ON THE 



COMPOSITION OF THE YELLOW LUPINE, &c. 



THE yellow lupine (Lupinus luteus), a well-known ornamental 

 plant of our flower-gardens, is now extensively cultivated as a 

 field-crop in several parts of Germany, France, and Belgium ; 

 more especially it is largely seen in the sandy districts of 

 Northern Germany and Prussia, where it is considered a very 

 important crop to the farmer, inasmuch as it will thrive luxu- 

 riantly on poor, blowing sands, upon which no other leguminous 

 crop can be grown. 



A short account of the manner in which this new field-crop 

 is grown in Germany will be found in vol. xx. (1859) of the 

 R. A. S. Journal. It appears from this account, given by Baron 

 Herman von Nathusius, of Hundisburg, near Magdeburg, that 

 two distinct species of lupine, the yellow and the blue, are 

 grown in Prussia. The yellow lupine (Lupinm luteus), being 

 more succulent and covered with more and larger leaves than 

 the blue (ILupinus angustifolius, Linn.), is generally preferred 

 to the latter, especially if grown as green food, and not for seed. 



Lupines are grown in Germany principally for the sake of 

 the seeds, which, like those of all leguminous plants, constitute 

 a very nutritious food, and in their composition and nutritive 

 qualities, as far as these have been ascertained, do not differ much 

 from peas and lentils. 



Occasionally the yellow lupine is grown as a green manure. 

 It is considered very useful for that purpose. 



More rarely lupines are grown in Germany for the sake of 

 affording green food to sheep and cattle. For this latter pur- 

 pose I think, however, the yellow lupine is well adapted. If I 

 am not mistaken, the field-culture of lupines will, if at all prac- 

 ticable in this country, be found chiefly valuable as a source of 

 green nutritious food for sheep and cattle, on soils upon which 

 clover and the finer and more nutritious kinds of grasses either 

 refuse to grow altogether, or only furnish a scanty supply of 

 interior green food. 



The English agricultural community is indebted to Mr. 

 Thomas Crisp, of Butley Abbey, for the publication of Baron 

 Nathusius' account respecting the cultivation of lupines in 

 Germany. This gentleman, as far as I know, was the first who, 

 in 1858, successfully attempted their introduction as a field-crop 



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