WINTER AND SUMMER VARIETIES. 169 



derably in their characters and habits of growth by 

 cultivation; at present they have distinctive characters 

 of some value to us, the one being hardy and of slower 

 growth, the other being more delicate, but of more rapid 

 growth. By sowing the summer variety in successive 

 years earlier in the season, it becomes more hardy, but 

 loses its rapidity of growth ; and by sowing the winter 

 variety repeatedly in the spring, it acquires a more 

 rapid power of growth, but at the same time loses the 

 hardy nature upon which its value to us as a variety 

 depends. Therefore it is of great importance in sowing 

 winter vetches, that ive secure for seed not only the 

 produce of the true winter variety, but also of that 

 variety sown in the autumn. In general appearance the 

 two varieties greatly resemble each other; the winter 

 variety, however, may be distinguished by being usually 

 of smaller growth, by its pods being more smooth and 

 cylindrical and containing a greater number of seeds than 

 the summer vetch, and by being in its general habit more 

 like the wild variety. 



Another variety of the F. sativa, called the Hopetoun 

 or White -flowered Vetch, was discovered some twenty 

 years back in Scotland, growing in an ordinary field crop 

 of vetches. It has since been cultivated to a considerable 

 extent, and has well-nigh displaced the common variety 

 altogether. The produce, both in seed and stem, is fully 

 double. The flowers are white, and the seed of a lightish 

 blue or green colour, and possess hardly any of the strong 

 taste peculiar to the seeds of ordinary vetch or tare. The 

 " white-seeded vetch" or " lentil of Canada" F. sativa alba 

 is sometimes cultivated for its seed produce chiefly, its 

 dwarf habit of growth rendering it very inferior to the 

 ordinary varieties, where forage purposes are alone con- 

 sidered. The seed produce is, however, much larger, and, 

 owing to their mild flavour, they are in some countries 

 VOL. II. 44 



