870 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



.W1.3. The common Cos lettuce (Z,actuca sativa T..) has been grown for feeding pigs, and other purposes. 

 Arthur Young informs us, in his Calendar of Husbandry, that he first observed the sowing of lettuces 

 for hogs practised, on a pretty regular system, on the farm of a very intelligent cultivator (not at all a 

 whimsical man) in Sussex. He had every year an acre or two, which afforded a great quantity of very 

 valuable food for his sows and pigs. He adds, that it yields milk amply, and all sorts of swine are very 

 fond of it; and he thinks that the economical farmer who keeps many hogs should take care to have a 

 succession of crops for these animals, that his carts may not be lor ever on the road for purchased grains, 

 or his granary opened for corn oftener than is necessary. To raise this sort of en p, the land should have 

 been ploughed before the winter frosts, turning in by that earth twenty loads of rich dung per acre, and 

 making the ridges of the right breadth to suit the drill-machine and horse-hoes, so that in the month of 

 March nothing more may be necessary than to scarify the land, and to drill the seed at one foot equi- 

 distant, at the rate of four pounds of seed per acre. Where the stock of swine is large, it is proper to drill 

 half an acre or an acre of lettuce in April, the land having been well manured and ploughed as directed 

 above, being also scuffled in February and March, and well harrowed, repeating it before drilling : and at 

 this period, the crop which was drilled in March (a succession being essentially necessary) should be 

 thinned in the rows by hand, to about nine or ten inches asunder. If this necessary attention be neglected, 

 the plants, he says, draw themselves up weak and poor, and will not recover it. Women do this business 

 as well as men. When about six inches high, they should be horse-hoed with a scarifier or scuffler, having 

 the hoe about four inches, or at most five inches in width. With this sort of green food, some kind of 

 meal or other dry meat should be combined, as without it it is apt to prove very laxative, &c. This Sussex 

 cultivator is not likely to be followed by any rent-paying farmer who can grow any of the clovers, turnips, or 

 potatoes. The quotation affords a good specimen of Arthur Young's mode of writing on agricultural subjects. 



5514. Thechiccm-y, wild endive, or succory (Cichbrium /'ntybus L. ; Chicorte sauvage, Fr. fig. 769.) has 



long, thick, perpendicular roots, a tuft of endive or lettuce-looking 

 leaves ; and, when it shoots into flower, its stems rise from one to 

 three feet high, rigid, rough, branched, and clothed with leaves and 

 blue flowers. It is found wild in dry calcareous soils in England, and 

 in most parts of Europe of similar or greater temperature. It is culti- 

 vated in France as an herbage and pasturage plant, and in (Germany 

 and Flanders for its roots, from which a substitute for coffee is pre- 

 pared. It was first cultivated in this country, about 1780, by Arthur 

 Young, who holds it in very high estimation. It is of such conse- 

 quence, he says, for different purposes of the farm, that on various 

 sorts of soil the farmer cannot, without its use, make the greatest 

 possible profit. Where it is intended to lay a field to grass for three, 

 four, or six years, in order to rest the land, or to increase the quan- 

 tity of sheep food, there cannot, he thinks, be any hesitation in using 

 it. There is no plant to rival it. Lucern, he says, demands a rich 

 soil, and will always be kept as long as it is productive; but upon 

 inferior land it is not an equal object. Upon blowing sands, or upon 

 any soil that is weak and poor, and wants rest, there is no plant, he 

 supposes, that equals this. On such sort of blowing poor sandy lands 

 as many districts abound with, especially in Norfolk and Suftblk, it 

 will yield a greater quantity of sheep food than any other plant at pre- 

 sent in cultivation. On fen and bog lands, and peat soils, it also 

 thrives to much profit. On all land where clover, from having been 

 too often repeated, is apt to fail, chiccory may be substituted to great 

 advantage. It does very well for soiling cattle, both lean and fatten- 

 ing. It is of excellent use for those who keep a large stock of swine ; 

 and it docs exceedingly well in an alternate system of grass and 

 tillage, as it will last four, five, six, and even more years ; but it should 

 not be sown with any view of making hay in this climate, though it forms a considerable proportion of 

 many of the best meadows in the south of France, and in Lombardy. It has, however, he adds, been 

 objected to, on the ground of its rising and becoming a vivacious weed in succeeding crops : and if this 

 circumstance be not guarded against, it will, he says, happen ; but not more than with lucern, nor so 

 much. But who, he asks, ventures to forbid chiccory culture on account of this quality, which is really 

 (bunded on its merit ? When the land is ploughed, says he, only use a broad sharp share, and harrow in 

 tares for feeding or soiling, or break it up for turnips, and there is an end of the objection. 



5515. The culture of chiccory is the same as of clover. As the plant is grown in gardens for culinary 

 purposes, the seed may be procured in the seed-shops, gathered in many places from wild plants, or saved 

 by the grower. It is small, flat, black, and resembling that of lettuce ; it should be procured fresh ; and 

 from eight to twelve pounds an acre are usually sown. The culture of this plant for its roots has been 

 noticed in giving the outline of the agriculture of Flanders, and will be adverted to in a succeeding Chapter. 



5516. The rough comfrey, (Symphytum asperrimum L. fig. 770.), a perennial from Siberia, has been 

 brought into notice by D. 

 ' -^ Granr, a nurseryman at 



Lewisham, and tried by a 



number of cultivators. Cat- 

 tle of every kind are said to 



be fond of this plant ; and so 



great is its produce on good 



soil, that Mr. Grant thinks an 



acre might be made to pro- 

 duce thirty tons of green 



fodder in one year. He has 



grown it to the height of 



seven feet as thick as it could 



stand on the ground. The 



plant is of easy propagation 



by seed or division of the 



roots ; the better way would 



probably be to sow in a gar- 



den, and transplant when the 



plants were a year old. All 



the symphytums are plants of 

 great durability, so that this species, if once established, would pro- 

 bably continue to produce crops for many years; and, in that point of 

 view, it would seem to be a valuable plant for the cottager who keeps 

 a cow. {Gard. Mag. vol. v. and Country Times, May 10th, 1830.) 



5517. The day lily (//emerocillis fulva L., fig. 771.) was brought into 

 notice by Mr. Elles, late of Longleat. In the years 1826-7, he observed, accidentally, how extremely fond 

 cattle were of this plant, even eating it down to the roots when an opportunity occurred ; and as he knew, 

 from long experience, that it would, even in dry ground, produce herbage in the middle and latter end of 



