M E D 
clay, of any for this plant ; in both which the roots 
will rot in winter, and in a year or two the whole crop 
will be deftroyed. 
But the foil in which this plant is found to fucceed 
belt in this country is, a fight, dry, ioole, fandy land, 
which fhould be well ploughed and d relied, and the 
roots of all noxious weeds, fuch as Couch Grafs, &c. 
deftroyed, otherwife they will overgrow the plants 
while young, and prevent their progrefs. 
The beft time to low the feed is about the middle of 
April, when the weather is fettled and fair; for if 
you fow it when the ground is very wet, or in a rainy 
feafon, the feeds will burft and come to little (as 
is often the cafe with feveral forts of the leguminous 
plants -,) therefore you fhould always obferve to fow 
it in a dry feafon, and if there happens rain in about 
a week or ten days after it is fown, the plants will foon 
appear above ground. i 
But the method I would direct for the fowing thefe 
feeds is as follows : after having well ploughed and 
harrowed the land very fine, you mould make a drill 
quite acron the ground, about h i; an inch deep, into 
which the feeds mould be fcattered very thin by a 
hopper fixed to a drill plough ; then cover them over 
half an inch’ thick, with t. ,e earth that came out of 
the drill ; then proceed to make another drill about 
two feet and a half from the former, lowing- the feeds 
therein in the fame manner as before, and ib proceed 
through the whdle fpot of ground, allowing the fame 
diftance between row and row, and fcatter the feeds 
very thin in the t rills. In this manner, an acre of 
land will require about fix pounds of feeds ; for when 
it is ibwn thicker, if the feed grows well, the plants 
will be fo dole as to fpoil each other in a year or 
two, the heads of them growing to a confiderable fize, 
as will alfo the roots, provided they have room. I 
have meafured the crown of one root, which v/as in 
my pofieffion, eighteen inches diameter ; from which 
I cut near four hundred fhoots at one time, which is 
an extraordinary increafe, and this upon a poor, dry, 
gravelly foil,, which had not been dunged for many 
years, but the root was at leaft fourteen years old •, fo 
that if this crop be well cultivated, it will continue many 
years, and be equally good as when it was firft fown ; 
for the roots generally run down very deep in the 
ground, provided the foil be dry •, and although they 
Ihould meet a hard gravel a foot below the liirface, 
yet their roots would penetrate it, and make their 
way downward, as I have experienced, having taken 
up fome of them which were above four feet in length, 
and had run above two feet into a rock of gravel, 
which v/as lb hard as not to be loofened without 
mattocks and crows of iron, and that with much dif- 
ficulty. 
The reafon for directing this feed to be fown in rows 
is, that the plants may have room to grow ; and for 
the better ftirring the ground between them, to de- 
ftroy the weeds, and encourage the growth of the 
plants, which may be very eafiiy effe&ed with a Dutch 
hoe, juft after the cutting the crop each time, which 
will caufe the plants to fhoot again in a very little time, 
and be much ftronger than in fuch places where the 
ground cannot be ftirred ; but when the plants firft 
come up, the ground between them fhould be hoed 
by hanci with a common hoe ; and if in doing of this 
you cut up the plants where they are too cloie in the 
rows, it will caufe the remaining to be much ftronger. 
i his hoeing fhould be repeated two or three times 
while the plants are young, according as the weeds 
are produced, observing always to do it in dry wea- 
ther, that the weeds may the better be deftroyed ; for 
if it be done in moift weather, they will take root 
and grow again. 
t i-s O 
With this management, the plants will grow to the 
height of two feet, or more, by the beginning of Au- 
gust, wnen tne flowers will begin to appear, when it 
fhould be cut for the firft time, obferving to do it 
in a dry feafon, efpecially if it is to be made into hay, 
and keep it often turned, that it may foon dry, and 
be -Gained oft the ground ; for if it lie long upon the 
roots, it will prevent their ftiooting again. After the 
MED 
crop is taken off, you fhould ftir the ground be- 
tween the rows with a hoe, to kill the weeds, and 
loofen the furface, which will caufe the plants to 
fhoot again in a fhort time, fo that by the middle of 
September there will be fhoots four or five inches 
high, when you may turn in fheep upon it to feed it 
down, for it will not be fit to cut again the fame fea- 
ion ; ncr fhould the fhoots be buffered to remain up- 
on the plants, which would decay when the frofty 
weather comes on, and fall down upon the roots, and 
prevent their ftiooting early the fuceeeding fpring ; 
but thefe fheep fhould not remain fo long upon' it as 
to endanger the crowns of the roots. 
So that the beft way is to feed it until November, 
when it will have done ftiooting for that feafon; but 
it fhould not be fed by large cattle the firft year, oe~ 
caufe the roots being young, would be in danger of 
being deftroyed, either by their trampling upon them, 
or their pulling them out of the ground ; but iheep 
will be of fervice to the roots by dunging the ground, 
provided they do not eat it too clofe. 
The beginning of February, the ground between. the 
roots fhou-ld be again ftirred with the hoe, to encou- 
rage them to fhoot again ; but in doing of this you 
fhould be careful not to injure the crown of the roots, 
upon which the buds are at that time very turgid, 
and ready to pufh. Yfith this management, if the foil 
be warm, by the middle of March the fhoots will be 
live or fix inches high, when, if you are in want of 
fodder, you may feed it down till a week in April ; 
after which it fhould be buffered to grow for a crop, 
which will be fit to cut the beginning of June, when, 
you fhould obferve to get it off the ground as foon 
as pcfiible, and ftir the ground again with a Dutch 
hoe, which will forward the plants ftiooting again, 
fo that by the middle of July, there will be another 
crop fit to cut, which muft be managed as before : 
after which it fhould be fed down again in autumn ; 
and as the roots by this time will have taken deep 
hold in the ground, there will be little danger of 
hurting them, if you fhould turn in larger cattle ; but 
you muft always obferve not to buffer them to remain 
after the roots have done ftiooting, left they fhould 
eat down the crown of the roots below the buds, 
which would confideraby damage, if not deftroy them. 
In this manner you may continue conftantly to have 
two crops to cut, and two feedings upon this plant, 
and in good bummers there may be three crops cut, 
and two feedings ; which will be a great improve- 
ment, efpecially as this plant will grow upon dry 
barren foils, where Grafs will produce little, efpe- 
cially in dry feafons, when it will be of great ufe, the 
Grafs being often burnt up. And as it is an early 
plant in the fpring, fo it will be of great fervice when 
fodder falls fhort at that feafon, when it will be fit to 
feed at leaft a month before Grafs or Clover ; for I 
have had this plant eight inches high by the tenth of 
March, old ftyle, at which time the Grafs in the fame 
place has fcarcely been one inch high. 
That the cold will not injure this plant, I am fully 
fatisfied ; for in the very cold winter, anno 1729-20, 
I had fome roots of this plant which v/ere dug up in 
Ohtcber, and laid upon the ground in the open air till 
the beginning of March, when I planted them again, 
and they fhot out very vigorously foon after ; nay, 
even while they lay upon , the ground, they ftruck 
out fibres from the under fide of the roots, and be- 
gun to make fhoots from the crown of the roots. But 
that wet. will deftroy the roots I am fully convinced, 
for I fowed above an acre upon a moift fpot of 
ground for a trial, v/hich came up very well, and 
flourifhed exceedingly during the fumrner feafon, but 
in winter, when the great rains fell, the roots began 
to rot at bottom, and before the fpring moft oft them 
were deftroyed. There has been lately fome perfons 
who- have advifed the lowing of Lucern in broad-caft, 
and to make uie of a ftrong harrow, to tear up and 
deftroy the weeds which naturally grow up among 
the plants ; but this advice has been given too pre- 
maturely, therefore it is to be hoped will not he fbl- 
lowed by any difcreet perfons, who are defired to take 
8 R a furvey 
