BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL. 



other ith respect to habits in the same man- 

 ner as the white clover and perennial red 

 clover; and were the latter unknown, there 

 appear to be no plants of the leguminous order, 

 that, in point of habits, would so well supply 

 their place as the common and greater bird's- 

 foot trefoil. They are, however, greatly in- 

 ferior to the clovers. The white clover is 

 superior to the common bird's-foot trefoil in 

 the quantity of nutritive matter it affords, in 

 the proportion of 5 to 4. It is much less pro- 

 ductive of herbage, and is much more difficult 

 of cultivation, the seed being afforded in much 

 smaller quantities. The produce of the greater 

 bird's-foot trefoil is superior to that of the 

 perennial red clover on tenacious or moist 

 soils, and on drier and on richer soils of the 

 first quality ; but the produce is inferior in the 

 proportion of nutritive matter it contains as 5 

 to 4. The nutritive matter is extremely bitter 

 to the taste. It does not appear to be eaten by 

 any cattle when in a green state, but when 

 made into hay, sheep, oxen, and deer, all eat it 

 without reluctance, and rather with desire. It 

 does not seem to perfect so much seed as the 

 former species, but this is abundantly remedied 

 in its propagation by the creeping or stoloni- 

 ferons roots which it spreads out in all direc- 

 tions. In moist clayey soils it would doubtless 

 be a most profitable substitute for red clover; 

 but the excess of bitter extractive and saline 

 matters it contains seems to forbid its adop- 

 tion without a considerable admixture of other 

 plant-. It flowers about the third week of 

 June, and the seed is ripe about the end of the 

 following month. The following analysis will 

 show the comparative value of the two spe- 

 cies : 



3. Spreading bird's-foot trefoil (L. decumbent] 

 is, like the two preceding species, a perennial, 

 flowering in England in July. It is found in fields 

 and meadows. The flower-stalks are four or 

 five times the length of the leaves, smooth, 

 stout, and firm, each bearing an umbel of from 

 three to six bright yellow flowers. 4. Slender 

 binl'.-rbot trefoil (L. angtuturitntu) is an an- 

 nual flowering in May and June, found in 

 meadows towards the sea on the south and 

 western coasts of England. It is smaller, in 

 general, than any of the foregoing species. A 

 species of trifolium (T. ornithopodiaidui) also 

 bears the name of bird's-foot trefoil ; but Sir 

 J. Smith very justly observes (EngL Flor. vol. 

 iii. p. 298), it can scarcely, without violence, 

 be retained in the genus Trifolium ,- yet no 

 one has thought fit to make it a distinct one, 

 however plausible might be the reasons for 

 such a measure. It is an annual plant flower- 

 ing in June and July, found in barren, gravelly, 

 grassy pastures ; root fibrous, stems several, 

 spreading flat on the ground, flowers two or 

 three, long, pale, reddish. (Smith's Eng. Flor. 

 vol. iii. pp. 298, 312; Sinclair's Hort. Gram. 

 Wok.") 



Two species of lotus, not referred to in the 

 preceding account, are a good deal cultivated 



BISCUIT. 



in France, on light soils. These are the vil- 

 lous (L. villosus] and the cultivated lotus (Lctier 

 cultive, or Lotus tetragonolobus, PL 9, h]. The 

 last is an annual sown in gardens. 



BIRDLIME. This glutinous vegetable pro- 

 duct is procured either by boiling misletoe ber- 

 ries in water until they break, pounding them 

 in a mortar, and washing away the husky re- 

 fuse with other portions of water ; or, which is 

 the chief mode in which it is made (chiefly in 

 Scotland) for the purposes of bird-catching, &c., 

 from the middle bark of the holly. The bark 

 is stripped in June or July, and boiled for six 

 or eight hours in water, until it becomes ten- 

 der ; the water is then separated from it, and it 

 is left to ferment for two or three weeks, until 

 it becomes a mucilage, which is pounded in a 

 mortar into a mass, and then thoroughly rubbed 

 by the hands in running water till all the 

 branny matters and other impurities are 

 washed away ; the birdlime is then suffered to 

 remain fermenting by itself in an earthen ves- 

 sel for some weeks. (The bird-catchers, when 

 they make their own, place the vessel in a 

 dunghill.) The bark of the wayfaring tree is 

 sometimes employed. The fragrant gum which 

 exudes from the Styrax, or American Sweet 

 Gum, a large tree, growing in the Middle and 

 Southern States, also makes a good birdlime, 

 being extremely tenacious. (Gray's Supple- 

 ment, p. 226 ; Nich. Journ. b. xiii. p. 145 ; Thom- 

 son, vol. iv. p. 119.) 



BIRD'S NEST, YELLOW (Monotropa hypo- 

 pays']. A weed occasionally met with in poor 

 and gravelly soils. It is also found sometimes 

 about the roots of beeches and firs, in woods, 

 frequent in all the midland counties. Root 

 fibrous, much branched, and somewhat creep- 

 ing, growing among dead leaves, or in half de- 

 cayed vegetable mould. Stem solitary, five or 

 six inches high, flowers in a drooping cluster. 

 (Smith's EngL Flor. vol. ii. p. 249.) 



The species of this plant found in the Middle 

 States, are, that called the Indian Pipe (M. uni- 

 flora), and the woolly monotropa, Pine-sap, or 

 False Beach-drops. Both these singular 

 plants are called parasitic. (See Flor. Centric.] 



BIRD PEPPER. A species of small capsi- 

 cum, which affords the best Cayenne pepper. 

 See CAPSICUM. 



BISCUIT (Lat. bis, twice; Fr. cuit, baked, 

 Ital. biscoto]. A kind of hard dry bread cake 

 Biscuits are more easily kept than other kinds 

 of bread, and as they contain no ferment, they 

 are better fitted than loaf bread for persons of 

 weak stomachs, and for the pap of infants, who 

 are under the misfortune of being brought up 

 by hand. 



The best biscuits and the most wholesome, 

 are those prepared for the use of the navy. 

 They are of two kinds, captains' and seamen's 

 biscuit. The latter are composed of wheaten 

 flour, from which the bran only has been taken ; 

 consequently they are more nutritive than the 

 finer sort. In the government bake-houses 

 Weevil and Deptford, the biscuits are prefera- 

 ble to those baked by ordinary bakers, o\ 

 to the extent of the operations, and the purity 

 of the wheat-meal: 102 Ibs. of perfectly dry 

 biscuits are procured from 112 Ibs. of meal. 



BISHOPING. A cant term made uso of 

 o 181 



