58 



On the Giant Sainfoin. 



which have caused me, step by step, to arrive at my present con- 

 clusions thereupon. 



For upwards of twenty years I had invariably adopted the 

 practice generally had recourse to in the neighbourhood, of sow- 

 ing the seed with a crop of barley or oats, sown after turnips, 

 where the land had been previously well cleaned and cultivated as 

 a preparation for the crop, and sowing not more than half, or at 

 most two-thirds, of the quantity of corn, lest it should grow too 

 large and endanger the plant of Sainfoin, which would of course 

 prove a greater loss than a partial defection of the corn crop, as it 

 would extend itself over the number of years the Sainfoin re- 

 mained in plant. But even with this precaution, I have known, 

 in seasons of great drought, that the plant has been so far de- 

 stroyed as to render it unfit for the purpose for which it was 

 sown. To obtain a greater certainty in procuring a plant without 

 any loss in the preceding crop, is what 1 have been aiming at for 

 the last ten years ; with what success I shall proceed to detail. 



From experience I have proved that land, to ensure success in 

 planting this crop, should possess a friable surface, and solidity in 

 the soil immediately below the surface : without the former you 

 cannot obtain a plant ; and without the latter, although a plant 

 may be obtained, in a season of excessive drought it cannot be 

 retained. It is essential for the reception of the first roots ; for 

 however fine the mould may be at the surface, if there be no 

 solidity, the drought, if long continued, will destroy the plant; 

 but with both these pre requisites I have never yet known a 

 failure. The question then naturally presents itself, Is this pre- 

 paration generally found in the ordinary course of cultivation 

 upon a farm ? If not, you must either abandon the cultivation, 

 or undertake it upon a risk ; for I hold it would be altogether 

 unadvisable to cultivate expressly to meet the requirements of a 

 plant which is only intended as an auxiliary to a profitable system. 

 There will, however, be no difficulty as to this ; for upon land in 

 a perfectly clean state, sown with wheat the preceding autumn, 

 whatever may have been its previous course of cropping — except 

 it be a clover layer, which I should not recommend — you will in 

 the spring find all that is necessary to ensure success in obtaining 

 a plant. I have seen most excellent crops of Sainfoin produced 

 in this way : in some cases by drilling the seed between the rows 

 of wheat, in others across them ; and also in a crop of wheat sown 

 broadcast. I should, however, in either case, recommend that 

 the seed should be deposited with a drill, by which means it is 

 better covered at one uniform depth, and a considerable saving of 

 seed is effected : from two and a half to three bushels of seed per 

 acre being amply sufficient, when sown in this way, upon land as 



