MEDI 
tlie plants are to remain, becaufe they do not bear tranf- 
planting well, unlefs when they are very young. As the 
plants fpread their branches on the ground, they (hould not 
be Town nearer than two feet and a half afunder; when the 
plants come up, they will require no other care but to 
keep them clean from weeds. In June they will begin to 
flower ; and, as the (talks and branches extend, there will 
be a fucceflion of flowers produced till the autumn ; but 
the early flowers only will have good feeds fucceed them ; 
for thofe which come late in fummer have not time to ripen 
before the cold weather comes on. 
6. Luccrn. This valuable plant will bear the heat of 
fuch climates as the Spanifh Welt Indies, where it is Town 
in all the plains round Lima, and furniihes green fodder 
for their cattle all the year round, and may be cut every 
week. It would probably be of great fervice therefore in 
our Wed-India iflands. It is commonly cultivated along 
the banks of the Rhone, and in many other parts ot the fouth 
of Europe, where it may be cut five or fix times in a year. 
But it all'o bears our climate very well, and may be cut (our 
or five times in a feafon between the middle of April and 
November. See the article Husbandry, vol. x. p. 554. 
The belt places to procure the feed from, are Swiflerland, 
and the northern parts of France; for the feed faved in 
thofe countries fucceed better with us than that which 
comes from a more fouthern climate. But this feed may 
be faved full as well in England, and in as great plenty, 
were people curious enough to let the fird crop (land for 
that purpofe; in order to which, a fmall quantity of the 
plants' (hould be differed to grow uncut till the feeds are 
ripe, which is commonly about the beginning of Septem¬ 
ber, when it nmft be cut, and laid to dry in an open barn, 
where the air may freely pafs through, but be defended 
from the wet; for, if it be expofed thereto, it will (hoot 
while it remains in the pod, whereby it will be fpoiled. 
When quite dry, it mult be threfhed out, and cleanfed 
from the hu(k, and preferved in a dry place till the feafon 
for fowing it; and this feed, faved in England, is really 
preferable to any brought from abroad, the plants pro¬ 
duced from it having been much ftronger than thofe pro¬ 
duced from French, Helvetian, and Turkey, feeds, which 
were fown at the fame time, and in the fame foil and 
fltuation. 
The hay of this plant (hould be kept in clofe barns, it 
being too tender to be kept in ricks open to the air like 
other hay ; but it will remain good, if well dried before 
it be carried in, three years. But the belt ufe which can 
be made of this grafs is, to cut it, and give it green to the 
cattle. Where this has been duly pradtifed, by the time 
the field has been cut over, that part which was the firlt 
cut has been ready to cut again ; fo that there has been 
a eonftant fupply in the fame field, from the middle of 
April to the end of Oftober; when the feafon has conti¬ 
nued long mild, and when the fummers have proved 
(howery, fix crops have been cut in one feafon, but in the 
dried feafons there will be always three or four. When 
the plant begins to flower, it (hould then be cut; for, if 
it (lands longer, the (talks will grow hard, and the under¬ 
leaves will decay, fo that the cattle will not fo readily eat 
it. Where there is a quantity of this cultivated, forne of 
it (hould be cut before the flowers appear, otherwife there 
will be too much to cut within a proper time. If, how¬ 
ever, it be made into hay, it will require a great deal of 
making ; for, as the (talks are very fucculent, it mud be 
often turned, and expofed a fortnight or longer, before it 
will be fit to houfe ; for it requires a longer time to make 
than faintfoin ; therefore, when it is cut, it (hould be car¬ 
ried to make upon fome grafs-ground, becaufe the earth 
in the intervals of the rows will wa(h up, and mix with 
the hay in every (hower of rain ; and, by carrying it off 
as foon as it is cut, the plants will (hoot up again foon. 
But we repeat that it is not fo profitable for hay as to cut 
green for all forts of cattle, efpecially horfes, which are 
extremely fond of it. To them it will anfwer the pur- 
pGfe both of hay and cornj and they may be worked at 
Von. XV. No. 1019. 
C A G O. ' 5 
the fame time jufl as much as when they are fed with corn, 
or dry food. 
Weeds are the greated enemies to lucern ; the eafieft 
and cheaped way of keeping the crop clean, is to fow it 
in drills of fufiicient width to admit the horfe-hoe; which 
not only dedroys the weeds at the lead expenfe, but 
greatly promotes the growth of the plants, by earthing 
them up in the operation. 
7. Yellow medic and variegated medic. Yellow medic is 
hardier than lucern, roots dronger, grows in drier foils, 
yields abundance of fodder very nearly allied to lucern in 
quality, and lofes lcfs in drying. In the fandy fields of 
Suffolk, on the fallows, the drength of its roots defies the 
plough and the hungry (heep. If the Herns are prodrate, 
which Linnaeus makes one of the fpecific didinftions of 
yellow medic, it would be an objection to the culture of 
it, becaufe it could not eafily be mowed. Single plant* 
may have prodrate ftems; but, when it comes to be cul¬ 
tivated in a thick crop, the dems will fupport one another; 
and the cafe is the fame with Medicago lupulina, and. 
many other plants. Thomas le Blanc, efq, of Cavenham 
in Suffolk, having been druck with the luxuriance of the 
yellow medic in the poored foils, determined to have the 
feed gathered, in order to cultivate it. Whild engaged 
in this purfuit, he happened to find the variegated medic, 
our variety / 3 ; and, obl'erving it to be more luxuriant even 
than the yellow, it commanded his attention. It is lefs 
ereff, he fays, and lefs fucculent, than lucern ; but more 
fucculent.and much more luxuriant, than the yellow medic. 
The feed-pods partake of the fliape of each, being lefs 
twified than thofe of lucern, but more fo than thofe of 
yellow medic. The flowers are beautifully varied in 
every (hade of blue and greenifli yellow, and fome are al- 
mofl white. His reafons for preferring it to lucern are, 
that it is hardier in bearing cold ; that, from its habit of 
branching below the furface of the ground, and the (hoots 
being much more numerous, it is not choked by natural 
grades ; that, for the fame reafon, it will not be injured 
by being fed with (heep ; and that it grows fpontaneoufly 
upon the poored foils. 
In 1783, he began with a Angle plant, which he trans¬ 
planted into his garden, the foil of which is a blowing 
(and. In 1784 he gathered the feed of it; and in April 
1785 he fowed with it a bed confiding of five rows, thirty- 
nine feet long. The plants came up thick and drong ; 
fome of them bloffomed at the beginning of July in the 
fame year, and meafured above two feet in height. Al¬ 
though all the feeds were gathered from one plant, yet 
the flowers differed very much in colour; fome being ai¬ 
med yellow, fome almod white, and others purple of va¬ 
rious (hades. In Augult the fame year he took up the 
feedlings, 6600 in number, and tranfplanted them. Some 
of them meafured two feet and a half in height. Mod of 
the roots were cut through with the fpade ; one which was 
pulled up meafured two feet nine inches in length. He 
likewife dug up a few wild plants, which he div'ided into 
a great number of flips, every one of which grew. In 
June 1786, he cut down the garden-plant not yet in full 
bloffom ; it was above five feet high, and weighed four 
pounds and a half. September the 6th he cut It again 
when it was only beginning to flower, and it weighed 
twenty-fix ounces. The 29th of Augud life cut (ome 
plants for feed ; much of it was lod by lying on the ground, 
the feaion being wet; much alfo was unripe, and many 
young (hoots were in full bloffom. The 4th of December 
the plants were not affefted by the frod ; at the fame time 
the (hoots of lucern were entirely dellroyed. 
May the 26th, 1790, he cut a (quare yard of lucern, and 
an equal meafure of the medic adjoining. The lucern 
was tailed, and appeared the larger bundle ; but, upon 
weighing them, the lucern was three pounds three quarters, 
the medic four pounds and a quarter. The crop of medic 
was very fine, and had the appearance of having been fown 
broad-cad, the intervals being fo filled up that the drills 
could not be didinguifhed, whereas the rows of the lucern 
C were 
