MED 
fize, but thofe on the upper part of the ftalks are 
trifoliate. The flowers are produced at the end of 
the ftalks ; they are fmall, yellow, and fhaped like 
thofe of the other forts, and are fucceeded by com- 
preffed moon-fhaped pods, which are acutely indented 
on their borders, and contain three or four kidney- 
fhaped feeds. This plant flowers and ripens its feeds 
about the fame time as the other. 
Thefe annual forts are preferved in the gardens of 
thofe who are curious in botany ; the feeds of thefe 
fhould be fown upon an open bed of frelh ground, in 
the places where the plants are to remain, becaufe 
they do not beartranfplanting well, unlefs when they 
are very young. As the plants fpread their branches on 
the ground, fo they fhould not be fown nearer than 
two feet and a half afunder ; when the plants come 
up, they will require no other care but to keep them 
clean from weeds. In June they will begin to flower, 
and as the ftalks and branches extend, there will be 
a fuccefiion of flowers produced till the autumn ; but 
the early flowers are fuch as will have good feeds fuc- 
ceed them; for thofe which come late in fummer, 
have not time to ripen before the cold weather 
comes on. 
The feventh fort grows naturally in the iflands of the 
Archipelago, in Sicily, and the warmeft parts of Italy. 
This rifes with a fhrubby ftalk to the height of eight 
or ten feet, covered with a gray bark, and divides into 
many branches, which, while young, are covered with 
a hoary down ; thefe are garnifhed at each joint with 
trifoliate leaves, handing upon foot-ftalks about an 
inch long •, there are two or three of thefe at each 
joint, fo that the branches are clofely covered with 
them ; the lobes are fmall, fpear-fhaped, and hoary 
on their under fide ; thefe remain all the year. The 
flowers are produced on foot-ftalks which arife from 
the fide of the branches, they are of a bright yel- 
low, each foot-ftalk fuftaining four or five flowers ; 
thefe are fucceeded by compreffed moon-fhaped pods, 
each containing three or four kidney-fhaped feeds. 
It flowers great part of the year, and when the win- 
ters are favourable all the year ; or when the plants 
are fheltered in winter, they are feldom deftitute of 
flowers ; but thofe in the open air begin to flower 
in April, and continue in fuccefiion till December, 
Thofe flowers which appear early in fummer will have 
their feeds ripe in Auguft, or the beginning of Sep- 
tember, and the others will ripen in fuccefiion till the 
cold flops them. 
This plant may be propagated by fowing the feeds 
upon a moderate hot-bed, or a warm border of light 
earth, in the beginning of April ; and when the plants 
come up, they fhould be carefully cleared from weeds ; 
but they fhould remain undifturbed, if fown in the 
common ground, till September following ; but if 
on a hot-bed, they fhould be tranfplanted about Mid- 
fummer into pots, placing them in the fhade until they 
have taken root ; after which they may be removed 
into a fituation where they may be fcreened from 
ftrong winds, in which they may abide till the latter 
end of Oftober, when they muft be put into a com- 
mon garden frame, to fhelter them from hard frofts ; 
for thofe plants which have been brought up tenderly, 
will be liable to fuffer by hard weather, efpecially 
while they are young. In April following thefe plants 
may be fhaken out of the pots, and placed in the full 
ground where they are defigned to remain, which 
fhould be in a light foil and a warm fituation, in which 
they will endure the cold of our ordinary winters ex- 
tremely well, and continue to produce flowers moft 
part of the year, and retaining their leaves all the 
winter renders them the more valuable. 
Thofe alfo which were fown in an open border mav 
be tranfplanted in Auguft following, in the fame man- 
ner ; but in doing of this you muft be careful to take 
them up with a ball of earth to their roots, if pofli- 
ble, as alfo to water and fhade them until they 
have taken root ; after which they will require little 
more care than to keep them clean from weeds, and 
to prune off the luxuriant branches to keep them with- 
MED 
in due cdmpafs ; but you fhould never prune them 
early in the fpring, nor late in autumn, for if froft 
fhould happen foon after they are pruned, it will de- 
ftroy the tender branches, and many times the whole 
plant is loft thereby. 
Thefe plants have been conftantly preferved in the 
green-houfe, fuppofing them too tender to live thro* 
the Winter in the open air ; but I have had large plants 
of this kind, which have remained in a warm fitua- 
tion many years without any cover, and have been 
much ftronger, and flowered better, than thofe which 
were houfed ; though, indeed, it will be proper to 
keep a plant or two in fhelter, left by a very fevere 
winter (which fometimes happens in England) the 
plants abroad fhould be deftroyed. 
They may alfo be propagated by cuttings, which 
fhould be planted in April, upon a bed of light earth, 
and watered and fhaded until they have taken root, af- 
ter which they may be expofed to the open air ; bift 
they fhould remain in the fame bed till July or Au- 
guft following, before they are tranfplanted, by which 
time they will have made ftrong roots, and may be 
removed with fafety to the places where they are to 
remain, obferving (as was before direfled) to wate£ 
and fhade them until they have taken root; after 
which you may train them up with ftrait Items, by 
fattening them to flicks, otherwife they are apt to 
grow crooked and irregular ; and when you have got 
their Items to the height you deflgn them, they may 
then be reduced to regular heads, and with pruning 
their irregular fhoots every year, they may be kept 
in very good order. 
This plant grows in great plenty in the kingdom of 
Naples, where the goats feed upon it, with whofe' 
milk the inhabitants make great quantities of cheefe ; 
it alfo grows in the iflands of the Archipelago, wherg 
the Turks ufe the wood of thefe fhrubs to make han« 
dies for their fabres, and theCaliogers of Patmos make 
their beds of this wood. 
This is, as hath been before obferved, by many peo- 
ple, fuppofedto be the Cytifus of Virgil, Columella, 
and the old writers in hufbandry, which they men- 
tion as an extraordinary plant, and worthy of culti- 
vation for fodder, from whence feveral perfons have 
recommended it as worthy of our care in England* 
But however ufeful this plant may be in Crete, Sicily, 
Naples, or thofe warmer countries, yet I am per- 
fuaded it will never thrive in England, fo as to be of 
any real advantage for that purpofe ; for in fevere 
froft it is very fubjedt to be deftroyed, or at leaft fo 
much damaged, as not to recover its former verdure 
before the middle or latter end of May ; and the 
fhoots which are produced will not bear cutting above 
once in a fummer, and then will not be of any confide- 
rable length •, and the ftems growing very woody, will 
render the cutting of it very troublefdme ; fo that, 
upon the whole, it can never anfwer the trouble and 
expence in cultivating it, nor is it worth the trial, 
fince we have fo many other plants preferable to it; 
though in hot, dry, rocky countries, where few other 
plants will thrive, this may be cultivated to great ad- 
vantage, fince in fuch fltuations this plant will live 
many years, and thrive very well. 
But however unfit this may be for fuch ufes In Eng- 
land, yet for the beauty of its hoary leaves, which 
will abide all the year, together with its long conti- 
nuance in flower, it deferves a place in evety good 
garden, where, being intermixed with fhrubs of fc the 
fame growth, it makes a very agreeable variety. 
As there are at prefent fo many perfons inquifitive to 
know which is the true Cytifus mentioned by the an- 
tients, I have taken the pains of franfcribing briefly) 
what they have faid as to its defcription, by which 
may be judged how uncertain it is to determine in an 
affair where there is fo little to be found in authors to 
affift us. 
Theophraflus fays, Cytifus is fuch an enemy to other 
plants, that it will kill them, by robbing them of 
nourifliment, and that the medulla of it is fo hard and 
thick, that it comes the neareft of any thing to Ebenum. 
" Tire 
