Book VI. VARIOUS LEGUMES. 843 



though the sheep are confined in hurdles, must be great ; and still greater when consumed 

 by horses or cattle. 



5273. Tare crops are sometimes made into hay, in which case more attention is found 

 necessary than in those of most of the artificial grasses, as wet is more injurious to them, 

 and they require more sun and air ; but in other respects they demand the same cautious 

 management, in order to preserve the foliage from being lost. The time for cutting for 

 this purpose is, according to the author of The Synopsis of Husbandry, when the blossoms 

 have declined and they begin to fall and lie flat. When well made, the hay is of the best 

 and most nutritious quality. 



5274. The produce of tares cut green is, according to Middleton, ten or twelve tons per 

 acre, which is a large crop ; and when made into hay about three tons per acre, which 

 shows the disadvantage of making these crops into hay. It is found that the spring tare- 

 crops are lighter, and most liable to be injured by a dry season. 



5275. The produce in seed is likewise found to be considerable, being by some stated 

 at from three to six sacks ; but in other instances forty bushels, or more, have been 

 obtained from the acre. 



5276. In the application of tares they are found to be a hearty and most nourishing food 

 for all sorts of cattle. 



5277. Cows give more butter when fed with this plant than with any other food whatsoever. Horses 

 thrive better upon tares than they do upon clover and rye-grass ; and the same remark is appHcable to the 

 fattening of cattle, which feed faster upon this article ol green fodder than upon any kind of grass or 

 esculent with which we are acquainted. Danger often arises from their eating too much, especially when 

 podded ; as colics, and other stomach disorders, are apt to be produced by the excessive loads which they 

 devour. Perhaps a great quantity of fixed air is contained in this vegetable; and as heavy crops are rarely 

 dry at the root when cut, it is not to be wondered that accidents often happen, when the animal is indulged 

 with the unrestrained consumption of them. Were oat straw mixed with the tares in the racks or stalls 

 in which they are deposited, it is probable that fewer accidents would follow, though this assistant is only 

 required when the tares are wet, foul, or over succulent. If the plants are cut green, and given to live 

 stock, either on the field or in the fold-yards, there is, perhaps, no green crop of greater value, nor any 

 better calculated to give a succession of herbage from May to November. The winter-sown tare, in a 

 favourable climate, is ready for cutting before clover. The first spring-crop comes in after the clover must 

 be all consumed or made into hay ; and the successive spring sowings give a produce more nourishing for 

 the larger animals than the aftermath of clover, and may afford green food at least a month longer. In 

 the county of Sussex, Young observes, " tare crops are of such use and importance that not one tenth of 

 the stock could be maintained without them ; horses, cows, sheep, hogs, all feed upon them ; hogs are 

 soiled upon them wilnout any other food. This plant maintains more stock than any other plant whatso- 

 ever. Upon one acre Davis maintained four horses in much better condition than upon five acres of 

 grass. Upon eight acres he has kept twelve horses and five cows for three months without any other 

 food ; no artificial food whatever is equal to this excellent plant." This statement must be coupled with 

 the usual produce of turnips in Sussex, 10 or 15 tons per acre : hence the supposed superiority of tares to 

 every other green crop. Tares cut green, Professor Thaer observes, draw no nourishment from the soil 

 whatever ; while made into hay, they afford a fodder preferred by cattle to pea straw, and more nutritive 

 than hay or any other herbage. 



5278. The use of the grain of tares is generally for reproduction ; but they are also given to pigeons, by 

 which they are highly relished, and it is thought they would form a very good food for poultry. In 

 Germany they are given to horses, cows, sheep, and swine. 



5279. The diseases of tares are so few as to be of no consequence. A crop is some- 

 times, but rarely, lost by mildew. 



Sect. IV. Various Legumes which might be cultivated in British Farming. 



5280. The lentil, kidneybean, and chick pea are grown both in France and Germany, 

 as field plants, for their seeds, which are used as food. They are by no means likely 

 to become articles of general culture in Britain ; but it is worth while to know that they 

 may be cultivated here instead of being imported, and also that they form very excellent 

 articles of human subsistence. 



5281. The lentil is the J^'rvum Z^ns L. ; Lentillon, Fr. ; Lentxen, Ger. ; and Leniiccia, Ital. (fig. 743.) 

 :>^^ isas;-._ o,r ^. 7Aa ^ ,^ It is a legume of the greatest antiquity, being in esteem in Esau's 



time, and much prized in Eastern countries ever since. In Egypt 

 and Syria, they are parched in a frying-pan and sold in the shops, and 

 considered by the natives as the best food for those who undertake 

 long journeys. The lentil is considered a native of France, but has 

 been known in England from the earliest agricultural records. In 

 Gerarde's time they were sown like tares, their haulm given to 

 cattle, and the seed to pigeons, and used in meagre soups. 



5282. There are three varieties of lentils cultivated in France and 

 Germany : the small brown, which is the lightest-flavoured, and the 

 best for haricots ar.d soups ; tlie yellowish, which is a little larger, 

 and the next beist; and the lentil of Provence, which is almost as 

 large as a pea, with luxuriant straw, and more fit to be cultivated as 

 a tare than as food for man. The French have also a winter lentil, 

 Lentillon d'hiver ; and they cultivate the 'rvum J^rvilia, Lentille 

 Erse ou Ervillier, and the E. mon&nthos, Len a une fieur, Jarosse 

 d'Auvergne. The Spanish lentil, Gesse cultivee, Lentille d'Espagne, 

 Fr. , Lenteja, Span., is the Lathyrus sativus. {fig. 741) It is some- 

 times grown in gardens in this country, and occasionally in the fields 

 in France. The lentil of Canada, Lentille du Canada, Fr., is the 



Ficia pisiformis Lin. {fig. 745.) Ffcia JSrvflia Willd., 'rvum tetraspt^rmum Lin., and E. hirsutum im., 



are also cultivated in some places as lentils ; and indeed the seeds of all the tribe Tfciffi {Encyclopcedia of 



Plants, p. 1066.) may be eaten by man. 

 5283 . A dry, ivarni, sandy soil is requisite for the lentil ; it is sown rather later than the pea, at the rate 



of a bushel or a bushel and a half to the acre ; in other respects its culture and harvesting are the same. 



