882 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



or tenth on calcareous soils, and about the seventh and eighth on gravels. There are 

 instances, however, of fields of saintfoin, which had been neglected and left to run into 

 pasture, in which plants have been found upwards of fifty years from the time of sowing. 

 It has been cultivated upwards of a century on the Cotswold Hills, and there roots of it 

 have been traced down into* stone quarries from ten to twenty feet in length, and in Ger- 

 many Von Thaer found them attain the length of sixteen feet. In general the great 

 enemy to the endurance of saintfoin is the grass, which accumulates and forms a close 

 turf on the surface, and thus chokes up the plant. 



5610. The quantity of produce in the state of hay, on a medium of soils and cultivation, 

 may probably be estimated at from about one and a half to two tons the acre ; and on the 

 poorer and thinner staple sorts of land it will, perhaps, seldom afford less than from a ton 

 to a ton and a half on the acre. 



5611. The nutritive products of saintfoin are the same as clover; viz. 3j|, being l^^oper 

 cent more than those of lucern. 



5612. In savijig seed from saintfoin, it should remain on the land till the husks become 

 of a somewhat brownish colour, and the seeds are perfectly plump and firm ; as by these 

 means they will not only be better in their quality, but be in less danger of being injured 

 in the field, from the very short time that it will be necessary for them to remain, and also 

 less in danger of being hurt by heating when laid up for future use. It has been stated, 

 that it requires some experience to know of what degree of ripeness it is best to cut the 

 seeded saintfoin, because all its seeds do not ripen at the same time. Some ears 

 blossom before others ; and every ear begins to blossom at its lower part, and continues 

 to blow gradually upwai'ds for many days ; so that before the flower is gone off at the 

 top, the seeds are almost mature at the bottom. From this cause, if the cutting be 

 deferred till the top-seeds are quite ripe, the lower, which are the best, would shed and 

 be lost. 



5613. The best time to cut it is when the greater part of the seed is well filled, the first blown ripe, and 

 the last blown beginning to be full. The unripe seeds will ripen after cutting, and be in all respects as 

 good as those that were ripe before. Some, for want of observing this, have suffered their saintfoin seed to 

 stand till all of it has shed, and been lost in cutting. Saintfoin should never be cut in the heat of the day, 

 while the sun shines out; for then much, even of the unripe seed, will shed in mowing. The right time 

 for this work is the morning or evening, when the dew has rendered the plants supple. When the weather 

 is fine and clear, the saintfoin will soon dry sufficiently in the swaths, without turning them ; but if any 

 rain has fallen, and there is a necessity for turning them, it should be done very gently while they are 

 moist, and not with two swaths together, as in hay made of saintfoin before it has seeded. If the swaths 

 are turned with the handle of the rake, it is best to raise up the ear-sides first, and let the stub-side rest 

 on the ground in turning; but if it is done with the teeth of the rake, let the stub-side be lifted up, and 

 the ears rested on the earth. If it be cocked at all, the sooner it is done the better ; because, if the swaths 

 are dry, much of the seed will be lost in separating them, the ears being entangled together. When moist, 

 the seeds stick fast in the ear ; but when dry, they drop out with the least touch or shaking. It is, however, 

 the best practice, as soon as the proper degree of maturity has been attained by the crop, to mow it in as 

 short a time as possible, and let it remain exposed in the swath until the upper surface is fully dried, when 

 it must be wholly turned over, but in a very careful manner, so as to prevent the seeds from shedding and 

 being lost. When this side has been rendered perfectly dry and crisp in the same way as the other, the 

 crop should either be threshed out upon cloths in the field where it is grown, or laid up in stacks to be 

 afterwards threshed when the farmer has more leisure and convenience for the work. 



5614. The work of threshing out the seeds in this kind of crop is much less troublesome 

 and expensive than in the clover kind. In cases where threshing-machines are in use, 

 the business may be executed by them with great ease and facility. It has, however, 

 been observed by a late writer, that " when the season is favourable, the practice of 

 threshing it out in the field is probably the most beneficial, as the stems or haulm may 

 be laid up for the purpose of fodder in the stack." 



5615. As the threshing in the field cannot be done but in very fine weather, and while the sun shines in 

 the middle of the day, the best manner of performing it is to have a large sheet pegged down to the 

 ground, for two men to thresh on with their flails, while two others bring them fresh supplies in a smaller 

 sheet, and two more clear away the hay that has been threshed. The seed is emptied out of the larger 

 sheet, and riddled through a large sieve, to separate it from the chaff and broken stalks ; after which it 

 is put into sacks, and carried into the barn to be winnowed. Care should be taken not to let the hay get 

 wet, as in that case it would be spoiled. It is a very important, but difficult matter, to keep the seed that 

 has been threshed in the field from becoming wet. If it be winnowed immediately, and laid in a heap 

 or put into a sack, it will ferment to such a degree in a few days that the greater part of it will lose its 

 vegetative quality. During that fermentation it will be very hot, and smell sour. Spreading it upon a 

 barn.floor, though but seven or eight inches thick, will answer no end, unless it be frequently and regu- 

 larly turned until the heating is over : but even this will not make its colour keep so bright as if it were 

 well housed, well dried, and threshed in the winter. Laid up unthreshed it will keep without any danger 

 of spoiling, because it does not lie close enough to heat. The best way to preserve the seed threshed 

 in the field is to place a layer of straw upon a barn.floor, and upon that a thin layer of seed ; then 

 another layer of straw, and another layer of seed ; and so on. By this means the seed, mixing with the 

 straw, will be kept well, and come out in the spring in as fresh colour as when it was put in. 



5616. In respect to the produce in seed, it is said to be usually " from about four to 

 five sacks in some districts, but in others it will probably be much less, especially on the 

 shallower sorts of saintfoin soils." But this must obviously be liable to great variation 

 from seasons, &c. 



5617. The diseases of saintfoin are few, there being little danger of failure after it has_ 

 escaped the fly, which attacks the clover tribe in germinating. 



