ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 
469 
and putrefaction begins, it is worked into a paste with a 
large proportion of the dried herb melilotus reduced to a 
powder. The herb is called, in the country dialect, f Zieger 
kraut/ curd herb. The paste thus produced is pressed into 
moulds of the shape of a common flower-pot, and the putre¬ 
faction being stopped by the aromatic herb, it dries into a 
solid mass, and keeps unchanged for any length of time. 
When used it is rasped or grated, and the powder, mixed 
with fresh butter, is spread upon bread. It is either much 
relished or much disliked, like all substances of a similar 
taste and smell. The whole plant has a peculiar scent, 
which becomes more perceptible when it is dry, and has 
some resemblance to Anthoxanthum, the sweet-smelling 
vernal grass. 
“ The flowers are sweet-scented, and a water distilled 
from them is used for giving flavour to various substances. 
In medicine this herb has had its day. It was at one time 
considered emollient and digestive. It is recommended by 
Gerarde in all manner of disorders—for a poultice the 
juice to be dropped into the eyes to f clear the sight;’ alone 
with water, to heal wens and ulcers; and also, mixed with a 
little wine, it Gnitigateth the paine of the eares, and taketh 
away the paine of the head.’ That the melilot was at one 
time a very common crop in England we have Gerarde’s 
testimony, for he says: ‘ For certainty no part of the world 
doth enjoy so great plenty thereof as England, and especially 
Essex, for I have seen between Sudbury, in Suffolk, and 
Clare, in Essex, and from Clare to Hessingham, very many 
acres of arable pasture overgrown with the same, insomuch 
that it doth not only spoil their land, but the corn also, as 
cockel or darnel, and is a weed that generally spreadeth 
over that corner of the shire/ ”* 
3. TheMedicago .—-Medick is a genus nearly allied to the 
clovers, being, indeed, trifoliate, with small flowers; the 
corollas, however, in decay, do not cover the fruit, which 
latter, instead of being a straight legume, is spirally twisted 
in some species, so much so as to present the aspect of a 
coiled univalve shell. There are several species, or so-called 
species, but those with which we are more particularly con¬ 
cerned may be described as follows : 
Medicago falcata . . Pods linear, curved. 
,, sativa . . Pods reniform, coiled at the tips. 
„ lupulina . . Pods slightly curved, reticulate. 
„ maculata . Pods with double coils and a double 
row of hooked spines. 
* See Syme’s New Edition of the ‘ English Botany.’ 
32 
LII I. 
