158 THE SAINFOIN CROP. 



vigorous growth, and the weeds, if the field was properly 

 cleaned at the commencement, will not increase to any 

 practically detrimental extent. On the Continent experi- 

 ments have been tried with several saline manures applied 

 as top-dressings to the sainfoin crop 1 crude sulphate of 

 lime (gypsum), sulphate of soda, and carbonate of potash, 

 being those giving the best results. Gypsum may in all 

 cases be advantageously applied, as even on the soils of 

 calcareous formations, the addition of the sulphur of the 

 gypsum is always beneficial to plants of this order. 



When sown down with a straw crop, it is desirable that 

 this latter be drilled thinner and at wider intervals than 

 is the usual practice. The drills should not be less than 1 2 

 inches apart, and from 4 to 6 pecks of seed will be quite suffi- 

 cient to insure a strong plant in the ground. From 3 to 5 

 bushels of rougli sainfoin seed are usually allowed to the 

 acre, and are sown by the ordinary drill, in rows from 

 9 to 1 2 inches apart, across the line of the straw crop drills. 

 Attention should always be paid to the quality of the seed 

 used, as, owing to the roughness of its natural covering, it 

 is very difficult to clean it of the various seeds which are 

 to a greater or lesser extent always mixed with it. Various 

 contrivances have been resorted to for the purpose, con- 

 sisting chiefly of sieves and brushes arranged for effecting 

 their separation. In some cases the seeds are decorticated 

 or " milled/' as it is termed, by being passed slowly through 

 a pair of millstones, set wide, so as not to injure them. 

 The winnowing machine then readily separates the husks 

 and small seeds, and leaves the milled seed quite clean. It 

 is generally considered that "milled" seed germinates 

 quicker than the rough, but is not so safe to secure a plant. 

 When it is used, the quantity sown is much smaller 

 than that first given, about ^ cwt. 2 being found in most 



1 In the Agri. Gaz., 1851, p. 59, details are given of a series by M. Isidore 

 Pierre. 2 Equal to about 2 to 3 bushels in the rough state. 



