BOTANY AS APPLIED TO VETERINARY SCIENCE. 17 
I found the head belonged to one calf, and the fore legs to 
another, and it was a work of some little time to put back 
both the calves, and get them out separately; the fore legs 
of the first calf, and the head of the second calf, being 
doubled back. I need hardly say that both were dead. The 
cow ultimately did well. 
BOTANY AS APPLIED TO VETERINARY SCIENCE. 
By W. Watson, M.R.C.V.S., Rugby. 
% • 
(Continued from vol. xxxiii,/*. 662.) 
In resuming the consideration of the leguminous plants, 
few will be found of greater interest, or more worthy the 
attention of the agriculturist, as yielding a large supply of 
green food for domestic animals, than the different varieties 
of lucerne . 
They consist of shrubs and herbs, some being cultivated for 
the sake of ornament, and others to supply food for animals. 
They are closely allied to the clovers, belonging to the 
natural order Leguminosa , and to the genus Medicago. The 
following remarks upon the variety most generally cultivated 
for food will be sufficient to give an outline of the character 
of the whole. 
“Medicago sativa (purple medick, or lucerne).—Stem 
usually erect, leaflets obovate, oblong toothed; peduncles 
many-flowered, racemed ; pedicles usually shorter than the 
bracteas; legumes compressed, downy, twisted two or three 
times in a loose spire.”—(Hooker and Arnott.) 
This indigenous perennial plant is found growing wild in 
meadows and pastures in different parts of the country. It 
attains a height of from two to three feet, and flowers about 
the middle of June, having darkish-purple flowers. The 
cultivation of this plant has not received that consideration 
in this country which its value deserves. The chief cause 
of failure in producing a permanent crop, has been from not 
paying due attention to the nature of the soil upon which it 
has been planted, and want of proper management after. 
It has a long, branching root, which penetrates deep; it 
therefore requires a soil having a “ churlish surface, a rich, 
friable central stratum, and a very dry and deep sub-soil.” 
When grown upon such soil, and properly managed, it fur- 
xxxiv. 2 
