880 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



Sect. III. Saintfoin. 'Hedysarum Onobrychis L. ; Diadelphia Decdndria L., and Le- 

 guminoscB J. Bourgngne, or Esparcetle, Fr. ; Esparzette, Gcr. ; Cedrangola, Ital. ; and 

 Esparsita, Span, {fig, 777.) 



5595. Saintfoin is a deep-rooting perennial with branching spreading stems, compound 

 leaves, and showy red flowers. It is a native of England 

 and many parts of Europe, but never found except on dry, 

 warm, chalky soils, where it is of great duration. It has 

 been long cultivated in France and other parts of the 

 Continent, and as an agricultural plant was introduced 

 from France to England about the middle of the se- 

 venteenth century. It has since been a good deal cul- 

 tivated in the chalky districts ; and its peculiar value is, 

 that it may be grown on soils unfit for being constantly 

 under tillage, and which would yield little under grass. 

 This is owing to the long and descending roots of the saint- 

 foin, which will penetrate and thrive in the fissures of rocky 

 and chalky understrata. Its herbage is said to be equally 

 suited for pasturage and for hay, and that eaten green it is 

 not apt to swell or hove cattle like the clovers or lucern. 

 Arthur Young says, that upon soils proper for this grass no 

 farmer can sow too much of it ; and in The Code of Agricul- 

 ture it is said to be " one of the most valuable herbage 



plants we owe to the bounty of Providence." 



5596. There are no varieties of the saintfoin in England, but many other species of 

 the same numerous family might be cultivated, such, for example, as the French honey- 

 suckle, a biennial that might be substituted for red clover on rich soils. The French 

 have a variety which they call Sainfoin a deux coupes, and they also cultivated the Sain- 

 foin d'Espagne or Sulla. 



5597. The best soil for this plant is that which is dry, deep, and calcareous ; but it will 

 grow on any soil that has a dry subsoil. Kent thinks that the soils most suited to the 

 culture of this sort of grass are of the chalky loam, and light sandy or gravelly kinds, 

 or almost any of those of a mixed quality, provided they are sufficiently dry, and have 

 a rocky or hard calcareous bottom to check the roots at the depth of a foot or fifteen 

 inches below the surface, which he conceives necessary, as the plants are apt to exhaust 

 themselves in running down ; and for this reason he considers it improper for being 

 sown where there is great depth of mould or soil. It is a plant that is asserted by 

 Marshal to afford a large produce even on those soils which are of the poorest quality, 

 and on such as are of a more rich and friable nature to frequently produce abundant 

 crops. Still, he conceives, that it is only in the calcareous soils, as the diy chalk and 

 limestone, or such as have been well impregnated with that sort of matter, that it suc- 

 ceeds in a perfect manner or becomes durable. The advantages resulting from growing 

 this plant on sandy soils in Norfolk have been already stated. (4744.) 



5598. The best preparation which any soil fit for this plant can undergo is, unquestionably, trenching ; 

 and we have little doubt that in most cases, all things considered, it would be found the cheapest. The 

 usual preparatory culture, however, is the same as for clover, ploughing more deeply than ordinary, either 

 by means of the trench plough, or, what is better because more simple, by the common plough going twice 

 in the same track. Boys {Communi'catwns to the Board of Agriculture, vol. iii.) recommends as a pre- 

 paration for saintfoin : 1st year, pare and burn for turnips, to be eaten on the land by sheep, with the aid 

 of some fodder; 2d, barley, to be sown very early with clover seed; 3d, clover eaten oflf' by sheep; 4th, 

 wheat ; 5th, turnips with manure ; and, 6th, barley with saintfoin. The corn crops must be carefully 

 weeded, and in particular cleared of charlock. Under this system, the produce has been great, and the 

 ground has been laid down in the highest order with saintfoin, or any other grass calculated for this species 

 of soil. 



5599. With respect to the season of sowing saintfoin, it may be observed, that the earlier 

 it can be put into the soil in the spring the better, as from the greater moisture of such 

 soils there will be a greater probability of its vegetating in a perfect manner. Where 

 the sowing is executed at a late period, and dry weather succeeds, Bannister thinks that 

 much of the seed is prevented from growing, and that the young plants are more ex- 

 posed to destruction from the fly ; therefore, according to this writer, the sowing of 

 saintfoin seed ought never to be deferred longer than the beginning of March, and it is 

 still better to complete this work in February. Some, however, suppose it may be de- 

 ferred to the middle of M&rc]j without injury, and this is soon enough if it is to be sown 

 with barley. 



6600. The manner of sowing is generally broad-cast ; but it maybe sown in drills and even transplanted, 

 though neither of these modes can be recommended. Some advise its being sown with about half the quan- 

 tity of barley usually sown for a full crop, which may shade and keep it moist during the first summer, and 

 at the same time not injure it from the crop being lighter, which is sometimes the case. Where the barley 

 is drilled, the saintfoin may afterwards be put in, in the same manner, but in a contrary direction. If 

 sown over the wheat, it should be harrowed in, and afterwards rolled. In whatever method it is sown, as 

 the seeds are larger than those of many other herbage plants, they should be covei-ed in with more care, 

 and to a somewhat greater depth. By some tlie ploughing of the seed in with a very thin or shallow 



