584 
land Society’s silver medal for the introduction 
of new or valuable plants into the field culture 
of Britain, and who sent seeds of it to Mr. Law- 
son which produced plants of the average height 
of 8 feet, says, “ This plant is quite hardy, and 
stands the winter; and if sown in October or 
early in March, it will come into flower in the 
beginning of July, at which time, although the 
plants originally should stand 9 inches separate, 
it will form a dense mass of succulent herbage, 
of which cattle and horses are exceedingly fond.” 
And Mr. Lawson says, “The V. villosa is of slen- 
der growth, and relying, like the V. cracca, for 
support on whatever stronger plants may be 
growing beside it; for which purpose the sweet 
melilot, Welilotus cerulea, or some such strong- 
growing annual, might be introduced with ad- 
vantage in the case of this and the other slender- 
growing annual vetches. It also possesses the 
same advantages as the V. cracca, of containing 
less watery matter than the common tare, and 
being greedily eaten by cattle or horses, either 
in a green or dry state. Compared with the 
common tare, the V. vil/osa, when sown in spring, 
comes away rather slower at first; but its actual 
weight, or bulk of produce from a given space of 
ground, when fully grown, may be reckoned 
nearly double that of the other.” 
The dark purple-flowered vetch, Vicia atro- 
purpurea, is a native of the north of Africa, and 
was introduced to Britain from Algiers in 1815. 
Its root is annual; its stems are naturally about 
3 or 34 feet high; its leaflets are slightly villous, 
and have a dark green colour; its floral foot- 
stalks are many-flowered, and not so long as the 
leaves; its flowers have a dark purple-coloured 
corolla and setaceous and very villous calyx- 
teeth, and bloom in June and July; and its pods 
are short, broad, and pretty well filled, and con- 
tain each 3 or 4 seeds. This plant seems to pos- 
sess good agricultural adaptations in such cli- 
mates as Italy and the south of France, and 
probably in the warmest parts of the south and 
centre of England, but possibly is not hardy 
enough to be at all suitable farther north. 
The Narbonne or broad-leaved vetch, Vicza 
narbonensis, is a native of France, and was intro- 
duced to Britain toward the close of the 16th 
century. Its root is annual ; its stems are thick, 
soft, hollow, much branched, and naturally about 
3 feet high, and do not rely much on other plants 
for support; its leaflets amount to about six on 
each leaf, and are entire, large, and roundish ; 
its flowers have a reddish purple colour, and 
bloom in June and July; and its pods are either 
sessile or have very short footstalks, and grow 
either singly or in twos or in threes, and are 
large, flattish, and of a darkish colour when ripe. 
This plant is cultivated in many parts of Conti- 
nental Europe, in the same manner in which 
the common tare is cultivated in Britain. When 
sown in spring, it yields a close and large crop 
of succulent fodder, of a strong beany taste, not 
VETCH. 
well liked at first by cattle; and when sown in . 
autumn, it stoutly withstands the severities of 
our winter, and grows very rapidly in spring, 
and yields a good bulk of spring forage, which 
cattle relish better than they afterwards do the 
first bites of clover. 
The three-coloured vetch, Vicva tricolor, was in- 
troduced to Britain in 1818. Its root is annual; 
its stems vary in height from about 15 inches to 
about 3 feet or upwards; and its flowers are 
sessile, and have a jet black colour on the ala, a 
dull brown toward the posterior extremity, and 
a green colour on the other parts of the coro'la, 
and bloom from June till August. It has a more 
dwarfish habit than some of the other agricultu- 
ral annual vetches, but produces a greater quan- 
tity of seeds. It was recommended by Mr. Lou- 
don as a plant well worth the attention of far- 
mers ; yet, for forage purposes at least, it does 
not seem to be at all equal to some of the other 
vetches. 
The saw-leaved vetch, Vicia serratifolia, is a 
native of Hungary, and was introduced to Britain 
in 1723. It so closely resembles the Narbonne 
vetch as to be considered by some botanists only 
a variety of it; and its duration, height, floral 
colour, time of blooming, and several other pro- 
perties are the same; but its leaves and stipules 
are deeply sawed or indented, while those of the 
Narbonne vetch are quite or nearly entire. It 
is cultivated in the fields of some parts of Conti- 
nental Europe. 
The broad-podded or large-podded vetch, Vi- 
cia platycarpus, is a native of Germany, and was 
introduced to Britain in 1723. Its root is an- 
nual; its stems are strong, nearly upright, and 
from 15 to 24 inches high; its leaves resemble 
those of the Narbonne vetch; its flowers have a 
purple colour, and bloom in July and August; 
and its pods are sessile, solitary, large, broad, 
and inflated. This species and the saw-leaved 
and the Narbonne differ more or less from all 
the other species in their comparative indepen- 
dence of support for climbing, in their somewhat 
strong and robust habit of growth, and in the 
thickness and succulency of their stems; and 
they may be regarded as possessing an interme- 
diate character between the common tare and 
the bean. The broad-podded species, however, 
yields a much less bulk of produce than either of 
the other two. 
The most likely of the remaining species to 
adapt themselves to the purposes of the hus- 
bandman are the pea-shaped vetch, V. pisz- 
formis, a perennial of commonly about 2 feet in 
height, carrying pedunculated pale yellow flow- 
ers in July and August, and introduced from 
Austria in 1739; the hedge-vetch, V. dumetorum, 
a perennial of commonly about 3 feet in height, 
carrying pedunculated purple flowers in May 
and June, and introduced from France in 1752; 
the Bengal vetch, V. Bengalensis, an annual of 
commonly about 3 feet in height, carrying dark 
