224 CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



Its feed is about the same size, and consequently the same pro- 

 portion will sow an acre. On rich sands and loams, it produced 

 considerable herbage. On poorer and dryer soils, it is said to 

 answer well for sheep, though its advocates admit that it is in- 

 ferior to some others.* According to Mr. MARSHALL, it is in 

 high estimation in Yorkshire, after having stood the test of 

 twenty years' established practice. LINNJEUS remarks, that 

 "it is eaten by sheep, horses and goats, and wholly refused by 

 cows: yet we find the late eminent Baron HALLER, attributing 

 the astonishing richness of the milk in the celebrated dairies 

 of the Alps to this plant, and the common lady mantle, (*fll- 

 chemilla vulgaris.) Dr. WITHERING says cattle will not 

 touch it when growing apart from other plants. It is not, 

 therefore, surprising, that it has of late years fallen into disre- 

 pute. It produces an abundance of seed. 



SPURRY, Spergula arvensis. This plant is cultivated in 

 some countries for herbage. It is of the pink tribe of plants, 

 and is a native of the old and new continents, growing about 

 Quebec and the river Columbia, and plentifully in the gardens 

 and fields throughout Europe. It is valued for its rapid growth : 

 sown on the stubble in autumn, it will produce a crop in the 

 same season. It is, however, regarded as a weed, and value- 

 less, and of course without a place in our system of agricul- 

 ture. 



WHIN, FURZE OR GORSE. This is a shrubby plant, of which 

 the soft shoots are cropped by animals; but it does not form 

 the subject of cultivation in this country. It requires dry 

 loamy land, well prepared, and like clover is sown in the 

 spring, with wheat, barley or oats, at the rate of thirty pounds 

 to the acre, harrowed and rolled in. Let them grow for two 

 years, and then cut them by means of a hedge-bill. 



COMMON BROOM, Genet commun, cultivated in the southern 

 parts of France, in the same manner as hemp is cultivated. It 

 does well on the poorer soils. It is sometimes raised for the 

 feeding of sheep, but more frequently for the purpose of strip- 

 ping the bark from it, and converting it into a kind of thread. 

 It has little or no pretensions to the character of an herbage 

 plant. 



The PARSLEY, Persil commun, a well known biennial 

 plant, with a large sweet tap-root, is a native of Sicily, but 

 endures the severity of more northern latitudes like a native 

 plant. It is cultivated in all our gardens. Its chief virtue 

 consists in preventing the rot in sheep, for which purpose it is 

 frequently sown along with clover and grass seeds. Mr. 



* Complete Grazier, p. 498, 6th ed. 



