Chap. XII. Of St. Foin. 165 



Another Advantage the fingle have, in refpect of 

 Moifture : Thefe reach to a Depth where that is never 

 wanting, even when the upper Stratum or Staple is 

 parch'd up, as appears by the Experiment of the 

 Mints, that if any Root of a Plant has Moifture, 

 that Root will communicate a Shar^ to all the 

 reft. Hence it is, that, in the drieft Summer, thefe 

 fzngle Plants make a great Crop,- when the other 

 yield next to nothing. I remember I once faw a 

 Farmer coming out of a Ground with a Load of St. 

 Foin Hay, which he aflured me was all he could 

 Hnd worth cutting, out of Forty Acres of this thick 

 fort, in full Perfection, Three Years after fowing : He 

 valued his Load at Three Pounds ; but withal laid it 

 came off fo much Ground, that the Expence of 

 Mowing, Raking, &c. was more than the Value j 

 when, in the very fame dry Summer, there was 

 Three Tun of St. Foin to an Acrt in a Field (/), 

 where it was drill'd fingle and regularly. 



And I have often obferv'd, that where the Plants 

 are thin, the Second Crop of them fprings again im- 

 mediately after cutting.; when Plants that ftand thick 

 in the fame Ground, fpring not till Rain comes •, and 

 I have feen the thin grown high enough to cut the 

 Second time, before the other began to fpring. 



The beft way to find what Number of thefe Plants it 

 is proper to have on a Perch of Ground, is to confider 

 what Quantity of Hay one large Plant will produce 

 (for, if cultivated, they will be all fuch). 



Without Culture thefe Plants never attain to a 

 Fourth Part of the Bulk they do with it: Therefore 

 very few have feen any one Plant at its full Bignefs. 

 One Plant, well cultivated, has in the fame Ground 



(i) This was on rich deep Land in Oxford/hire ; and the other 

 St. Foin, which was fo poor, was on thin Slate Land near 

 Caafiam in Wi'.tjbire in the Bath Road. It is now about Forty 

 Years fince. 



M 2 made 



