut immediately on its coming into full blossom, and as it remains but 

 a short time in this state, as much expedition as possible should be employed both in mowing and making 

 the produce into hay. It is remarked by the author of The Synopsis of Husbandry, who resides in a 

 district where the culture of saintfoin is frequent, that of all other hay plants, it requires the least pains in 

 maKing. When the season is favourable, the hay-makers may follow the scythe, and having turned over 

 the swaths, throw them into wind-rows the succeeding day after the crop is mown, when it may be imme. 

 diately formed into cocks, and the whole crop be fit for carting in a week, sometimes in three days after it 

 is mown. Though it may appear very green, and the stack when made take on or acquire a considerable 

 degree of heat, there is no -danger to be apprehended, provided the weather has been fair during the hay- 

 making; as it is so far from taking harm by heating in the stack, that the contrary state is the most to be 

 feared. For this reason great care is necessary not to suffer the fodder to continue long either in the swath 

 or in cocks, lest the sun and wind should dry it up too fast, and by exhaling its juices prevent the heating 

 in the stack, and thereby render it of little value. In order to preserve its succulence, in some places they 

 put a number of these cocks together, so as to form large cocks of a size to contain a load in each, and they 

 finish the stacks out of the cocks It is likewise a practice with many farmers, where the crop is slight, to 

 turn the swaths, and then run them into cocks with a three pronged barley fork, following with a wooden 

 dew-rake, the head of which is of sufficient width to cover the ground occupied by three or four swaths, 

 in this manner proceeding with the utmost despatch, and saving a deal of labour and expense in the 

 business. 



5608. In regard to the frequency of cutting saintfoin, it is probable that on the thinner sorts of soils i it can 

 seldom be done more than once ; but on those of the deeper sorts two crops may sometimes be taken, in 

 the same manner as with clover, care being taken in these cases that the future growth of the plants be 

 not injured by this means. 



5609. The vsnal duration of saintfoin, in a profitable state, is from eight to ten years. 

 It attains its perfect growth in about three years, and begins to decline towards the eighth 



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