193. _The COMMON BROOM_ (Spartium scoparium) _is a shrub common on sandy
pastures and heaths in nearly all the southern parts of England; and is
distinguished by having large, yellow, butterfly-shaped flowers, leaves
in threes, and single, and the branches angular._
Few of our wild plants are applicable to more numerous purposes of domestic
utility than this. Its _twigs_ are tied in bundles, and formed into brooms.
Some persons roast the _seeds_, and make them into a kind of coffee. The
fibrous and elastic parts of the _bark_, after having been separated by
soaking in water, may be manufactured into cordage, matting, and even into
a coarse kind of cloth. The twigs and young branches have been successfully
employed as a substitute for oak bark, in the tanning of leather. They may
also be rendered serviceable as thatch for houses, and corn ricks; and some
persons mix them with hops in brewing; but it is doubtful whether, in this
respect, they are wholesome. The _flower buds_, when pickled, have
occasionally been used as a substitute for capers.
The _wood_, where the dimensions are sufficient for the purpose, is
employed by cabinet-makers for veneering; and it is stated by Dr. Mead,
that a decoction of the green tops, in conjunction with mustard, has been
found efficacious in the cure of dropsy.
194. _SPANISH BROOM, or SPART_ (Spartium junceum), _is a well-known
ornamental flowering shrub in our gardens, which has opposite, round
branches, that flower at the top, and spear-shaped leaves._
In the province of Valencia, and other parts of Spain, great attention is
paid to this manufacture of various articles from the _twigs_ and _bark_ of
this shrub. They are plaited into mats, carpets, coverings for plants,
baskets, ropes, and even shoes. A great portion of these twigs was formerly
exported to different French ports in the Mediterranean, particularly to
Marseilles; but, in 1783, on account of the employment of which it deprived
the Spanish people in working them, their exportation was prohibited by the
government.
195. _FURZE, GORZE, or WHIN_ (Ulex Europæus), _is a well-known thorny
shrub, which is common on heaths and waste ground in almost every part of
England._
The chief use to which furze is applied, is for the heating of ovens; and,
in this respect, it is valuable, from its burning rapidly, and emitting a
great degree of heat. Its _ashes_ are used for a ley, which is of
considerable service in the washing of linen.
In some parts of the country, furze is sown on banks, round fields, for the
purpose of a fence; and it will flourish even close to the sea side, where
the spray of the sea destroys almost every other shrub. But it will not
bear severe cold, and it is often destroyed by intense frost. Furze does
not often occur in the northern parts of our island.
Horses, sheep, and cattle may be fed on this shrub; and, in several places,
the seeds of it are sown, either by themselves, or with barley, oats, or
buck-wheat (126). The plants are mown a year afterwards. They will grow for
several years, and produce from ten to fifteen tons per acre of food, which
is equal, in quality and excellence, to the same quantity of hay. They are
bruised before they are eaten, either in a machine, or by heavy mallets on
blocks of wood. This operation is requisite, in order to break the
prickles, and prevent these from being injurious to the mouths of the
animals that eat them.
196. _COWHAGE, or COW-ITCH, is a sharp and barbed kind of down or hair,
which thickly clothes the pods of a bean-like climbing plant_ (Dolichos
pruriens, Fig. 53), _that grows in the West Indies, and other countries
of warm climates._
_This is an herbaceous plant, which entwines round the adjacent trees or
shrubs, and often rises to a considerable height. The leaves grow in
threes upon long foot-stalks; and the flowers are large, butter-fly
shaped, of purplish colour, and form long and pendant spikes, which have
a very beautiful appearance._
It is the property of cowhage, when rubbed upon the skin, immediately to
penetrate it, and to cause an intolerable itching. Hence it is sometimes
wantonly employed for mischievous purposes; and hence also it is found very
troublesome to cattle and domestic animals, in places where the plants
grow. Notwithstanding this, it may be swallowed in safety, and, if taken
into the stomach and intestines, is said to be an useful remedy for the
destruction of worms. As a medicine, it is mixed with syrup or treacle into
the form of an electuary.
197. _SOY is a dark-coloured sauce, which is prepared from the seeds of a
Chinese plant_ (Dolichos soja), _that has an erect and hairy stem, erect
branches of flowers, and pendulous bristly pods, each containing about
two seeds._
There is a joke amongst seamen, that soy is made from beetles or
cockroaches. This probably originates in the seeds of the plant from which
the sauce is manufactured having some fancied resemblance, in shape and
colour, to a beetle. These _seeds_ are used in China and Japan as food.
They are made into a kind of jelly or curd, which is esteemed very
nutritious, and which is rendered palatable by seasoning of different
kinds.
The liquid which we know by the name of _soy_ is thus prepared:--After the
seeds have been boiled until they become soft, they are mixed with an equal
weight of wheat or barley meal, coarsely ground. This mixture is fermented;
and a certain proportion of salt and water being added, the whole is
allowed to stand for two or three months, care being taken to stir it every
day; and, by the end of that time, it is ready for use.
Soy is chiefly prepared in China and Japan; but that imported from Japan is
considered preferable to any other. The quantity annually vended at the
East India Company's sales is from eight hundred to two thousand gallons,
at an average price of sixteen or eighteen shillings per gallon.
198. _BEANS_ (Vicia faba) _are well-known seeds, originally introduced
from Persia, of which there are several kinds or varieties; some of these
are cultivated in fields, and others in gardens._
_Field_, or _horse-beans_, as they are frequently called, are small and
somewhat round. The cultivation of them is pursued to a considerable
extent. They are esteemed, in many respects, an advantageous crop to the
farmer, and will thrive on any land where the soil is sufficiently stiff.
They are usually sown in the month of February; sometimes in the autumn;
but, in case of severe frost, all the plants that are not well and deeply
covered with snow will perish. There is also much uncertainty in the crop,
owing to the state of the weather in the spring and summer; and
particularly to the ravages of small black insects, myriads of which are
frequently seen to crowd the tender tops of the plants.
The bean-harvest is seldom completed till nearly the end of September,
owing to the bulk and succulence of the plants; and the produce is from two
and a half to five quarters per acre.
There are several varieties of field-beans; but the fine and very small
ones usually bear the highest price. Bean flour is not only thought more
nutritive, but is found to be more abundant than that of oats. Beans are
chiefly applied to the feeding of horses, hogs, and other domestic animals;
and it is supposed that meal-men often grind them amongst wheat, the flour
of which is to be made into bread. By some persons they are roasted, and
adopted as a substitute for coffee. With the Roman ladies bean-flour was in
much repute as a cosmetic.
_Garden-beans_ are almost wholly confined to culinary uses. What are called
_French-beans_, and _Kidney-beans_, belong to a different tribe from the
present.
Bean _stalks_, if subjected to a certain process, are capable of being
converted into paper.
199. _VETCHES are a small species of beans_ (Vicia sativa) _which grow
wild in dry meadows, pastures, and cornfields, and are also cultivated in
most parts of England._
_The pods are generally in pairs; and the leaves winged, having each
about six pairs of leaflets, with a branched tendril at the extremity. At
the bases of each of the leaves there is a small stipule, marked with a
dark spot._
The principal use of vetches is as provender for horses and cattle. They
are grown so early as to allow of being fed off, or cut for this purpose,
in sufficient time for turnips to be sown the same year. When the land is
to be prepared for a wheat crop it is sometimes customary to plough in the
vetches as manure. The _seeds_ afford a grateful food for pigeons.
200. _PEAS_ (Pisum sativum) _are a kind of seeds too well known to need
any description._
There are several kinds of peas, some of which are cultivated in gardens,
and others in fields. The former are principally used for culinary
purposes. In the early part of the year, gardeners in the neighbourhood of
London raise them on hot-beds. The kind they select for this purpose are
the dwarf peas. These are sown about the middle of October in warm borders;
and afterwards, towards the end of January, they are removed into the
hot-beds. The inducement, of course, is the enormous prices that are paid
for the earliest peas brought into the market. The podding or picking of
green peas for the London market is also a valuable branch of the business
of some farms within a few miles of the metropolis. Many attempts have been
made to preserve green peas for use in winter; one of these is by bottling
them, and another by drying them in an oven, and afterwards keeping them in
paper bags; but none of the modes have been attended with complete success.
Field peas are sown about March or April, and succeed best in light, rich
soils. They are generally considered an uncertain crop; but this is owing,
in a great degree, to want of due attention to their culture.
In common with most other seeds of this class, peas yield a nutritive food
to persons of strong stomachs. When boiled in a fresh or green state, they
are both wholesome and agreeable; and, when ripe and ground into meal, they
are peculiarly serviceable for the fattening of swine. The flour of peas is
not unfrequently mixed by bakers amongst that of wheat for bread; but bread
made of this flour alone is heavy and unwholesome. Three parts of rye-flour
and one of ground peas are said to yield a palatable and nourishing bread.
Peas that are freed from their husks, and split in mills constructed for
the purpose, are used for soup. The haulm or _straw_ of field peas, if
saved in favourable seasons, affords not only an excellent fodder for
working horses, but is also an useful food for horses, cattle, and sheep.
It has been presumed that the _everlasting pea_, which is commonly grown as
an ornamental flower in our gardens, would be an advantageous green food
for horses and cattle.
201. _LIQUORICE is the root of a perennial plant_ (Glycyrrhiza glabra),
_with winged leaves, and purplish butterfly-shaped flowers, which grows
wild in the south of Europe, and is cultivated near Pontefract in
Yorkshire, Worksop in Nottinghamshire, and Godalming in Surrey, and by
many gardeners in the vicinity of London._
_The stalks of the liquorice-plant are usually four or five feet high.
The leaves are winged, and the leaflets egg-shaped, with an odd one at
the extremity. The flowers grow in long spikes from the junction of the
leaves and branches. The roots are long, round, tough, of brown colour
externally, and yellow within._
The principal use of liquorice is in medicine. It contains much saccharine
matter, joined with some portion of mucilage; and is one of the few sweet
substances which tend to allay thirst. Liquorice is an excellent medicine
in coughs and hoarsenesses. When boiled in a little water, it gives out
nearly all its sweetness; and this, when the moisture is evaporated,
produces, by different processes, what are called _Spanish liquorice_,
_liquorice cakes_, _liquorice lozenges_, and _Pontefract cakes_. The former
of these is used to great extent in the brewing of porter. It is said that
more than two hundred tons' weight of it are annually manufactured in
Spain, a considerable portion of which is sold to the London brewers for
this purpose. Liquorice powder, which is used in medicine, is often
adulterated with flour, and probably also with less wholesome articles. The
root itself may be employed as stopples for beer or wine bottles.
The soil in which liquorice is cultivated should be deep, light, and sandy;
and the roots, which strike deeply into the ground, should be planted in
rows, at the distance of a foot and half or two feet from each other. Three
years elapse, after the roots are planted, before the liquorice is in
perfection.
202. _SAINT-FOIN_ (Hedysarum onobrychis) _is a British perennial plant
with winged leaves, somewhat pyramidal bunches of butterfly-shaped
flowers, marked with red, white, and purple; and oblong, hairy pods, each
containing a single seed._
This plant is cultivated in several of the farming districts of England, as
food for horses and cattle; and it succeeds best on dry and chalky lands,
in high and exposed situations. The seed should be sown in February or
March, and, during the first year, the plants should remain untouched. In
the ensuing summer a crop of hay may be obtained from them; and after this
the saint-foin may regularly be mown twice every year, for ten or fifteen
years. When intended for hay, saint-foin should not be cut before it is in
full bloom, about the beginning of July, as otherwise the quality of the
hay would be much injured. Some farmers assert that saint-foin, when cows
are fed with it, both increases the quantity and improves the quality of
their milk; but, in the opinion of others, the quality is rather injured
than improved by it. No pasture is considered more excellent for sheep than
this. Saint-foin is also sometimes sown with clover, and sometimes with
barley.
203. _COMMON RED or BROAD CLOVER_ (Trifolium pratense) _is a well-known
field plant, much cultivated in this country._
Clover is chiefly grown in firm and good soils, either as green food for
horses and cattle, or to be cut for hay. On grass farms it is sometimes
sown in conjunction with spring corn, and sometimes with ray-grass (51);
and its utility in the fattening of cattle is well known. This species of
clover grows wild, in meadows and pastures of most parts of Europe; and, in
some countries, during a scarcity of provisions, the flowers have been made
into a kind of bread. In Sweden the heads are used as a green dye.
204. _LUCERN_ (Medicago sativa) _is a perennial plant with small purple
butterfly-shaped flowers, twisted pods, the stem erect and smooth, and
the leaves in threes._
Although a wild plant in nearly every country of the temperate parts of
Europe, this useful vegetable has only of late years been introduced into
cultivation. It flourishes most luxuriantly in deep, rich, and friable
loams, and cannot be too strongly recommended as food for cattle. The value
of lucern may be considerably increased by sowing it with oats; and, though
an expensive crop, it yields great profit.
205. _INDIGO is a blue dye prepared from a plant_ (Indigofera tinctoria)
_with a shrubby stem, oblong, smooth, and winged leaves, bunches of
flowers shorter than the leaves, and cylindrical pods slightly curved,
which grows in America and the West Indies._
The culture of indigo is an object of considerable importance in the West
Indian islands, and in some parts of America. The grounds appropriated to
it are sown about the middle of March, in rows fifteen inches asunder. The
plants come into flower about three months afterwards, and are in a state
to be cut about the month of August. They are cut with a kind of reaping
hook, a few inches above the root. The plants are then laid in strata, in a
vat or cistern constructed of strong mason-work, and so much water is
poured in as will cover them. In this state they are left to ferment, and
the fluid or pulp, which is first green, afterwards becomes of deep blue
colour. It is now drawn off into another vat, where it is strongly and
incessantly beaten and agitated, until the colouring matter is united into
a body. The water is then let off by cocks in the sides of the vat; and the
indigo, after undergoing some further preparations, is cast, in boxes or
moulds, into small pieces, each about an inch square, and packed up for
sale. The vapour which issues from the fermented liquor is extremely
injurious to the negroes who attend the process; and as peculiar attention
is requisite both to this and the granulating of the pulp, many
indigo-planters have failed in the manufacture of this article.
Indigo is employed by dyers, calico-printers, and paper-stainers, to an
extent so great that nearly 500,000 pounds' weight of it are annually
imported into this kingdom. The _stone-blue_ used by laundresses, and the
colours called _Saxon-blue_, and _green_, are made from indigo. Painters
use it as a water-colour. This article is frequently adulterated with
earth, ashes, and pounded slate. The genuine drug ought to be of rich, dark
blue colour, approaching to black; and, when broken, should display the
lustre of copper. It ought not to sink in water, nor to leave any sediment
when dissolved.
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