430 
on dry pastures, on account of the plant’s dimin-- 
utive size and creeping habit, the flowers are un- 
happily the chief part of it which cattle can reach. 
But sheep treat white or Dutch clover very nearly 
in the same manner as this plant, seldom touch- 
ing the flowers as long as they can obtain any of 
the foliage. Small horned bird’s foot trefoil con- 
tains a larger proportion of bitter extractive and 
saline elements than the clovers; and the latter 
plants contain a greater proportion of these prin- 
ciples than the grasses; and small horned bird’s 
foot trefoil might, therefore, be an advantageous 
admixture where clovers are scarce, but is too 
bitter and saline to be anywhere, with propriety, 
a large ingredient in pastures. It is fond of dry 
soils; it soars to unusual height, and nearly 
loses its procumbent habit, when growing among 
shrubs; and it ought either to exist in very small 
proportion, or to be altogether awanting, in irri- 
gated meadows or in any moist pasture grounds 
which produce a succulent herbage. It makes 
no contribution to the exigencies of pasturage in 
spring, but continues to vegetate to a late period 
in autumn. An acre of it, according to the Wo- 
burn experiments, yields 10,209 lbs. of green pro- 
duce, 3,190 lbs. of dry produce, and 358 lbs. of 
nutritive matter.—A double-flowered variety of 
this species, Lotus corniculatus flore plene, is grown 
as an ornamental plant in our gardens; and 
three varieties, the alpine, the thick-leaved, and 
the villous, alpinus, crassifolius, and villosus, are 
natives of Continental Europe, the first and the 
third particularly of Switzerland, and have been 
intreduced to Britain as ornamental plants. But 
the stems of all these varieties, on the average, 
attain only about one-third the length of those of 
the normal plant. 
The greater bird’s foot trefoil, Lotus major, 
grows wild in wet shady grounds in Great Britain; 
and is also a perennial, deciduous trailer, and an 
agricultural plant of considerable value. In fact, 
it possesses fully double the value of the preced- 
ing species; and yet, by careless observers, or 
even by practical farmers, has often been con- 
founded with it. Its fondness for wet situations 
is quite as decided as that of the small horned 
bird’s foot trefoil is for very dry soils; its stems 
are from one foot to three feet in length, covered 
with long and loosely-spreading hairs, and not so 
procumbent as those of Lotus corniculatus; its 
leaves are fringed with hairs similar to those 
upon the stems; and its flowers are of a duller 
hue than those of Lotus corniculatus, grow in 
groups of from six to twelve in each head, and 
bloom from about the third week in June till 
August. On clayey soils, on all kinds of moist 
soils, and on the richest kind of dry soils, it 
yields a larger produce than perennial red clover ; 
but the nutritive matter of this produce is about 
one-fifth less than that of the clover, and contains 
a very sensible and unpleasant degree of bitter 
extractive. The plant in its green state is dis- 
liked by all classes of live stock; but when made 
BIRD'S FOOT TREFOIL. 
into hay, it is readily eaten by deer, sheep, and 
black cattle. It matures a smaller quantity of 
seed than the small horned species, but amply 
compensates this defect by propagating itself in 
the manner of the strawberry and of stoloniferous 
grasses. It might be a very profitable substitute 
for red clover on all wet and stiff soils; but, on 
account of its large proportion of bitter and sal- 
ine principles, it requires a comparatively large 
accompaniment of other herbage. An acre of it, 
according to the Woburn experiments, yields 
21,780 lbs. of green produce, 8,1424 lbs. of dry 
produce, and 6804 lbs. of nutritive matter. 
The narrowest bird’s foot trefoil, Lotus angus- 
tissimus, grows wild on sea-beaches and on mea- 
dows near the sea, in Great Britain. It is a 
trailing annual; its stems are usually about a 
foot in height; and its flowers are yellow, and 
appear from May till August.—The diffuse bird’s 
foot trefoil, Lotus diffusus, grows on rocks in | 
England. It is a trailing annual; its stems are 
usually about 18 inches in length, and its flowers 
are yellow, and appear in May and June.—The | 
decumbent bird’s foot trefoil, Zotus decumbens, was | 
introduced to Britain from Continental Europe 
in 1816. 
appear in July and August.—Forster’s species, 
Lotus forstert, called by Forster himself and some 
other botanists Lotus decumbens, grows wild in 
fields and meadows, but principally on heathy 
grounds in England. It isa trailing perennial ; 
its stems are usually about 6 inches in length; | 
its floral footstalks are smooth, firm, strong, and 
about five times the length of the leaves; and its 
flowers are collected into umbels of five or six, 
have a bright yellow colour, and appear in July 
and August.—All the species already noticed have 
long cylindrical pods; but the esculent. species, | 
Lotus edulis, has curved pods, and is cultivated | 
in some countries for the sake of these. It was 
introduced to Great Britain from Italy in 1710; 
it is a hardy trailing annual, with stems of about 
6 inches in length; and its flowers are yellow | 
and frequently solitary, and appear in July and 
August. 
The St. James’ Island bird’s foot trefoil, Lotus 
Jacobeus, was introduced to Britain from the 
Cape Verd Islands in 1714; and is cultivated by 
our gardeners as.an ornamental greenhouse plant. 
Its stem is slender, very ligneous, and about two 
or three feet high ; its branches are slender, her- 
baceous, and very numerous; its leaves are nar- 
row, grey, slightly hoary, almost sessile, and 
sometimes trifoliate, sometimes quinquefoliate ; 
its flowers are produced on very slender footstalks 
from the sides of the stems, are collected into 
heads of four or five, have a yellowish deep pur- 
ple colour, and may be made to bloom throughout 
the whole year; and its pods are slender, taper- 
ing, and little more than an inch in length, each 
containing five or six small roundish seeds. A 
variety of it, called Lotus Jacobeus luteus, is dis- 
It is a trailing annual; its stems are | 
usually about 6 inches in length; and its flowers | 
