ON THE CLOVER ALLIES.
Besides the clovers proper, there are many native plants of the same
natural order that have been found useful as fodder: these it is now
proposed to comment upon, premising that as we have had them all under
cultivation, we are enabled to discuss their merits from a practical
point of view.
Of these, the following is a list of the genera:—
I. ULEX.—A spinous shrub.
II. ANTHYLLIS.—Flowers in a dense head, with white expanded
calyces.
III. LOTUS.—Flowers in lax heads; pod straight, many-seeded.
IV. MEDICAGO.—Flowers various; pod spirally twisted.
V. MELILOTUS.—Flowers in spikes, drooping to one side; pod
straight, few-seeded.
VI. ONOBRYCHIS.—Flowers in spikes, drooping; pod wrinkled,
one-seeded.
VII. VICIA.—Flowers single or spicate in the axils of the leaves;
pod straight, many-seeded.
VIII. LATHYRUS.—Flowers one or many on long footstalks.
I. ULEX—_Furze_.
A genus of shrubby, spinous, pea-flowered plants, by far too common on
our sandy heaths and wild hilly places, with varieties occupying wet
commons.
We possess, according to authors, some two or three native species; but
we incline to the belief that they are only varieties of the common _U.
Europæus_, of which these seem to be large and dwarf forms. This plant,
under the name of furze or gorse, has been from time to time highly
extolled as a fodder plant, and machines have been invented for bruising
its complicated spines; but although it will doubtless grow where
scarcely anything else can be got to succeed, yet, taking into
consideration the expense attendant upon its growth and utilization, and
the low feeding powers which it possesses, we cannot at all agree in
recommending its general use. It is, however, but right here to say that
articles are from time to time inserted in such journals as the
_Agricultural Gazette_, the authors of which advocate the growth of
furze as an agricultural plant, and highly extol its feeding qualities;
still, as our own experience would lead us to conclude that as even
young stock scarcely hold their own upon this plant, we cannot recommend
it as possessing very valuable properties.
II. ANTHYLLIS—_Ladies’ Fingers_.
The _Anthyllis vulneraria_ is well distinguished in its young state from
its sometimes entire lancet-shaped, at others pinnate leaves, growing
close to the ground. These are usually clothed with long hairs, and it
has expanded downy calyces, when full grown. In its young condition it
has been very much extolled for sheep pasturage, while its hay is said
to be abundant and nutritious, though grown on the very poorest of
soils. That it will grow more upright where sown, one plant drawing up
another, we know from experience, but we have little faith in any very
superior qualities being found in plants that can grow so well under
extremely poor conditions of soil; still it is just possible that its
herbage may improve in quantity and quality by liberal treatment; yet we
must conclude that, as we already possess much better plants for growing
on better soils, we do not think much can be gained by its cultivation.
As a plant for hay it will yield a good cut, but its extreme hairyness
and general want of what the farmer calls “proof” will never allow this
plant to be extensively grown.
III. LOTUS—_Bird’s-foot Trefoil_.
This plant is well known by its loosely-packed heads of bright yellow
flowers, which are succeeded by long slender pods, dark-coloured or even
black when ripe, and not inaptly likened to a crow’s foot; and hence the
name “Crowsfoot” which it commonly bears. We have three species, as
follow:—
1. _Lotus corniculatus_—Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil—is common, especially
in dry meadows, in which its herbage is duly appreciated by sheep and
cattle, if one may judge from the pertinacity with which it is kept
down. It is no bad adjunct to the rick. We are so convinced of its value
as always to recommend its use in the laying down of light land for
permanent pasture, and a little seed sown in old meadows after a
dressing of rubbish—old mortar, town refuse, &c.—will tend greatly to
the improvement of the herbage.
2. _Lotus tenuis_—Slender-leaved Bird’s-foot Trefoil—is, perhaps, only a
variety of the former; it is, however, smaller in all its parts, and,
though a denizen of stiff soils, occurs chiefly in a wild state on the
margins of fields and on hedge-banks. It might be employed under the
same circumstances as the _L. corniculatus_, especially in thin
clay-beds on upland brashes; but it hardly possesses such good
qualities.
3. _Lotus major_—Larger Bird’s-foot Trefoil—is much larger in all its
parts than the other species. It occurs in moist situations, about
bushes in wet land, in ditches, watercourses, and damp places generally.
We have experimented upon the growth of this plant in artificial
meadows, and from the size which it attains quite early in summer, and
the quantity of wholesome keep it is capable of affording, we are
disposed to think well of it as an occasional shifting crop, or it might
be well combined with rye-grass in deep stiff soils.
IV. MEDICAGO—_Medick, &c._
This genus is principally distinguished from _Trifolium_ by its twisted
seed-pods, which in the _Medicago maculata_ (Spotted-leaved Medick) form
quite a spiral coil, ornamented with a double fringe of stiff spines.
This plant is now becoming general as an agrarian weed, having been
greatly spread, owing to its intermixture with foreign seeds of
different kinds.
The agricultural species are:—
_Medicago lupulina_—Yellow Sickle Medick.—“Hop trefoil” of the farmer,
but not of the botanist, who gives this name to the _Trifolium
procumbens_ (which see). From this latter the medick is easily
distinguished by its heads of naked, blackened, incurved seed-vessels.
As an agricultural plant it is of great value, especially in mixtures
called “seeds.” It is a good adjunct to rye-grasses and common clovers,
especially on light soils; but on good strong land which will bear a
full crop of broad-leaved clover it would be mostly smothered out, and,
if not, as we think it is properly held to be less nutritious than
clover, its use is not recommended where first-rate clover crops can be
grown.
We have seen this trefoil grown with sainfoin to great advantage, as it
yields a tolerable crop for the first two years, and then declines, just
as the sainfoin has got possession of the soil.
2. _Medicago sativa_—Lucerne—is a perfectly perennial plant, which,
though not so much grown in England as it deserves, yet scarcely needs
description; however, its purple flowers and smooth twisted seed-pods
serve to distinguish it from the rest of the genus. We have grown this
plant upwards of a foot high by the 1st of May, and taken no less than
three cuttings of a good succulent herbage in one season. These
qualities point out lucerne as an excellent green-food plant, for which
purpose we should always, where practicable, recommend that at least a
patch should be grown near the stable, as there is reason to believe
that its alterative effects upon the horses are of a most salutary kind.
It should be cultivated in drills of from 15 to 18 inches apart; and, if
properly weeded and not let get too old before cutting, it will last for
many years with an occasional dressing of manure.
We once had a patch one half of which was purposely neglected by way of
comparison with the other half, which was well cared for; that portion
left to itself yielded but poor crops, and almost disappeared at the end
of four years, whilst the other portion scarcely began to decline after
ten years. This remark applies with full force to all the green-food
crops of this order. Weeding early, mowing when cut, and an occasional
top-dressing, would increase the durability of all the perennial
species.
V. MELILOTUS—_Melilot_.
These are pea-flowered plants, with ternate leaves, and spikes of
flowers drooping to one side: it is named from _mel_, honey, in allusion
to its flavour, and the genus _Lotus_, by which we may understand it to
be a sweet-scented lotus-like plant. We have two native species,
distinguished thus:—
_Melilotus officinalis_, an annual, with yellow flowers.
_M. leucantha_, a biennial, with white flowers.
Of these we may conclude that the flavour, which is like that of the
_Anthoxanthum odoratum_—sweet vernal grass—is too strong and bitter to
allow of its being recommended for culture alone; but we are inclined to
think that, if grown in small quantity with seeds, or if a separate
patch be cut and arranged sandwich-wise in the seed-rick, the melilots
would give that sweet flavour which seems to be the principal cause of
the superior qualities and sweetness of natural meadow as compared with
artificial grasses.
Seeds have been forwarded to us of what is named “Cabool Clover,” and
another packet labelled “Bokhara Clover,” both of which appear to belong
to the _M. leucantha_, though certainly of a larger form than our native
species, and probably consisting of the _M. leucantha major_. This
latter must be cut young if used as recommended, as it soon gets woody.
A correspondent of the Royal Agricultural Society has recently
recommended the full-grown plant for paper-making; and, if of value for
this purpose, we can affirm from experience that a large yield can be
got from soils of a very inferior quality, as our experiments on its
growth have been made on a very stiff and poor bed of forest marble
clay.
VI. ONOBRYCHIS—_Sainfoin_.
Sainfoin, or “holy fodder” of the French, is distinguished by its
brilliant spike of pink variegated flowers, which droop to one side, its
winged leaves of from six to eight pairs of oval leaflets, which are
entire, that is, undivided at the margin, and its short, rounded,
wrinkled, and spinose seed-vessels. The forms in cultivation are—
_Onobrychis sativa_—Common Sainfoin. _Onobrychis sativa_, var.
_bifera_—Giant Sainfoin. Of these the former has the preference in
England, whilst the latter is much grown in France. Our experiments with
both lead us to conclude, that although the former flowers but once and
the latter twice in the season, the _O. sativa_ still gives the greatest
amount of food, as the second crop of the giant sort is usually poor and
straggling, with but little leaf; while the common sort sends up a thick
growth of leaves after being cut.
The _O. sativa bifera_ is but a variety of the _O. sativa_, as by long
continuance of growth from the same seed in this country it reverts to
the common form; and hence the giant sort should be frequently renewed
from an imported stock. Sainfoin has been much cultivated on calcareous
soils, more especially on the free-stones of the oolite rocks, and on
the chalk, off which formations it is scarcely known, except on some
calcareous sands in the eastern counties. In the limestone and chalk
districts sainfoin is grown as a permanent crop, and formerly lasted six
or eight years. In the eastern counties the little there grown is by way
of a shifting crop, in the same place and manner as common clover. The
permanency of sainfoin is yearly becoming greatly diminished from the
circumstance that its seed is so much mixed with that of the burnet,
_Poterium sanguisorba_, var. _muricata_. To such an extent does this
evil occur, that we have examined samples of sainfoin seed in which
there were at the rate of from twenty to forty thousand of burnet
seed-pods per bushel; and when we consider that these pods have for the
most part two ripened seeds, and those of a plant growing so much more
rapidly than the sainfoin, we can form some notion how the desired crop
is soon smothered and overpowered by the burnet, which at best is but a
rank weed, of no agricultural value; for whatever of good there may be
in our ordinary native salad burnet, which is a smaller and more
succulent plant, this sticky foreign interloper cannot possibly have any
claim to our regard.
The reason why it has gone on so long unchallenged is that the
burnet-seed, though of an entirely different shape from the sainfoin, is
somewhat of the same colour; and then in their growth both plants have
winged leaves, and the difference between the entire leaflets of the
sainfoin and the toothed leaflets of the burnet did not at first strike
the farmer; now, however, the difference is better understood, and
farmers begin to require that the burnet-seed shall be sifted from the
sainfoin. This of course will demand the payment of a better price for
the better sample, as in the process of sifting many of the smaller
sainfoin seeds go through with the burnet; but this will be well worth
a better price, as the larger seeds will undoubtedly tend to produce a
better crop.
If, however, there should be any doubt about pure sainfoin seed, we
should recommend the decorticated seed being used, as in it the burnet
could not possibly escape detection.
As the history of burnet is so important in connection with the sainfoin
crop, it cannot be out of place to introduce the following description
of this weed:—
The _Sanguisorba officinalis_ (false burnet), as a wild plant, never
attains any great size, and as it is a denizen of dry calcareous
pastures and broken ground on limestones, and perfectly harmless in its
properties in this condition, it is scarcely noticeable as a weed;
indeed, it is sometimes recommended for permanent pasture admixture on
calcareous uplands. There is, however, a larger form of the false
burnet, which is now attracting considerable attention, as being by far
too constant an attendant upon sainfoin seed.
This plant is referred by Professor Babington and the Continental
botanists to another species, viz., _Poterium muricatum_, which is by
them distinguished from the _P. sanguisorba_; but is “usually larger in
all its parts” (Bab.), with a larger and more decidedly four-winged
fruit. We, however, agree with Bentham in considering this to be a
variety only, and, in fact, an agrarian form, induced by its seed being
gathered with a crop and treated as a crop plant, so that its larger
form may be easily accounted for; and we are not wanting in evidence to
show that, under cultivation, the _P. sanguisorba_ greatly increases in
size, while, if left to grow wild, the cultivated form relapses into
the wilder state. But we incline to think that the agrarian burnet has
got into agriculture by being introduced with foreign seeds; and as its
introduction seems to have been small at first, it attracted but little
notice; for as the leaves both of the burnet and sainfoin were pinnate,
the difference that the botanist would observe in the leaflets, _i.e._
the former being serrate, and those of the latter having an entire
margin, would hardly attract the attention of the farmer; however, it
soon became so serious a matter that some crops of so-called sainfoin,
in their second or third year, presented as much as 90 per cent. of
burnet, and as the latter grew taller than the sainfoin, it effectually
smothered it out, and in its place supplied a sticky, non-succulent, and
innutritious herbage, that made farmers begin to inquire seriously about
the seed.
Here, however, as the seeds, or rather the fruits, of both plants were
pretty much of the same colour, and both wrinkled, samples of fully half
burnet passed muster in the seed-market; and, though these fruits are so
different in shape and size, yet we were astonished to find that, during
the trial of an action against a seedsman for supplying sainfoin seed
containing a large quantity of burnet when good sainfoin seed was paid
for, the judge, jury, and most of the farmers present confessed their
inability to distinguish them; it becomes, therefore, at this point, a
duty to describe the two.
[Illustration: _Fig. 32._]
Fig. 32 _a_ represents a short wrinkled pea-pod, broad at the back and
thin in front, as seen in the section _b_. In the interior is a single
pulse-seed, which is easily freed from its wrinkled shell.
[Illustration: _Fig. 33._]
Fig. 33 _a_ is a drawing of a fruit of false burnet. The section _b_
shows it to be quadrangular, with a wing at each angle, and to possess
two seeds in each capsule. The capsules are rather muricated (_i.e._
furnished with short excrescences, and not regularly wrinkled, like the
sainfoin). Now the burnet is easily separable from a sample of sainfoin,
as the former readily passes through the sieve; but the objection to
sift it may be well understood when the bulk is diminished by the amount
of the burnet, and also that of the smaller sainfoin seeds, which pass
through at the same time.
The best plan, then, to pursue is to mill the sainfoin seed, in which
case its outer covering is removed, and you simply have a sample of
kidney-shaped pure seed-like enlarged clover-seeds, in which the burnet
may be detected, because it will not mill, but simply gets its wings
broken off, so that the wrinkled two-seeded capsule still remains.
Now the fact of the burnet being a two-seeded capsule is most important
to be noticed, as, from analyses we have made of dirty sainfoin crops,
we have estimated as follows:—
+-------------------------------+----------+--------+----------+
| Crops. | Sainfoin | Burnet | Other |
| | Plant. | Plant. | Weeds. |
+-------------------------------+----------+--------+----------+
|Crop in Berkshire, 3rd year | 10 | 50 | 40 = 100 |
|Crop in Cirencester, 3rd year | 5 | 25 | 70 = 100 |
+-------------------------------+----------+--------+----------+
Here, then, we have a large proportion of burnet, surely much more than
could be accounted for from the number of capsules, at least we will
hope so; but when we consider that the capsule of the sainfoin is
_single-seeded_ and that of the burnet is _two-seeded_, we may readily
conceive how each capsule of the latter may at least grow a single seed,
but the best sample of the former could hardly be expected to all come
up. Now, as we have as many as 64,000 capsules of burnet in a bushel of
sainfoin seed, that × 2 = 128,000 seeds, and when we consider that the
burnet grows so much faster than the sainfoin, we have two elements for
the success of the former, namely, the certainty of getting its crop,
and the equal certainty of smothering out a large proportional of what
may germinate of the seeds of the sainfoin.
This matter would not be of such importance if the burnet was equal in
point of feeding properties, but it is not so, for whatever quality be
in the smaller and more succulent _P. sanguisorba_ form, the _P.
muricatum_ is, on the contrary, hard and woody, and almost useless.