SAINT-FOIST. 187 
The principal use of liquorice is in medicine. It 
contains much saccharine matter, joined with some 
portion of mucilage ; and is one of the few sweet sub- 
stances which tend to allay thirst. Liquorice is an 
excellent medicine in coughs and hoarsenesses. When 
boiled in a little water, it gives out nearly all its sweet- 
ness ; and this, when the moisture is evaporated, pro- 
duces, by different processes, what are called Spanish 
liquorice, liquorice cakes, liquorice lozenges > and Ponte- 
Jract cakes. The former of these is used to great ex- 
tent in the brewing of porter. It is said that more than 
two hundred tons' weight of it are annually manufac- 
tured in Spain, a considerable portion of which is 
sold to the London brewers for this purpose. Liquorice 
powder, which is used in medicine, is often adulterated 
with flour, and probably also with less wholesome arti- 
cles. The root itself may be employed as stopples for 
beer or wine bottles. 
The soil in which liquorice is cultivated should be 
deep, light, and sandy ; and the roots, which strike 
deeply into the ground, should be planted in rows, at 
the distance of a foot and half or two feet from each 
other. Three years elapse, after the roots are planted, 
before the liquorice is in perfection. 
202. SAINT-FOIN (Hedysarum onobrychis) is a British, 
perennial plant with winged leaves, somewhat pyramidal 
bunches of butter fly- shaped flowers, marked with red, white, 
find purple ; and oblong, hairy pods, each containing a single 
seed. 
^ This plant is cultivated in several of the farming 
districts of England, as food for horses and cattle ; and 
it succeeds best on dry and chalky lands, in high and 
exposed situations. The seed should be sown in 
February or March, and, during the first year, the plants 
should remain untouched. In the ensuing summer a 
crop of hay may be obtained from them ; and after 
this the saint-foin may regularly be mown twice every 
year, for ten or fifteen yeaVs. When intended for hay, 
