294 



seeds ground with it, spoil the flour, by communicating the peculiarly strong taste of the plant- 

 notwithstanding this, horses are said to be extremely fond of it. Some Italian writers call it 

 Trifolium caballium. In medicine it was esteemed emollient and digestive, and was used " 



being 



cannot be 



fomentations and cataplasms, particularly in blister plasters; but it is now laid aside 

 more acrid and irritating than emollient. 



From the above details it is very much inferior to the Long-rooted Clover and 

 put to any use, for which that species is not equally good or superior: it grows chieflv ' 

 clayey soils. In very exposed situations, it attains only to a small size; while in such as 

 much sheltered, I have found it exceeding six. feet in height. 



It ripens an abundance of seed. Flowers in the third or last week of June. 



Vicia cracca. Tufted Vetch. 



i 



H 



Specific character: Peduncles many-flowered; flowers imbicate; leafets lanceolate pubescent* 

 stipules half arrow-shaped, mostly entire. 



Obs, — Root creeping, perennial. Stems quadrangular, weak, striated, attaining a great 

 height when growing in hedges. Branches alternate from the axils of the upper leaves. 

 Leaves alternate, consisting of from eight to twelve pair of leafets, and terminated by a 

 long branched and curling tendril. Leafets oftener alternate than opposite, more or less 

 hoary on both sides, with silky hairs, commonly rounded at the end, and terminated hy a 

 short point. Flowers of a purple or violet blueish colour. Legume half an inch lono-; 

 containing four or five globular seeds, the size of a lentil. Fl. Rust. t. 117; Fl. Dan. 

 t. 804; Wither, ii. 363; Engl. Bot. t. 1168. 



Experiments, — At the time of flowering, the produce from a clayey loam in an exposed situa- 

 tion, is, 



dr. 



30 



Herbage, l6 oz. The produce per acre 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 



The produce of the space, ditto 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 



The produce of the space, ditto . - - 



qr, 



oz. 



lbs. 



174240 



10890 



65340 



4083 12 



6806 4 



2 

 8 



5445 



340 5 



This species of vetch is chiefly confined to woods and hedges, in its natural state : I have 

 found it, in two instances, among the herhage of irrigated meadows. When growing among 

 hushes, a space of ground, equal to that ahove mentioned, afforded 48 oz. of herbage, or three 

 times the weight of that cultivated in an open situation. Dr. Plot, in his History of Stafford- 

 shire, says, that this and the Vicia syhatica, advance starved or weak cattle above any thing 

 yet known; and Dr. Anderson, in his Essays, speaks highly of this plant. It is inferior to 

 common tares (Vicia syhatica), in the quantity of nutritive matter it affords, but contains much 

 less superfluous moisture. This must give it a superiority, in regard to nutrient properties, over 

 Tares, which contain an excess. But it has a strong creeping root, that will always prevent its 

 admission to arable lands. It might be best cultivated on tenacious soils, and used after the 



