CHAP. XLI. LEGUMINa'cE/E. GENISTA. 577 



course of the month of August ; and, after having been made up into little 

 bundles, are dried in the sun. These are afterwards beaten with a mallet, and 

 then steeped in water for three or four hours ; after this they are steeped in a 

 ditch, among water and mud, for eight or nine days, and then taken out and 

 washed, which operation has the effect of separating the parenchyma from 

 the fibres. The bundles are then opened, and thinly spread out to dry, 

 after which they are combed in the manner of flax; and the better part is 

 laid aside for being spun, and woven into sheets, table linen, or shirts ; the 

 remaining part being used for sacking, or for stuffing mattresses. In various 

 parts of France, Italy, and Spain, where neither hemp nor flax is grown, 

 owing to the poverty of the soil, tfpartiunijHinceum is found an excellent 

 substitute. In Italy, about Mount Cassiano, advantage is taken of a hot 

 spring, by alternately immersing the shoots in it, and drying them in the sun, 

 instead of the more tedious process of immersing them in cold water : when 

 thus treated, the parenchyma is rendered fit for separation, and the fibres for 

 combing, in three or four days. This process is said by Rosier to be also 

 performed with the C r ytisus scoparius ; though, according to Desfontaines, this 

 is doubtful. In Languedoc, sheep and goats are fed with the branches of 

 Spartium/unceum during winter, not because it is an excellent fodder, but 

 because there is a general deficiency of forage at that season. Both in Spain 

 and France, the shoots are used for forming baskets, and for tying up vines and 

 other fruit trees. The bees are said to be very fond of the flowers ; and the 

 seeds are eaten with great avidity by poultry, partridges, &c. Medicinally, 

 the flowers and leaves, in infusion, act as an emetic, or, in a larger quantity, 

 as an aperient. In Britain, the plant is solely regarded as an ornamental 

 shrub, having the appearance of an evergreen, from its smooth dark-green 

 shoots, and fastigiate form, even in winter, when without leaves. To produce 

 a harmonious effect, some judgment is required in the quantity of plants of 

 this species which ought to be grouped together. Three or four plants of 

 .Spartium Junceum, placed among three or four plants of any broad-leaved 

 shrub, from the equal balance of opposite forms and characters, will not form 

 a harmonious whole ; while one plant of (Spartium, in a group of six or eight 

 broad-leaved plants (and more if the <Spartium be not large), will be effective, by 

 the contrast which it exhibits to the others; in the same manner as a single 

 Lombardy poplar sometimes produces a good effect in a mass of round- 

 headed trees. In planting <Spartium Junceum along with Cytisus scoparius 

 and other plants of the same general character and habit, less attention in 

 regard to proportion is requisite, as the assimilation is more natural. In 

 shrubberies, where the Spartium junceum is planted here and there at random, 

 though the plants form a beautiful objects, considered separately, yet they 

 often destroy the unity of expression of the scenery. 



Propagation and Culture. Seeds are produced in abundance, and they will 

 come up in any soil that is tolerably dry. In the nursery, they ought to be 

 transplanted every year, as they are apt to form long taproots and very few 

 fibres. Where the plants are wanted as shelter for game, or to be grown 

 as a substitute for flax or hemp, they may be treated in the same manner as 

 the seeds of U s \ex europae x a. (See p. 574.) 



Commercial Statistics. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, seedlings 

 5s. per 100; transplanted plants, 12s. per 100; the double-flowered variety, 

 1*. 6d. each : at Bollwyller, 50 cents. 



Genus VII. 



_ i i r~ 



u 



.nJ L&J L^j 



GENI'STA Lam. The Genista. Lin. St/st. Monadelphia Decandria. 



Identification. Lam. Diet., 2. p. 616. ; III, t.619. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 145. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 148. 

 Synom/mes. Genista, et Spartium, spec. Lin. ; Genet, Fr. ; Ginster, Ger. 



R R 2 



