SEC 
fix inches diftance, where they may (land till autumn, 
but muft be kept clean from weeds during that time •, 
then they may be transplanted into the borders of the 
flower-garden, where they are to remain. 
As thele plants are not of long duration, it will be 
proper to fow a fucceffion of feeds every other year at 
leaft, to fupply the places of thofe which decay. 
SEC ALE. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 513. tab. 294. Lin. 
Gen. Plant. 92. Rye ; in French, Segle. 
The Characters are, 
‘There are two flowers in each involucrum •, they have two 
leaves which are oppofite , narrow , erebl, and Jharp- 
pointed. The petals have two leaves •, the outer valve is 
rigid , bellied , acute-pointed , and comprejfed ; the lower 
border is hairy , ending in a long awn ; the inner is plain 
and fpear-Jhaped ; they have two oval eredi nedlariums , 
and three hair-like flamina hanging without the flower , 
terminated by oblong forked fummits , with a top-Jhaped 
germen fupporting two reflexed hairy ftyles , crowned by a 
Jingle fligrna. The germen afterward becomes an oblong 
ahnoft cylindrical feed , which ripens in the empalement. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond fe&ion of 
Linnaeus’s third clafs, which contains thofe plants 
whofe flowers have three flamina and two flyles. 
We have but one diftindt Species of this genus 
which is cultivated in England, though it is often 
fuppofed the two varieties are effentially different •, but 
from feveral years cultivating them on the fame land, 
I could find no real difference between them. Dr. 
Linnaeus titles this Secale glumarum ciliis fcabris. 
Llort. Upfal. 22. Rye with rough hairs to the awns. 
Secale hybernum vel majus. C. B. P. Winter or greater 
Rye. 
The farmers diflinguifh the two varieties by the titles 
of Winter and Spring Rye, but, when thefe are fown 
three or four years, at the fame feafon, and on the 
fame foil, it will be difficult to know them afunder ; 
but, where Rye is fown upon a warm land, it will 
ripen much earlier than on cold fliff ground, and by 
continuing it two or three years, it will be forwarded 
fo much, as to ripen a month earlier than the feeds 
which have long grown upon a flrong cold foil ; fo 
thofe who are obliged to fow Rye toward fpring, ge- 
nerally provide themfelves with this early leech 
There are fome kinds of Grafs which are now ranged 
under this generical title, but as thefe do not merit 
cultivation, I fhall not trouble the reader with the 
mention of them here. 
Rye is fo well known to every one who is the leaft 
acquainted with the different grains, as to need no 
description. 
The Winter Rye is what the generality of farmers 
propagate •, it is ufually fown in autumn at the fame 
feafon with Wheat, and in many of the northern 
counties, as alfo in Wales, they are often mixed to- 
gether, though I think it muft be very bad hufban- 
dry, for the Rye will always ripen fooner than Wheat ; 
fo that if the latter is permitted to be fully ripe, the 
former will fhatter •, nor can this be pradlifed, where 
the people are not accuftomed to eat Rye bread ; for 
although it is by fome accounted good when mixed, 
yet being fo very clammy, few people who have 
been fed with Wheat, will ever care to eat bread made 
of this. 
It is generally fown upon poor, dry, gravelly, or fan- 
dy land, where Wheat will not thrive, and in fuch 
places may anfwer very well ; but on fuch land as 
will bear Wheat it is not proper to fow Rye, as the 
value of it is greatly inferior to that of Wheat. 
When Rye is fown, the ground fhould not be too 
wet •, and if it fhould happen that much rain falls be- 
fore the Rye is come up, it often rots in the ground ; 
but it is not long in coming up, it being much fooner 
out of the ground than Wheat. 
The fmall Rye may be fown in the fpring about the 
fame time with Oats, and is ufually ripe as foon as 
the other fort ; but if the feafon proves wet, it is apt 
to run much to ftraw, and then the grain is generally 
lighter than the other j fo the only ufe of this fort, is 
SEC 
to fow upon fuch lands where the autumnal crop 
may have mifcarried. 
The general ufe of Rye is for bread, either alone, of 
mixed with Wheat ; but (as was before obferved) it 
is only fit for fuch perfons who have been ufed to 
this food, few other perfons caring to eat of it 1 
nor have I ever heard of its having been exported* 
fo can never be worth cultivating in general •, though 
I have been informed it will yield a ftrong fpirit^ 
which perhaps may occafion its being more cultivated* 
fince the pernicious ufe of fpirituous liquors is now 
tolerated. 
Rye is alfo fown in autumn to afford green feed for 
ewes and lambs in the fpring, before there is plenty 
of Grafs. When this is intended, the Rye fhould be 
fown early in autumn that it may have ftrength to fur- 
nifh early feed. The great ufe of this is to fupply 
the want of Turneps in thofe places where they have 
failed, as alfo, after the Turneps are over, and before 
the Grafs is grown enough, to fupply green feed for 
the ewes ; fo that in thofe feafons, when the Turneps 
in general fail, it is very good hufbandry to fow the 
land with Rye, efpecially where there are flocks of 
fheep, which cannot be well fupported, where green 
feed is wanting early in the fpring ; therefore thofe far- 
mers who have large live flocks, fhould have feveral 
methods of fupplying themfelves with fuflicient feed* 
left fome fhould fail ; for as Turneps are a very pre- 
carious crop, fome land fhould be lown with Cole- 
feed, which will fupply the want of Turneps in win- 
ter j and if fome of the ground, which was fowrt 
late with Turneps which had failed, was fown in au- 
tumn with Rye, that would be fit to fupply the want 
of Cole-feed afterward. 
SECtjRIDACA. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 399. tab. 
224. Coronilla. Lin. Gen. Plant. 789. [fo called from 
fecuris, Lat.^ a hatchet, becaufe the ancients fancied 
the feeds of it refembled a hatchet.] Hatchet-vetch* 
The Characters are. 
The empalement of the flower is floor t, comprejfed , and of 
one leaf cut into two fegments which are ere hi. The flower 
is of the butterfly kind ; the flandard is heart-fhaped , re- 
flexed on both fides , and fcarce longer than the wings ; 
thefe arc oval , joining at the top , but open at the bottom j 
the keel is comprejfed and pointed. It hath ten flamina, 
nine joined , and one feparate , terminated by fmall fummits , 
and an oblong comprejfed germen , with a briftly ftyle, 
crowned by an obtufe ftigma. The germen afterward turns 
to a long , comprejfed , fword-Jhaped pod , with a thick 
border on one ffde , plain on the other , opening in two cells $ 
filed with fquare feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the third fedlion of 
Linnteus’s feventeenth clafs, which contains thofe 
plants whofe flowers have ten flamina joined in two 
bodies •, he has alfo joined it to the genus of Coronilla. 
We have but one Species of this genus at prefentj 
which is, 
Securidaca {Luteal) herbacea leguminibus falcato-gla- 
diatis. Herbaceous Hatchet-vetch , with hooked fword- 
Jhaped pods. 
This plant grows naturally in the Corn-fields in Spain 
and Italy ; it is annual, and perifhes foon after the 
feeds are ripe ; this hath trailing herbaceous ftalks 
which grow a foot and a half long, and divide into 
many branches which fpread on the ground, and are 
garnifhed with winged leaves compofed of feven or 
eight pair of oval obtufe lobes, terminated by an odd 
one ; they are of a deep green and fmooth. From the 
wings of the leaves arile the foot-ilalks of the flowers - 
thefe come out by pairs oppofite at each joint, are 
five or fix inches long, fuftaining at the top a large 
clufter of yellow flowers of the butterfly kind ; thefe 
are fucceeded by compreffed pods four or five inches 
long, ending in acute points •, they have a future on 
each fide, one plain, and the other rifing and thick 
they are joined at their bafe to the foot-ftalk, but 
fpread open like the rays of a ftar, and are divided by 
a longitudinal partition into two cells, each contain- 
ing a row of fquare flat feeds of a reddifh colour. This 
1 2 E plant 
