938 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK x. 



While it lasts it will aid in storing up fertility. Lucerne is mostly 

 utilised in green soiling, and is but rarely made into hay. 



SAINFOIN (Onobrychis sativa, L.) grows luxuriantly on dry chalky 

 soils, where it flowers in June and July ; but its produce is inferior 

 in quality to that of lucerne. It will flourish on light sandy soils, and 

 on almost all soils of a mixed character, provided there is a calcareous 

 bottom. 



Sainfoin requires a clean soil. The seeds should be fresh, and sown 

 towards the close of February, or early in March. The quantity 

 varies from 4 to 5 bushels per acre, broadcast, according to the nature 

 of the land, although 4 bushels are, in general, fully sufficient. In the 

 drill culture, 3 bushels are enough. When the seed is "milled," that 

 is, freed of its husk or pod, it is only necessary to drill half a bushel 

 per acre. Sainfoin may be sown with barley ; and as it does not attain 

 its full growth until the second year, it is often mixed with trefoil, or 

 yellow clover, in order both to increase the first crop and to check the 

 growth of weeds until the sainfoin has taken deep root. 



During the first year no cattle should be allowed to graze on it, as 

 their feet will injure it ; nor should it be fed down by sheep in the 

 succeeding summer, as they are apt to bite out the tops of the roots, 

 and thus to destroy the heart of the plant, the growth of which would 

 be immediately checked. In the following summer, however, a crop of 

 hay may be taken, and the aftermath fed down with stock of anj r 

 description. The period during which it is allowed to remain depends 

 upon the quality and condition of the soil, and the care taken to keep 

 it clean and to manure it ; though upon the latter point, it may be 

 observed that, except as mere top-dressing, manure has less effect upon 

 sainfoin than upon any other " grass," in consequence of the roots 

 seeking their nourishment at a depth to which it cannot reach. It 

 should not be sown on the same land more than once in twenty years. 

 It, at one time, could be relied upon to stand for seven or more years, 

 but on land where it has been grown with frequency it cannot be 

 depended upon for more than five years, and often becomes unprofit- 

 able after the third. Valuers in Hants and Wilts allow for three 

 years. 



TAKES or VETCHES (Vicia). There are two varieties of the common 

 tare (V. sativa, L.), called spring vetches and winter vetches. The 

 spring tare is usually sown in March, April, or early May, with or 

 without a small quantity of oats or barlej^; and the winter tare in 

 September (the earlier the better), in the proportion of from five to eight 

 pecks of seed per acre, and commonly intermixed with a bushel of rye. 

 The winter tares are often sown after one ploughing only. A second 

 ploughing, so as thoroughly to prepare and mellow the ground, would 

 be advisable, but this would entail loss ot time which must be avoided 

 if possible, as an early start is most important. For the spring tares, 

 the land should be ploughed once before winter, and again cross- 

 ploughed in the spring, and after they are sown, the land should be 



