VETCH. 
about two feet; its leaflets are broad and round- 
ish, smaller toward the point of the leaf, and 
most abundant toward the point of the shoot; 
and its flowers stand on such short footstalks as 
to be subsessile, and grow in clusters of four or 
six together, and are more numerous at the point 
of the shoots than in other situations, and have 
generally a red or violet or dull purplish colour, 
lightest and slightly striped on the standard, and 
bloom in May and June. This plant is in general 
much relished by cattle, and seems well adapted 
for sowing in mixture with the best wood grasses 
in such shady places as are not suitable for the 
clovers; but, as in the case of the wood vetch, a 
good supply of its seeds cannot easily be obtained. 
A variety of it occurs with white flowers. 
The yellow vetch, or yellow-flowered sea-side 
vetch, Vicia lutea, grows wild on stony and gra- 
velly spots of the sea-coasts of Britain. Its root 
is fibrous, and varies in duration from annual to 
slightly perennial; its stem is branching and two 
or three feet high, and, except when supported 
by other plants, has a very decumbent or pros- 
trate habit of growth; its flowers have a dull 
yellowish colour, and bloom from June till Au- 
gust; and its pods are solitary, sessile, reflexed, 
flattened, broad, and hairy. This plant may be 
profitably cultivated on such stony and gravelly 
soils in the vicinity of the sea, as are not capable 
of bearing any considerable produce of the com- 
mon clovers. 
The. narrow-leaved vetch, Vicia angustifolia, 
grows wild in the corn-fields of some parts of 
Britain, yet seems a doubtful native, and proba- 
bly was originally introduced from the woods 
and shady grounds of Germany. Its root is an- 
nual; its stems are from 15 inches to 4 or 5 feet 
high ; its leaflets are narrow, smoothish, and of 
a dark green colour, and terminate abruptly at 
the points ; its flowers are sessile, and grow singly 
or in pairs, and have a reddish colour, and bloom 
in May and June; and its pods, when ripe, have 
a shining black colour. This plant possesses 
considerable adaptation to field culture for fo- 
rage; and yields a large bulk of herbage; and is 
not so easily injured by frost or so liable to early 
decay toward the end of the season as any of the 
common summer tares or as any of the clovers; 
and it is also much less juicy or watery than the 
summer tare, and therefore not so subject to 
injury from a long continuance of wet weather. 
The other indigenous species are the lathyrus- 
like, V. lathyroides, an annual of from 15 to 24 
inches in height, inhabiting fallow-fields, and 
carrying purple flowers from April till June; the. 
hybrid, V. hybrida, an annual of about 20 inches. 
in height, inhabiting thickets, and carrying yel- 
low flowers from June till August; and the 
smooth-podded, V. levigata, a perennial of from 
15 to 24 inches in height, inhabiting sea-shores, 
and carrying pale yellow flowers in July and 
August. But the two last are comparatively 
rare in England, and do not occur in Scotland; 
983 
and neither they nor the other possess any agri 
cultural importance. 
The biennial vetch or Siberian tare, Vicia bi- 
ennis, is & native of Siberia, and was introduced 
to Britain in 1753. Its root is commonly annual 
on stiff wet soils, and biennial on porous and 
comparatively dry land; its stems are slender 
and branching, and have a height of from 2 to 8 
feet ; its leaflets are small, smooth, and sharp- 
pointed, and amount to about 10 or 12 in each 
leaf; its tendrils are long and for the most part 
branching ; its flowers grow in clusters of about 
8 or 10 on long footstalks, and have a light pur- 
plish pink colour, and bloom from July till Sep- 
tember; its pods are smooth, flattish, and from 
1 inch to 14 inch long and about ¢ inch broad ; 
and its seeds are small, round, and of a dark dull 
green colour. This vetch was recommended by 
Miller as an agricultural plant of great promise, 
so long ago as 5 or 6 years after its introduction 
to Britain ; and it has since been strongly recom- 
mended by very competent judges; and it is 
cultivated on the light soils of some parts of 
France and Germany; and it possesses the valu- 
able recommendations of growing to a compara- 
tively great height, and yielding a large bulk of 
herbage, and remaining green throughout the 
winter in defiance of the most severe weather; 
yet, to the astonishment of many scientific agri- 
culturists of Britain, it seems never yet to have 
‘got a fair trial among our practical farmers. 
“Those who cultivate it in Germany,” says Mr, 
Lawson, “ find it advisable to sow it in mixture 
with one or other of the melilots, as from its tall 
and slender habit of growth, unless supported, it 
is apt to become lodged and much damaged in 
damp weather ; and for this purpose the biennial 
species of the genus melilotus are exceedingly 
well adapted, owing to their strong upright habit 
of growth and similarity of duration.” 
The bastard tufted vetch, Vicva pseudo-cracca, 
is a native of the South of Europe, and was in- 
troduced to Britain in 1820. Its root is annual; 
its stems naturally attain a height of about 2 or 
24 feet; its foliage is smoother and finer than 
that of the true tufted vetch; and its flowers 
have a palish purple colour, and bloom in June 
and July. This plant makes some agricultural 
promise; and if it got a due trial, it probably 
might be found to yield a somewhat large bulk 
of fodder during the interval between the begun 
decay of the pastures in autumn and the profit- 
able commencement of the use of turnips and 
other winter-feed. 
The hairy vetch, Vicia villosa, is a native of 
Germany, and was introduced to Britain in 
1815. It has an annual root, and naturally at- 
tains a height of about 3 feet; and it very much 
resembles the tufted vetch in at once foliage, 
flowers, and general appearance; but it is more 
hairy, and has a more branching habit, and pro- 
duces a much greater quantity of pods. Mr. 
Gorrie, who obtained on account of it the High- 
