Chapter III: Appendix: British Plants cultivated for ornamental purposes (2)

"Grass seeds may be sown with equal advantage both in spring and autumn. The land above mentioned was sown in the latter end of August, and the seed made use of was one bushel of Meadow-fescue, and one of Meadow fox-tail-grass, with a mixture of fifteen pounds of white Clover and Trefoil per acre; the land was previously cleaned as far as possible with the plough and harrows, and the seeds sown and covered in the usual way. In the month of October following, a most prodigious crop of annual weeds of many kinds having grown up, were in bloom, and covered the ground and the sown grasses; the whole was then mowed and carried off the land, and by this management all the annual weeds were at once destroyed, as they do not spring again if cut down when in bloom. Thus, whilst the stalks and roots of the annual weeds were decaying, the sown grasses were getting strength during the fine weather, and what few perennial weeds were amongst them were pulled up by hand in their young state. The whole land was repeatedly rolled, to prevent the worms and frost from throwing the plants out of the ground; and in the following spring it was grazed till the latter end of March, when it was left for hay, and has ever since continued a good field of grass.

"Several meadows at Roehampton, belonging to the late B. Goldsmid, Esq., were laid down with two bushels of Meadow fescue-grass and fifteen pounds of mixed Clover, and sown in the spring along with one peck and a half of Barley, intended as a shade to the young grasses. The crop was thus suffered to grow till the latter end of June, and then the corn, with the weeds, was mowed and carried off the land; the ground was then rolled, and at the end of July the grasses were so much grown as to admit good grazing for sheep, which were kept thereon for several weeks. It should be observed, that the corn is to be mowed whilst in bloom, and when there is an appearance of, or immediately after rain; which will be an advantage to the grasses, and occasion them to thrive greatly.

"I sowed some fields for the same gentleman in autumn in the same way, and found them to succeed equally well."

The above remarks are part of a communication I gave six years since to the Society of Arts, for which I was honoured with their prize medal; and I have great pleasure in transcribing it [Footnote: See Transactions of the Society of Arts, vol. xxvii. p. 70.], as I frequently visit the meadows mentioned above, and have the satisfaction of hearing them pronounced the best in their respective neighbourhoods. Thus are my opinions on this head borne out by twelve years experience. Let the sceptic compare this improvement with his pretended advantage of a crop of Barley.

It should be observed that our agricultural efforts are intended only to assist the operations of nature, and that in all our experiments we should consult the soil as to its spontaneous produce, from whence alone we can be enabled to adapt, with propriety, plants to proper situations. The kinds of selected grass-seeds that are at this time to be purchased are few, and consist of Lolium perenne, Festuca pratensis, Alopecurus pratensis; Dactylis glomeratus, Cynosurus cristatus; with the various kinds of Clovers: and it is not easy to lay down any rule as to the mixture or proportion of each different kind that would best suit particular lands. Attention however should, in all cases, be paid to the plants growing wild in the neighbouring pastures, or in similar soils, and the greater portion used of those which are observed to thrive best.

In certain instances I have mentioned particular quantities of seeds to be mixed with others; but in general I have stated how much it would require to sow an acre with each kind separately; from which a person may form a criterion, when several sorts are used, as to what quantity of each sort should be adopted. Taking into view, therefore, that nothing but a mixture of proper kinds of Grasses, &c. will make good pasturage, and that our knowledge is very imperfect on this head at the present season, we must advise that particular attention be paid to the subject, or little good can be hoped for from all our endeavours.

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SECT. III.--FODDER FROM LEAVES AND ROOTS.

The student in agriculture will find in this department a wide field for speculation, which, although it has been greatly improved during the last century, still affords much room for experiments.

During the last thirty-five years I have had opportunity of observing the great difference in the quantity of cattle brought to one of our largest beast-markets in the south of England; and it is well known that this has increased in a ratio of more than double; and I am informed by a worthy and truly honourable prelate, who has observed the same for twenty-five years previously, that it has nearly quadrupled. I have also made it my business, as a subject of curiosity, to inquire if the increase at other markets has been the same, and from all accounts I am convinced of the affirmative. Now as we have ample proofs from the statistical accounts of our husbandry, that less corn has not been grown in the same period, we shall naturally be inclined to give the merit of this increase to the introduction of the Turnip husbandry, which, although it is now become so general, is, comparatively speaking, but in its infancy; and it is from that branch of our agriculture that has sprung the culture of the great variety of fodder of the description which I am now about to explain.

And here it may not prove amiss to observe to the botanical student, should he hereafter be destined to travel, that by making himself thus acquainted with the nature of such vegetables, he may have it in his power to render great benefit to society by the introduction of others of still superior virtues, for the use both of man and the brute creation. When Sir Walter Raleigh undertook his expedition to South America, the object of which failed, he had the good fortune from his taste for botany to render to his country, and to the world at large, a more essential service, by the introduction of one single vegetable, than was ever achieved by the military exploits performed before or since that period [Footnote: The Potatoe was introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his return from the River Plate, in the year 1586.]. It has not only been the means of increasing the wealth and strength of nations, but more than once prevented a famine in this country when suffering from a scarcity of bread-corn and when most of the ports which could afford us a supply were shut by the ambition of a powerful enemy.

63. BRASSICA Napus. TURNIP.--Turnips afford the best feed for sheep in the autumn and winter months. It is usual to sow them as a preparatory crop for Barley, and now very frequently for a crop of Spring Wheat. Turnips are not easily raised but where some kind of manure is used to stimulate the land. In dry seasons the crop is often destroyed by the ravages of a small beetle, which perforates the cotyledons of the plants, and destroys the crop on whole fields in a few hours.

Many remedies against this evil are enumerated in our books on husbandry. The best preventative, however, appears to be the putting manure on the ground in a moist state and sowing the seeds with it, in order to excite the young plant to grow rapidly; for the insect does not hurt it when the rough leaf is once grown. I have this season seen a fine field of Turnips, sown mixt with dung out of a cart and ploughed in ridges. The seeds which were not too deeply buried grew and escaped the fly; when scarcely a field in the same district escaped the ravages of that insect. Turnips are sown either broad-cast or in drills. It takes about four pounds of seed per acre in the first mode, and about half the quantity in the second.

There are several varieties of turnips grown for cattle; the most striking of which are, the White round Norfolk; the Red round ditto; the Green round ditto; the Tankard; the Yellow. These varieties are nearly the same in goodness and produce: the green and red are considered as rather more hardy than the others. The tankard is long-rooted and stands more out of the ground, and is objected to as being more liable to the attack of early frosts. The yellow is much esteemed in Scotland, and supposed to contain more nutriment [Footnote: The usual season for sowing the above varieties is within a fortnight or three weeks after Midsummer.]. The Stone and Dutch turnips are grown for culinary purposes, and are also sometimes sown after the corn is cleared, as being small and of early growth; these in such cases are called stubble turnips, and often in fine autumns produce a considerable quantity of herbage. For a further account of the culture &c. see Dickson's Modern Husbandry, vol. ii. p. 639.

There is nothing in husbandry requiring more care than the saving seeds of most of the plants of this tribe, and in particular of the Genus Brassica. If two sorts of turnips or cabbages are suffered to grow and bloom together, the pollen of each kind will be sufficiently mixed to impregnate each alternately, and a hybrid kind will be the produce, and in ninety-nine times out of a hundred a worse variety than either. Although this is generally the result of an indiscriminate mixture, yet by properly adapting two different kinds to grow together, new and superior varieties are sometimes produced. One gentleman having profited by this philosophy, has succeeded in producing some fine new varieties of fruits and vegetables, much to the honour of his own talents and his country's benefit [Footnote: See Mr Knight On the Apple-tree.]. It is well known to gardeners that the cabbage tribe are liable to sport thus in their progeny; and to some accidental occurrence of this nature we are indebted for the very useful plant called the

64. ROOTA-BAGA. SWEDISH TURNIP.--Which is a hybrid plant par-taking of the turnip and cabbage, and what has within these few years added so much to the benefit of the grazier. This root is much more hardy than any of the turnips; it will stand our winters without suffering injury from frosts, and is particularly ponderous and nutritious.

It is usually cultivated as the common trunip, with this difference, that it requires to be sown as early in some lands as the month of May, it being a plant which requires a longer time to come to maturity.

Every judicious farmer who depends on turnips for foddering his stock in the winter, will do well to guard against the loss sometimes occasioned by the failure of his Turnips from frost and wet. Various ways of doing this are recommended, as stacking &c. But if he has a portion of his best land under Swedish turnip, he will have late in the winter a valuable crop that will be his best substitute. Another advantage is this, that it will last a fortnight longer in the spring, and consequently be valuable on this account. The quantity of seed usually sown is the same as for the common kinds of turnip. There are two varieties of this plant, one white and the other yellow: the latter is the most approved.

65. BRASSICA Napo Brassica. KOHLRABBI.--A hardy kind of Turnip cabbage, grown much in Germany for fodder: it is very nutritive, and has the property of resisting frost better than either the turnips or cattle-cabbage. The seed and culture of this are the same as of Drum-head cabbage.

There are two varieties of this plant, the green and the purple; the latter is generally most esteemed.

66. BRUSSELS SPROUTS.--This is a large variety of cabbage, very productive and hardy. The culture is the same as for Cattle-cabbage.

67. BRASSICA oleracea. DRUM-HEAD CABBAGE.--This is usually sown in March and the plants put out into beds, and then transplanted into the fields; this grows to a most enormous size, and is very profitable. About four pounds of seed is sufficient for an acre.

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SEC. IV.--GRAINS.

73. AVENA sativa. COMMON OATS.--A grain very commonly known, of which we have a number of varieties, from the thin old Black Oats to the fine Poland variety and the celebrated Potatoe-Oats.

These give the farmer at all times the advantage of a change of seeds, a measure allowed on all hands to be essential to good husbandry. The culture is various; thin soils growing the black kind in preference, which is remarkably hardy, where the finer sorts affecting a better soil will not succeed. It is applicable both to the drill and broad-cast. The seed is from six pecks to four bushels per acre, and the crop from seven to fourteen quarters.

74. CARUM Carui. CARAWAY SEEDS.--The seeds of this are in demand both by druggists and confectioners. It is cultivated in Kent and Essex; where it, being a biennial plant, is sown with a crop of spring corn, and left with the stubble during the succeeding winter, and after clearing the land in the spring is left to go to seed. It requires a good hot dry soil; but although the crop is often of great value, it so much exhausts the land as to be hazardous culture in many light soils where the dunghill is not handy.

The seed is about ten pounds per acre, and the crop often five or six sacks.

75. CORIANDRUM sativum. CORIANDER.--Is grown in the stiff lands, in Essex, and is an annual of easy but not of general culture. The seeds are used by druggists and rectifiers of spirits, and form many of the cordial drinks.

The quantity of seed and produce are similar to those of Caraway.

76. ERVUM Lens. LENTILS.--Once cultivated here for the seeds, which are used for soups; but it is furnished principally from Spain, and can at all times be purchased for less than it can be grown for.

77. HORDEUM distichon. COMMON TWO-ROWED BARLEY.--A grain now in very general cultivation, and supposed to be the best kind grown for malting. The season for sowing barley is in the spring, and the crop varies according to soil and culture; it is sown either broad-cast, drilled, or dibbled. The quantity of seed sown is from three pecks to three bushels per acre, and the produce from three to eleven quarters.

As the process of malting may not be generally understood by that class of readers for which this work is mostly intended, I shall give a short sketch of it.--It is a natural principle of vegetation, that every seed undergoes a change before it is formed into the young plant. The substance of the cotyledons, which when ground forms the nutritious flower of which bread is made, changes into two particular substances, i. e. sugar and mucilage; and whilst mankind form from it the principal staff of life as an edible commodity, the same parts of the seed in barley are by certain means made into malt, which is only another term for the sugar of that grain. To effect this, the barley is steeped in water, and afterwards laid in heaps, in which state it vegetates in a few days, and the saccharine fermentation is by that means carried on to a certain pitch, when it is put on a kiln to which a fire is applied, and it is by that means dried. It is then perfect malt, and fit for the purpose of brewing.

Pearl and Scotch Barley, used for soup and medicinal purposes, are made from the grain by being put into a mill, which merely grinds off the husk. The Pearl barley is mostly prepared in Holland, but the Scotch is made near Edinburgh in considerable quantities. A description of an improved Mill for this purpose is to be seen in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, p. 283.

78. HORDEUM vulgare. BERE, BIG, or WINTER BARLEY.--This is a coarser grain than the Two-rowed Barley, and hence it is not so well adapted to the purpose of malting. It is grown on cold thin soils, being much hardier than the former.

It is now often sown in October, and in the month of May or June following it is mown and taken off the land for green fodder. The plants will notwithstanding this produce in August a very abundant crop of grain. Hence this is a valuable mode of culture for the farmer.

The other varieties of Barley are,

79. HORDEUM hexastichon. SIX-ROWED BARLEY.--This is also a coarse grain; and although it was once in cultivation here, it has been altogether superseded by the Bere, which is a better kind.

80. HORDEUM zeocriton. BATTLEDORE BARLEY.--This is a fine grain, but very tender, and not now in cultivation in this country.

NAKED BARLEY. The two first species sometimes produce a variety which thrashes out of the husks similar to wheat: these are very heavy and fine grain, but they are not in cultivation: for what reason I know not.

81. PANICUM miliaceum. MILLET.--Millet is of two kinds, the brown and yellow. They are sometimes sown in this country for feeding poultry, and also for dressing; i. e. it is divested of the husk by being passed through a mill, when it is equal to rice for the use of the pastrycook. The seed used is from one to two bushels per acre. This is more commonly grown in Italy, and on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, from which large quantities are annually exported to the more northern countries.

82. PAPAVER somniferum. MAW-SEED.--The large white Opium Poppy is grown for seed for feeding birds, and also for pressing the oil, which is used by painters. The heads are also used by the apothecaries; which see under the head Medicinal Plants. About two pounds of seed to the acre.

83. PHALARIS canariensis. CANARY-SEED.--This is grown mostly in the Isle of Thanet, and sent to London &c. for feeding canary and other song-birds, and considered a very profitable crop to the farmer. It is sown in April, and the quantity of seed is about one bushel and a half per acre.

84. PISUM sativum. THE PEA [Footnote: At the request of Sir John Sinclair I made an experiment, from directions given by a French emigrant, of mixing Pease with urine in which had been steeped a considerable quantity of pigeon's dung. In the course of twenty-four hours they had swoln very much, when they were put into the ground. An equal quantity were steeped in water; and the same quantity also that had not been steeped, were sown in three adjoining spots of land. There was a difference in the coming up of the crops, of some days in each; but that with the above preparation took the lead, and was by far the best crop on the ground. This is an experiment worth attending to. It is usual to prepare wheat in a similar way, but no other grain that I have ever heard of.].--The Gray Hog-pea used to be the only one considered sufficiently hardy for culture in the fields; but since the improvement in our agriculture we have all the finer varieties cultivated in large quantities. The seed used is about two bushels and a half per acre, and the produce varies from three to ten quarters.

The varieties of Peas are many, but the principal ones used in agriculture are the Early Charlton Pea; the Dwarf Marrow; the Prussian Blue. All these are dwarf kinds; and as the demand for this article in time of war is great for the navy and army, if the farmer's land will suit, and produce such as will boil, they will fetch a considerably greater price in proportion.

The varieties that are found to boil are either used whole, or split, which is done by steeping them in water till the cotyledons swell, after which they are dried on a kiln and passed through a mill; which just breaking the husk, the two cotyledons fall apart.

85. POLYGONUM Fagopyrum. BUCK-WHEAT.--This is usually sown in places where pheasants are bred, as the seed is the best food for those birds; it is also useful for poultry and hogs. I have eaten bread and cakes made of the flower, which are also very palatable. Two bushels are usually sown per acre. The season is May; and it is often sown on foul land in the summer, as it grows very thick on the land, and helps to clean it by smothering all the weeds. The crop does not stand on the ground more than ten or twelve weeks.

86. SECALE cereale. RYE.--This is often grown for a spring crop of green food, by sowing it early in the autumn, as it is very hardy and is not affected by frost. It grows fast in the spring months, and affords a very luxuriant crop of green fodder. Tares and Rye are frequently sown mixed together for the same purpose, and the Tares find a support in the stalks of the Rye, by which means they produce a larger crop than they make by themselves. The grain is the next in estimation to Wheat, and is frequently used for making bread. The quantity sown per acre is the same as Wheat.

87. SINAPIS nigra. BLACK MUSTARD.--This is grown in Essex in great quantities for the seeds, which are sold to the manufacturers of flower of mustard, and is considered better flavoured, stronger, and capable of keeping better, than the white kind for such purpose. It is also in use for various medicinal preparations; which see. About two bushels of seed sown broad-cast are sufficient for an acre.

This plant affords another striking instance of the care of Providence in preserving the species of the vegetable kingdom, it being noticed in the Isle of Ely and other places, that wherever new ditches are thrown out, or the earth dug to any unusual depth, the seeds of Black Mustard immediately throw up a crop. In some places it has been proved to have lain thus embalmed for ages.

Flower of mustard, which is now become so common on our tables, and which is an article of very considerable trade, is but a new manufacture. A respectable seedsman who lived in Pall-Mall was the first who prepared it in this state for sale. The seeds of the white sort had been used to be bruised in a mortar and eaten sometimes as a condiment, but only in small quantities.

When used fresh it is weak, and has an unpleasant taste; but after standing a few hours the essential oil unites with the water which is used, and it then becomes considerably stronger, and the flavour is improved. It is prepared by drying the seeds on a kiln and grinding them to a powder. As this article is become of considerable importance from the demand, it has occasioned persons to speculate in its adulteration, which is now I believe often practised. Real flower of mustard will bear the addition of an equal quantity of salt without its appearing too much in the taste. In an old work, Hartman's treasure of Health, I find it to have been practised by a noble lady of that time to make mustard for keeping, with sherry wine with the addition of a little sugar, and sometimes a little vinegar. Query, Is this, with the substitution of a cheaper wine, the secret of what is called Patent Mustard?

88. TRITICUM aestivum. SPRING WHEAT.--Wheat is a grain well known in most countries in Europe. It has been in cultivation for many ages. This species was introduced some years ago from the Barbary coast, and has been found very beneficial for sowing in the spring, when it often produces a large crop. It takes a shorter time to come to maturity than the other sorts; and as it is a more profitable crop to the farmer on good soils than Barley, it is frequently sown after Turnips are over. This has, perhaps, been one of the best improvements in Grain husbandry that was ever introduced, as it gives the grower great advantages which he could not have under the common culture of Wheat at the usual seed-time. This is little different in appearance from the Common White Wheat. But there was a small variety of it with rounder grains sent to the Board of Agriculture from the Cape of Good Hope about the year 1801, of which I saved a small quantity of seeds which was distributed among the members; and I have lately seen a sample of it in the hands of a gentleman in Devonshire, who speaks very highly of it as producing a large crop in a short time, and that the flower was so much esteemed, that the millers gave him a higher price for it than the finest samples at market of the other kinds would sell for. I believe this variety is very scarce. It is now twelve years since I grew it, from which what I saw, and all other in cultivation, if any there are, have sprung.

89. TRITICUM compositum. EGYPTIAN WHEAT.--This is a species with branched ears, and commonly having as many as three and four divisions. It is much cultivated in the eastern countries, but has not been found to answer so well in this country as the common cultivated species.

90. TRITICUM hybernum. COMMON WHEAT.--Of this grain we have a number of varieties, which are grown according to the fashion of countries, differing in the colour of the ear and also of the grain. The most esteemed sorts are the Hertfordshire White and the Essex Red Wheat, which are both much cultivated and equally esteemed. The season for growing these kinds is usually September and October. The drill, dibble, and broad-cast modes are all used, as the land and convenience of the farmer happen to suit, and the produce varies accordingly; as does also the quantity of seed sown. From two pecks to two bushels and a half are sown on an acre.

Wheat is liable to the ravages of many terrestrious insects which attack its roots; and also some very curious diseases. One of these has been very clearly elucidated by our munificent patron of science, Sir Joseph Banks, in the investigation of a parasitical plant which destroys the blood of the stalk and leaves, renders the grain thin, and in some cases quite destroys the crop, which has done that gentleman's penetration great credit [Footnote: Sir Joseph Banks On the Blight in Corn.]. An equally extraordinary disease is the Smut, which converts the farinaceous parts of the grain to a black powder resembling smut: a cirumstance too well known to many farmers. Those who wish to consult the remedies recommended against this, may refer to The Annals of Agriculture, and most other books on the subject. It is usual with farmers to mix the Wheat with stale urine or brine, and to dry it by sifting it with slaked lime, which has the effect of causing it to vegetate quickly, and to prevent the attacks of many insects when the seed is first put into the ground. This is considered as productive of great benefit to the crop; but it is also to be remarked, that it is almost the only grain that is ever prepared with this mixture, although it might be applied with equal propriety to all others. See article Pisum sativum.

91. TRITICUM turgidum. CONE WHEAT.--This a fine grain, and cultivated much in the strong land in the Vale of Evesham, where it is found to answer better than any other sorts. It is distinguished by the square and thick spike, and having a very long arista or beard.

The following sorts of Wheat are mentioned as being in cultivation. But I have not seen them, neither do I think any of them equal to the sorts enumerated above:

Triticum nigrum. BLACK-GRAINED WHEAT. Triticum polonicum. POLISH WHEAT. Triticum monococcon. ONE-GRAINED WHEAT. Triticum Spelta. SPELT WHEAT.

Besides the use of Wheat for bread and other domestic purposes, large quantities are every season consumed in making starch, which is the pure fecula of the grain obtained by steeping it in water and beating it in coarse hempen bags, by which means the fecula is thus caused to exude and diffuse through the water. This, from being mixed with the saccharine matter of the grain, soon runs into the acetous fermentation, and the weak acid thus formed by digesting on the fecula renders it white. After setting, the precipitate is washed several times, and put by in square cakes and dried on kilns. These in drying part into flakes, which gives the form to the starch of the shops.

Starch is soluble in hot water, and becomes of the nature of gum. It is however insoluble in cold water, and on this account when pulverized it makes most excellent hair-powder.

92. Vicia Faba. THE BEAN.--Several kinds of Beans are cultivated by farmers. The principal are the Horse-Bean or Tick-Bean; the Early Mazagan; and the Long-pods. Beans grow best in stiff clayey soils, and in such they are the most convenient crop. The season for planting is either the winter or spring month, as the weather affords opportunity. They are either drilled, broad-cast sown, or put in by the dibble, which is considered not only the most eligible mode but in ge-neral affording the best crops. The seed is from one to three bushels per acre.

93. ZEA Mays. INDIAN CORN, or MAIZE. In warmer climates, as the South of France, and the East and West Indies, this is one of the most useful plants; the seeds forming good provender for poultry, hogs and cattle, and the green tops excellent fodder for cattle in general. I once saw a small early variety, that produced a very good crop, near Uxbridge; but I believe it is not in cultivation.

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SECT. V.--MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

94. CANNABIS sativa. HEMP.--This plant is cultivated in some parts of this country. It is usually sown in March, and is fit to harvest in October. It is then pulled up and immersed in water; when the woody parts of the stalks separating from the bark, which sloughs off and undergoes a decomposition by which the fibres are divided, it is then combed (hackled), dried, and reduced to different fineness of texture, and spun for various purposes. It requires good land, and the seed is usually two bushels and a half per acre.

The seed, which ripens about the time the hemp is pulled, is useful for feeding birds and poultry, and very nourishing.

95. DIPSACUS Fullonum. FULLER'S TEAVEL.--The heads of this plant are used for combing kerseymeres and finer broad cloths. The heads are generally fit to cut about the latter end of August, and are then separated and made up into bundles, and sold to the clothiers. The large heads are called Kings; the next size Middlings; and the smaller Minikins. The reason they are separated before sending to market is, that the large and small will not fit together on the frame in which they are fixed to the water-wheel, so that it is usual for the proprietor of the fulling-mills to purchase all of either one or the other size. The crop is considered very valuable, but the culture is confined to a small district in Somersetshire. The plant is biennial, and is usually sown in May, and the crop kept hoed during that season. In the following spring the plants bloom, and when the seeds are ripe the heads are fit for cutting; when they are assorted as above for the dealers. Three pounds of seed are used to an acre, and the plants at the last stirring are left from two feet to two feet and a half apart.

96. HUMULUS Lupulus. THE HOP.--The Hop is cultivated for brewing, being the most wholesome bitter we have, though the brewers are in the habit of using other vegetable bitters, which are brought from abroad and sold at a much cheaper rate. There is, however, a severe penalty on using any other than Hops for such purpose.

The Hops are distinguished by several varieties grown in Kent, Worcestershire, and at Farnham. The last place produces the best kind. For its culture more at length see Agriculture of Surry, by Mr. Stevenson.

97. ISATIS tinctoria. WOAD.--Is cultivated in the county of Somersetshire. It is used, after being prepared, for dyeing &c. It is said to be the mordant used for a fine blue on woollen. The foliage, which is like Spinach, is gathered during the summer months, and steeped in vats of water. After some time a green fecula is deposited in the bottom of the water, which is washed, and made into cakes and sold for use.

It is a perennial plant, and found wild in great abundance near Guildford, where great quantities might be gathered for use, and where a great deal of the seed could be collected. Its culture is very similar to that of the Teazle, with this difference, it requires the hoe at work constantly all the summer months.

The two plants Weld and Woad from the similarity of names are frequently confounded with each other, and some of the best agricultural writers have fallen into this error. They are two very different plants, and ought to be well defined, being each of them of very material consequence in this country.

98. LINUM usitatissimum. FLAX, or LINT-SEED.--Is grown for the purpose of making cloth, and has been considered a very profitable crop. The culture and management is similar to that of Hemp, and the seeds are in great demand for pressing. Lintseed oil, which it produces, is much used by painters, and is the only vegetable oil that is found fit for such purposes in general. The seeds are of several uses to the farmer; a tea is made of it, and mixed with skimmed milk, for fattening house-lambs and calves. Oxen are often fattened on the seed itself; but the cakes after the oil is expressed are a very common and most excellent article for fattening both black cattle and sheep. These are sold at from 10 l. to 16 l. per thousand.

It will require three bushels of Flax-seed for one acre, as it must be sown thick on the land. Lintseed cake has been used also for manure; and I have seen fine crops of Turnips where it has been powdered and sown in the drills with the seed.

99. RESEDA luteola. DYER'S-WEED, or WELD.--Is often confounded with Woad, but is altogether a very different plant. Weld is cultivated on the chalky hills of Surry, being sown under a crop of Barley, and the second year cleaned by hoeing, and then left to grow till it blooms, when it is pulled and tied up in small bundles, and after drying is sent to market, where it is purchased for dyeing yellow, and is in great request.

100. RUBIA tinctoria. MADDER.--This very useful dyeing drug used to be grown in this country in considerable quantities, but it is not cultivated here at the present time. The principal part of what is used now is brought from Holland, and affords a considerable article of trade to the Dutch farmers. Those who wish to be informed of the mode of culture may consult Professor Martyn's edition of Miller's Dictionary.

Some years since Sir Henry Englefield, Bart., obtained a premium from the Society of Arts for the discovery of a fine tint drawn from Madder, called the Adrianople red. It was found that it was to be obtained from a variety of the Rubia brought from Smyrna; and Mr. Smyth, our consul at that city, was prevailed on by Dr. Charles Taylor to procure seeds from thence, which the Society did me the honour of committing to my care; and I have now a considerable stock of that kind, from whence I have myself obtained the same beautiful and superior tint. See Trans. Soc. Arts. vol. 27, p. 40.

101. ULEX europaeus. FURZE, GORSE, or WHIN.--Is used in husbandry for fences, and is also much cultivated for fuel for burning lime, heating ovens, &c. Cattle and sheep relish it much; but it cannot be eaten by them except when young, in consequence of its strong spines; to obviate which an implement has been invented for bruising it. When it grows wild on our waste land, it is common to set it on fire in the summer months, and the roots and stems will throw up from the ground young shoots, which are found very useful food for sheep and other animals. It is readily grown from seeds, six pounds of which will be enough for an acre of land.

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PLANTS USEFUL IN THE ARTS.

SECT. VI.--BRITISH TREES AND SHRUBS.

102. ACER Pseudo-Platanus. SYCAMORE.--The wood of this tree is soft and of little use, unless it is for the turners' purposes, who make boxes and other small toys of it. It is not of value as timber.

103. ACER campestre. THE MAPLE.--Before the introduction of Mahogany and other fine woods the Maple was the principal wood used for all kinds of cabinet work, and was much esteemed: the knobs which grow on those trees in an old state afforded the most beautiful specimens, and according to Evelyn were collected by the curious at great prices. The Maple trees in this country are none of them at the present day old enough to afford that fine-veined variegation in the timber which is alluded to in this account.

104. ARBUTUS Unedo. THE STRAWBERRY-TREE.--Is a native of the islands in the celebrated Lake of Killarney in Ireland, where it grows to a large size. We know of no particular use to which it is applied. It is however one of our most ornamental evergreen shrubs, producing beautiful flowers, which vary from transparent white to deep red, in the winter months, at which season also the fruit appears; which taking twelve months to come to maturity affords the singular phaenomenon in plants, of having lively green leaves, beautiful flowers, and fruit as brilliant as the richest strawberry, in the very depth of our winter. We have a fine variety of this plant with scarlet blossoms, and also one with double flowers, both of which are singularly ornamental to the shrubbery.

105. ARBUTUS Uva Ursi. BEAR-BERRIES.--A small trailing plant of great repute as a medicine, but of no use in any other respect.

106. BERBERIS vulgaris. BARBERRY.--This has long been cultivated in gardens for its fruit, which is a fine acid, and it is used as a conserve, and also for giving other sweeter fruits a flavour. The common wild kind has stones in the fruit, which renders it disagreeable to eat. There is a variety without stones called the Male Barberry, which is preferred on this account.

This tree is subject to a disease in the summer, caused apparently from a yellow fungus growing on the leaves and young shoots; and it is said that where it grows near corn fields it imparts its baneful influence to the grain, for which reason it is recommended in some of our books on agriculture to exterminate the trees.

107. BETULA alba. BIRCH-TREE.--Is in great use and of considerable value on some estates for making brooms, and the timber for all purposes of turnery-ware and carving. The sap of the Birch-tree is drawn by perforating the bark in the early state of vegetation. It is fermented, and makes a very pleasant and potent beverage called Birch Wine.

108. BETULA Alnus. ALDER-TREE.--This is a valuable tree for planting in moors and wet places. The wood is used for making clogs, pattens, and other such purposes; and the bark for dyeing and manufacturing some of the finer kinds of leather. This wood is of considerable value for making charcoal for gunpowder. In charring it a considerable quantity of acetic acid is extracted, which is of great value for the purpose of bleaching, &c. &c.

109. BUXUS sempervirens. BOX-TREE.--The wood of Box is of great value for musical instruments, and for forming the handles of many tools: being very hard, it admits of a fine polish. This tree is growing in quantity at Box-hill in Surry, and has given name to that place.

This was planted by a late Duke of Norfolk, and has succeeded so well, that the wood has been cut twice, and sold each time for treble the value of the fee-simple of the land.

It forms a better cover for game than any other plant; and being very bitter, is not liable to be destroyed by any animal eating it down. An infusion of the leaves is frequently given as a vermifuge with good effect.

There is a smaller variety of this, much used for making edging to gravel walks in gardens.

110. CARPINUS Betulus. THE HORNBEAM.--This grows to a large tree, but is not of much account as timber: it is however very useful in forming ornamental fences, and is well adapted to this purpose from the tendency of its young branches to grow thick.

111. CLEMATIS Vitalba. TRAVELLER'S JOY.--A beautiful creeping shrub very useful to the farmers for making shackles for gates and hurdles, or withs for tying faggots and other articles. Whenever this plant is found in the hedges, &c. it is a certain indication of a ckalky under stratum in the soil.

112. CORNUS sanguinea. DOG-WOOD.--This is planted in pleasuregrounds as an ornamental shrub, and from the red appearance of the wood in the winter forms a beautiful constrast in plantations. It is also used by butchers for making skewers.

113. CORYLUS Avellana. THE HAZEL.--Is a well known shrub of large growth producing nuts, which are much admired. The Filbert is an improved variety of this plant. The farmers in Kent are the best managers of Filberts, and it is the only place where they are grown with any certainty; which appears to be owing principally to the trees being regularly pruned of the superfluous wood. It is performed in the month of March when the plants are in bloom, and is the only time when the fruit-bearing wood can be distinguished.

114. CRATAEGUS Aria. WHITE BEAM-TREE.--Is a beautiful tree producing very hard wood, and is much in esteem for cogs of millwork and various other purposes.

115. CRATAEGUS Oxyacantha. THE QUICKSET, or WHITE-THORN.--This is in great request for making fences, and is the best plant we know for such purposes if properly managed. It is readily propagated by sowing the hips, or fruit, which does not readily grow the first season; it is therefore usual to bury them mixed with saw-dust, or sand, one year, and then to sow them in beds.

116. DAPHNE Laureola. SPURGE- or WOOD-LAUREL.--Is used in medicine; which see.

We have many species of Daphne which are very ornamental to our shrubberies and green-houses: these are propagated principally by grafting; and the Wood-Laurel being hardy and of ready growth forms the stock principally used. It is readily propagated by seeds, which in three years will make plants large enough for this purpose.

The plant in all its parts is excessively acrid. I remember a man being persuaded to take the leaves reduced to powder, as a remedy for Syphilis, and he died in consequence in great agony in a few hours.

117. DAPHNE Mezerium. MEZERION.--Is a very beautiful shrub, and is one of the earliest productions of Flora, often exhibiting its brilliant scarlet flowers in January and February. We have also a white variety of this shrub in the gardens. The bark and roots are extremely acrimonious, and are used in medicine.

118. ERICA vulgaris. THE COMMON HEATH, HEATHER, or LING.---This spontaneous produce of most of our sandy waste lands is of much usin rural oeconomy.

It is of considerable value for making brooms, and affords food to sheep, goats, and other animals; particularly to the grouse and heath-cock. The branches of heath placed upright in a wooden frame form the couch of repose to the brave Highlander. It is also stated that an excellent beverage was brewed from the tops of this plant, but the art of making it is now lost. This is the most common of the species, but all the others have similar properties. They are very ornamental plants. A numerous variety of heaths are brought from the Cape of Good Hope, and afford great pleasure to the amateur of exotic plants, being the greatest ornaments to our green-houses.

119. EUONYMUS europaeus. SPINDLE-TREE.--An ornamental shrub. The wood is in great request for making skewers for butchers, as it does not impart any unpleasant taste to the meat.

120. FAGUS Castanea. THE SPANISH CHESNUT.--This tree produces timber similar to oak in point of durability, and the bark also contains a considerable quantity of tannin. The Chesnut was in greater plenty in this country many years ago than at the present day; large forests are represented to have been in the neighbourhood of London; and we are led to believe such may have been the case, as many of the old buildings when examined have been found to be built of this timber. The fruit is used as a dainty at table; but the variety which is brought from Portugal and Spain is much larger than what are grown in this country. The large kind imported from those countries is grafted, and kept on purpose for the fruit. It is an improvement to graft this variety by taking the scions from trees in bearing, and they will produce fruit in a few years and in a dwarf state.

121. FAGUS sylvatica. THE BEECH.--The timber of the Beech is valuable for making wheels, and is applied to many other useful purposes in domestic oeconomy. The seeds of the Beech are very useful for fattening hogs.

This tree affords many beautiful varieties in foliage, the handsomest of which is the Copper Beech, whose purple leaves form a fine contrast in colour with the lively green of the common sort.

123. FRAXINUS excelsior. THE ASH.--The wood of the Ash is considered the best timber for all purposes of strong husbandry utensils. The wheels and axle-trees of carriages, the shafts for carts, and the cogs for mill-work, are principally made of this timber. The young wood when gown in coppices is useful for hop-poles, and the small underwood is said to afford the best fuel of any when used green. Coppice-land usually sells for a comparatively greater price according as this wood prevails in quantity, on account of its good quality as fuel alone.

124. HEDERA Helix. IVY.--A common plant in woods, and often planted in shady places to hide walls and buildings. The leaves are good food for deer and sheep in winter. The Irish Ivy, which was brought from that country, is a fine variety with broad leaves. It was introduced by Earl Camden.

125. HIPPOPHAE Rhamnoides. SEA BUCKTHORN.--This is a scarce shrub; but is very useful as a plant for forming shelter on the hills near the sea-coast, it having been found to stand the sea-breeze better than any plant of the kind that is indigenous to this country.

126. ILEX aquifolium. HOLLY.--A well-known evergreen of singular beauty, of which we have many varieties, both striped, and of different colours in the leaf. Birdlime is made from the inner bark of this tree, by beating it in a running stream and leaving it to ferment in a close vessel. If iron be heated with charcoal made of holly with the bark on, the iron will be rendered brittle; but if the bark be taken off, this effect will not be produced. Ray's Works and Travels by Scott.

127. JUNIPERUS communis. JUNIPER.--An evergreen shrub, very common on waste lands. The berries are used in preparing the well-known spiritous liquor gin, and have been considered of great use in medicine.

128. LIGUSTRUM vulgare. PRIVET.--A shrub of somewhat humble growth, very useful for forming hedges where shelter is wanted more than strength. It bears clipping, and forms a very ornamental fence. There is a variety of this with berries, and another nearly evergreen.

129. MESPILUS germanica. THE MEDLAR.--Is cultivated for its fruit, and of which we have a variety called the Dutch Medlar; it is larger than our English one, but I do not think it better flavoured.

130. PINUS sylvestris. THE SCOTCH FIR.--A very useful tree in plantations for protecting other more tender sorts when young. It is also now very valuable as timber:--necessity, the common parent of invention, has taught our countrymen its value. When foreign deal was worth twenty pounds per load, they contrieved to raise the price of this to about nine or ten pounds, and it was then thought proper for use; before which period, and when it could be bought for little money, it was deemed only fit for fuel. On the South Downs I know some plantations of this tree, which have been sold, after twenty-five years growth, at a price which averaged a profit of twenty shillings per annum per acre, on land usually let for sheep-pasture at one shilling and six-pence.

131. POPULUS alba. WHITE POPLAR. This is a very ornamental tree. The leaves on the under surface are of a fine white, and on the reverse of a very dark green; and when growing on large trees are truly beautiful, as every breath of air changes the colour as the leaves move. The wood of all the species of poplar is useful for boards, or any other purposes if kept dry. It is much in demand for floor-boards for rooms, it not readily taking fire; a red-hot poker falling on a board, would burn its way through it, without causing more combustion than the hole through which it passed.

132. POPULUS monilifera. CANADA POPLAR.--This is also known by the name of BLACK ITALIAN POPLAR, but from whence it had this name I do not know. This species, which is the finest of all the kinds, grows very commonly in woods and hedges in many parts of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, where it reaches to prodigious sizes. Perhaps no timber is more useful than this; it is very durable, and easy to be converted to all purposes in building. The floors of a great part of Downton Castle, the seat of R. Payne Knight, Esq. are laid with this wood, which have been used forty years and are perfectly sound. Trees are now growing on his estate which are three and four feet in diameter. I have one growing in my Botanic garden which is eight years old, and measures upwards of six cubic feet of timber. The parent of this tree which grew at Brompton I converted into boards. It was nineteen years growing; and when cut down it was worth upwards of fourteen pounds, rating it at the then price of deal, for which it was a good substitute. Some fine specimens of this tree are also to be seen at Garnins, the seat of Sir J. G. Cotterell, Bart. the present worthy member for the county of Hereford.

133. PRUNUS domestica. THE COMMON PLUM-TREE.--This is the parent of our fruit of this name.

134. PRUNUS Cerasus. WILD CHERRY-TREE.--Is the parent of our fine cherries. It is cultivated much in Scotland for the timber, which is hard, and of use for furniture and other domestic purposes. It is the best and most lasting stock for grafting on. Persons who are about to plant this fruit would do well to inquire into the nature of the stock, as no fruit-tree is so liable to disease and become gummy as cherries are, and that is often much owing to the improved kinds being sown for stocks, which are of a more tender texture and of course less hardy than this.

135. PRUNUS insititia. SLOE-TREE.--Is of little use except when it occurs in fences. The fruit is a fine acid, and is much used by the common people, mixed with other fruits less astringent and acid, to flavour made wines. It is believed that much Port wine is improved by the same means.

136. PYRUS communis. PEAR-TREE.--This is the parent of all our fine varieties of this fruit, and is used as the stock for propagating them; these are raised from seeds for that purpose. The wood of the Peartree is in great esteem for picture frames, it receiving a stain better than almost any other timber known.

137. PYRUS Malus. CRAB-TREE.--A tree of great account, as being the parent of all our varieties of apples, and is the stock on which the fine varieties are usually grafted. A dwarf variety of this tree, called the Paradise Apple, is used for stocks for making dwarf apple trees for gardens.

The juice of the Crab is called verjuice, which is in considerable demand for medicinal and other purposes.