CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 223 



seeds at the bottom are nearly matured; therefore, if the cut- 

 ting be deferred until the top seeds are quite ripe, the lower, 

 which are the best, would be shed and lost. The cultivator 

 should bear in mind that the best time to cut is when the 

 greater part of the seed is well filled, the first blown ripe, and 

 the last blown beginning to be full. The unripe seeds will 

 ripen after cutting, and be found in all respects as good as those 

 that ripened fully before being cut. 



JOHN HARE POWELL, Esq., who has done much to advance 

 the character and interests of American husbandry, says, "saint- 

 foin has been neglected, most probably, in consequence of the 

 failures proceeding from the age of the seeds; they seldom 

 vegetate when more than one year old, and hence fail when 

 they have reached us in the common course with dealers' 

 supplies. It should be sown as early as practicable in the 

 spring, with half the usual quantity of barley or oats. The 

 quality of the seed may be known by the brightness of the 

 capsules, the fulness of the kernels, and by their colour, which 

 should be blue-grey or yellow-red. As the seeds are large, 

 and enveloped in thick capsules, they must be covered at 

 greater depth, and with more than usual care. The roller 

 should be applied if the soil and weather be in proper state." 

 Soaking the seed for some hours before sowing, and then roll- 

 ing in plaster, would, no doubt, prove beneficial, and obviate 

 the necessity of unusually deep sowing. 



Among the inferior herbage plants which are occasionally 

 cultivated in England, and sometimes with us, by way of ex- 

 periment, are burnet, ribwort, furze and spurry. Those which 

 might be cultivated are very numerous, and include several 

 species.* Very few are worthy the attention of the profes- 

 sional farmer. 



BURNET, Pimprenelle grande, Fr. Poterium sanguis- 

 orba, L. Those who wish to cultivate burnet, as an herbage 

 or hay-plant, may treat it exactly as directed for saintfoin. 

 As a pasture-plant it is sown among the grasses in the same 

 way lis white or yellow clover. A bushel of seed is commonly 

 sown to the acre. It is of the rose family, and grows naturally 

 on dry and calcareous soils. 



RIB-GRASS, or RIBWORT PLANTAIN, Plantain des Pres, 

 Fr. Plantago lanceolata, is a hardy plant, with a tuft of 

 long ribbed leaves springing from the crown of the root, long, 

 naked flower-stems, and a long tap-root. ARTHUR YOUNG re- 

 commends this plant for laying land to grass, and has sown it 

 on his own farm. The culture is the same as that of clover. 



* Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. 



