440 



remain two, three, or four years, during which time they 

 give liberty to cattle, but in particular sheep to go and 

 bait upon it, by which means the land also becomes 

 manured. They are obliged to proceed thus with it, 

 because here in Kent there is very little meadow-land 

 and pasture for sheep. When they do plough up such 

 land it is commonly sown the first year with Pease, but 

 sometimes with another crop, as is found necessary. 



For horses Sain Foin is an excellent food both in 

 summer and winter, but if it is given to cows, after it is 

 dry, they eat no more of it than the flowers that lie on 

 the top, nearly all the rest they reject and trample under 

 foot. It has been attempted to sow it, at some places in 

 Essex, from the seeds which they took from hence, Kent, 

 but it has not by any means nourished, but grew so 

 poorly that it has not been worth while to sow it again. 

 The soil is sand and gravel, at the places where it was tried. 



Clover. In this district also much clover is sown. 

 Spring is commonly the season when it is sown, but they 

 do not get to mow it before the next [T. II. p. 92] 

 summer after that. It is hardly ever sown more than 

 two summers in succession, and very often not more than 

 a single summer, after which they commonly leave it to 

 the next summer after it is mown before turning in the 

 sheep to feed upon it. As was said above, it is necessary 

 to cause them to be closely crowded on the pasture, 

 because the farmers then at the same time have the 

 advantage, that the fields are manured when the sheep 

 go in to pasture there. The cows eat the clover greedily, 

 both fresh and dry, stalk and all. 



Vicia Sativa. Similarly, in many places hereabout 

 they sow tares or Vicia Sat. as food for cattle. The 

 principal use to which it is put, is that they cut it up 

 green at this season of the year, and give it to horses at 

 home, who eat it very greedily. No more of it is left 



