S E S s E S 
The eight forts which are firft mentioned, are hardy 
perennial plants, fo will thrive in the open air in Eng- 
land. The firft is rarely admitted into gardens, but 
the other forts are frequently preferved in the gardens 
of the curious. The fourth, fifth, and fixth forts, have 
large knobbed roots ; thefe are propagated only by 
feeds, which feldom ripen in England, fo that the 
feeds mull be procured from abroad. Thefe fnould 
be fown on an eaft-afpe£ted border, where the morn- 
ing fun only comes ; for if the feeds are expoled to 
the mid-day fun, they feldom fucceed well. Thefe 
feeds will often grow the firft fummer, if they are 
fown early in the fpring, but fometimes they will re- 
main in the ground a year before the plants appear •, 
fo that if they fhould not come up the firft feafon, the 
ground fhould not be difturbed, and muft be kept 
clean from weeds till the following fpring, when, if 
the feeds were good, the plants will come up ; when 
thefe appear they muft be kept clean from weeds ; 
and if they are too clofe, fome of the plants fhould 
be carefully drawn out while they are young, and 
planted into another border of light loamy earth, four 
inches afunder •, in this place they may remain till au- 
tumn, when thefe, and alfo thofe in the feed-beds, 
fhould be carefully removed to the places where they 
are defigned to remain ; the following fummer thefe 
plants will flower, and the roots will abide leveral 
years, if they are planted in a light loamy foil not 
over wet. 
The other perennial forts may be propagated by part- 
ing of the roots •, the beft time for doing this is in au- 
tumn, when their ftalks begin to decay ; for when 
they are removed in the fpring, if the feafon fhould 
prove dry, their roots will not be fufiiciently efta- 
blifhed to flower well the fame year. Thefe plants 
fhould not be removed or parted oftener than every 
third year, if they are expe&ed to grow ftrong ; nor 
fhould they be parted into fmall heads, for thofe will 
make no figure the firft year. As thefe plants grow 
tall, fo they fhould be planted in the middle of large 
borders, or with other tall plants; they may be planted 
in fpaces between fhrubs, or on the borders of woods, 
where they will have a good eftecft during their con- 
tinuance in flower ; and as they require no other cul- 
ture than to dig the ground between them every 
fpring, and keep them clean from weeds, fo they are 
proper furniture for fuch places. 
Thefe forts are alfo propagated by feeds, when they 
can be obtained good •, thefe may be fown in the fame 
way as the bulbous-rooted kinds, and when the plants 
come up, they muft be treated in the fame manner, 
only that thefe fhould be allowed more room, for the 
fibres of their roots fpread out on every fide to a 
great diftance ; for which reafon thefe plants fhould 
not be planted in fmall gardens, where they will over- 
bear the neighbouring plants. 
S E S A S U M. Lin. Gen. Plant. 700. Digitalis. Tourn. 
Inft. R. H. 156. Oily Grain. 
The Characters are. 
The flower has an erect permanent empalement of one leaf, 
cut at the top into five very fijort equal flegments. It 
has one ringent petal , with a roundifh tube the length of 
the empalement ; the chaps are fw alien, bell fo aped, and 
fpr ending ; the brim is cut into five points , four of which 
are fipreading and alrnoft equal ; the other is twice their 
length , oval, and erebl. It has four ftamina rifling from 
the tube which are fhorter than the petal, the two inner 
being fhorter than the other , terminated by eredi pointed 
flummits , and an oval hairy germen, fiupporting a fender 
fltyle longer than the ftamina , crowned by a fpear-fhaped 
ftigma divided in two parts. T he germen afterward be- 
comes an oblong, alrnoft four-cornered capfule, which is 
compreffled and acute-pointed , having four cells , filled with 
oval compreffled feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond feftion 
of Linnsus’s fourteenth clafs, which includes thofe 
plants whofe flowers have two long and two fhorter 
ftamina, and their feeds are included in capfules. 
The Species are, 
1. Sesasum ( Orientate ) foliis ovato-oblongis integris. 
Hort. Cliff. 318. Seflamum with oblong , oval, entire leaves » 
Digitalis Orientalis, fefamum difita. Tourn. Inft. 165. 
Eafiern Foxglove, called Seflamum. 
2. Sesamum (. Indicum ) foliis inferioribus trifidis. Prod. 
Leyd. 292. Seflamum with trifid lower leaves. Sefamum 
alterum, foliis trifidis, Orientale femme obfeuro. Pluk, 
Aim. 344. Another Eafiern Seflamum , with trifid leaves 
and black feeds. 
3. Sesamum ( Trifoliatum ) foliis omnibus trifidis. Sefla- 
mum with all the leaves trifid. Sefamum Orientale, tri- 
fidum, flore niveo. Hort. Cornpt. Eafiern Sefamum , 
with a trifid leaf and J how white flower. 
The firft fort is cultivated in great plenty in the Le- 
vant, but is fuppofed to have been brought there from 
India. It is an annual plant, riling with an herbaceous 
four-cornered ftalk about two feet high, fending out, 
a few fhort fide-branches ; the leaves are oblong, oval, 
a little hairy, and Hand oppofite. The flowers are 
produced in loofe fpikes at the top of the ftalks ; they 
are fmall, and of a dirty white colour, lhaped fome- 
what like thofe of the Foxglove. Thefe apoear in 
July, and after the flowers are paft, the germen turns 
to an oval acute-pointed capfule with four cells, filled 
with oval comprefled feeds which ripen in autumn. 
The fecond fort grows naturally in India ; this is alfo 
an annual plant ; the ftalk riles taller than that of the 
former; the lower leaves are cut into three parts, 
which are the only differences between them. 
The third fort grows naturally in Africa ; this is alfo 
an annual plant, with a taller and more branched ftalk 
than either of the former, and all the leaves are cut 
into three parts, in which it differs from both the other. 
I have railed two other fpecies of this genus from 
feeds which were brought from Africa, but thefe be- 
ing fown late in the fpring, did but juft fhew their 
flowers before winter, fo there could be no good feeds 
obtained from them. Thefe grew near four feet 
high, the leaves of one fort were much longer than 
any of the other, and thofe toward the top of the ftalk 
were divided into three, and fome into four parts ; 
the feeds of this were black, the other had broader 
leaves, which were fawed on their edges. The flowers 
were large and of a pale blue colour, and the feeds 
were of a pale yellow colour. 
The firft fort is frequently cultivated in all the eaftern 
countries, and alfo in Africa, as a pulfe ; and of late the 
feeds of this have been introduced in Carolina by 
the African negroes, where they have fucceeded ex- 
tremely well. The inhabitants of that country make 
an oil from the feed, which will keep many years, 
and not take any rancid fmell or tafte, but in two 
years becomes quite mild; fo that when the warm 
tafte of the feed, which is in the oil when firft drawn, 
is worn off, they ufe it as fallad oil, and for ail the 
purpofes of fweet oil. 
The feeds of this plant are alfo ufed by the negroes 
for food, which feeds they parch over the fire, and then 
mix them with water, and ftew other ingredients with 
them, which makes an hearty food. Sometimes a 
fort of pudding is made of thefe feeds, in the fame 
manner as with Millet or Rice, and is by fome per- 
fons efteemed, but is never ufed for thefe purpofes in 
Europe. This is called Benny, or Bonny, in Carolina. 
In England, thefe plants are preferved in botanic gar- 
dens as curiofities. Their feeds muft be fown in the 
fpring upon a hot-bed, and when the plants are come 
up, they muft be tranfplanted into a frefti hot-bed to 
bring them forward. After they have acquired a to- 
lerable degree of ftrength, they fhould be planted into 
pots filled with a rich, light, fandy foil, and plunged 
into another hot-bed, managing them as hath been 
direbted for Amaranthufes, to which I fhall refer the 
reader, to avoid repetition : for if thefe plants are not 
thus brought forward in the former part of the fum- 
mer, they will not produce good feeds in this coun- 
try ; though after they have flowered, if the feafon is 
favourable, they may be expofed in a warm fituation 
with other annual plants. Wfjen thefe plants have 
perfected their feeds they decay, and never continue 
longer than one feafon. 
1 2 I The 
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