“ root there comes out in the fpring a great number of fmall (hoots that-fpread along the furface of i] I
“ every way around it ; from which arife a great many clullers of bright yellow flowers, e-xaftly refcmbl'^
“ o f common broom in fllape, fixe, and colour ; which are fucceeded by hard round pods, filled with f '^
“ ney-fliaped feeds. And as three or four of thfefe pods ufually adhere to one foot-ftalk from whirls ,1
« n n s n sM l » « II..1.. ----ft__________ !. „ r 1_ > .. „ J .1. .-r open at the points, a little refembling the fingers o f an open hand; they ,h ave frr om’' thls cirfcu- 1m1 tlflftVa t^-1
“ by the vulgar in feme places called ladies-fingers ; while others more flruck with the refemblarice th'^
“ pods bear to,the foot of a bird, have dillinguilhcd it by the name of crow-toes ; and others fromth
ance o f the bloffom and the part where the plant is found, , have called it fea.1, or by corruption (sS/iM
“ It is found plentifully almoft every where in old grafs-fields; but as every fpecies of domeflic animal '
*' almoft in preference to every other plant, it is feldom allowed to come to flower in pafture ground ' " I
“ where they have been accidentally faved from the cattle for fome time ; fo that it is only about ! H H
“ of corn fields, or the fides Of enclofures to which cattle have not accefs, that we have an opnrtn ■ ■
" obferving it. As it has behn imagined that the cows which feed on the paftures where t h i^ G d
“ a great quantity of rich milk, the plant has from that circumflance obtained its mod proper EnvIilK
“ of milk-vetch. 1
cc But die circumflance that firfl recommended it to my notice, was the having obferved that it om J 1 flouriflies in poor barren ground where almoft no other plant can be made to live. I have feen it in th ?!
of a barren moor, where the foil was fo poor.that even heath, or ling (erica communis) could haidlvU
* and VPon bare obdurate clays, where no other plant could be made to vegetate; infomuch that thef rJ
c remained entirely uncovered, unlefs where a plant of this kind chanced to be eflabliffied ; yet eveni '■ ■
1 unfavourable circumftances, it flourifhed with an uncommon degree of luxuriance, and yielded as tend
‘ fucctilent, though not fuch abundant (hoots, which affumed as fine a verdure as if they had been rear?«
the richeft manured fields. I have likewife feen it in dry and barren fands, where almoft no other nl T
‘ could be made to live ; and there alfo it fends out fuch' a number of healthy (hoots all round as cove,f i ll
‘ earth with the clofeft and raoft beautiful carpet that can be defired. . ' V — ■
“ The (talks o f this plant, as has been faid, are weak and (lender, fo that they fpread upon the furface 1
the ground, unlefs they are fupported by fome other vegetable. In ordinary foils, they do not grow ■
great length, nor produce a great many flowers,— branch out a good deal, but carry few or no flower-
feeds : and as I fir ft took notice of it only on poor foils, it was purely with a view to pafture that l1
refolved to cultivate i t ; and with this intention lowed it with my ordinary hay-feeds, expefting no mate
a p ? 1E 1,11 1 deflfted from cutting my field ; but found myfelf agreeably difappointed as it gn-k
the firft feafon as tall as my great clover, and formed the fineft hay I ever faw; it being fcarce’ diflinguil
able from Lucerne, but by the (lendernefs o f the (talk and proportional fmallnefs o f the leaf. ‘ . ■ "
“ S is.near.]y allied to Lucerne in its botanical charafters; and refembles that valuable plant in manyotj
refpeas. Like it, it is perennial,— fends down a long root to a great depth in the foil, which is at firfl fJil
and gradually increafes with age, till it at length becomes o f a very confiderable fize ; fo that it is feveralveaJ
after it is firft fowed before it attains its full perfeftion : but when it is once eftablifhed, it probably remail
there for a prodigious number of years in full vigour, and produces annually a great quantity of foddefl
In autumn 1773, 1 cut the ftalk from an old plant of it that grew in very indifferent foil; and after havius
° I-u u tb°rougbly, found that it weighed fourteen ounces and a half. Like Lucerne, it is never affeftedl
with the fevered droughts that we experience : but it does not referable it in delicatenefs of conftitution J
it thrives m the (tiffed clays, and is able to (land its ground among grafs or any other, weeds. : ■ ’
tc As this Plant only produces feeds in abundance upon poor hungry foils that could hardly afford nourilkeJ
to any other, and as the (talks fpread out clofe upon the furface of the ground, it feems to me that the greatell
<e bar to the cultivating thereof, will be the difficulty o f obtaining the feeds in abundance; as in thefe circuJ
“ fiances they mud always be gathered by the hand : but as it is an abiding plant, thofe who have fuch foil!
as molt (land in need of having plants of this fort fowed upon them, may be at a little trouble and expencelj
“ to get them once properly laid down with this grafs, as it will be only once that they need do it. But it!
“ poffible, that future experience may difcover fome eafier way o f procuring the feeds than hath as yetoccuml
t( to me. - 1
“ The ftalks of this plant die down entirely in winter, and~ do not come up in the fpring till the fame timtl
“ that clover begins to advance; fo that it can never be of ufe but as a fummer paftureNeithertj«|
“ u advance very fall after it is cut down, or eat over even in fummer.— But the great clofenefs of the ■ ■
“ may probably counterbalance that deleft.”
Whether this plant be deferving o f the encomiums here bellowed on it, the praftical farmer mull determine.! There appears no reafon why, feed might not be obtained from it, as well as from any o f the other papilionaceous;!
plants ; and it fhould feem, that thofe forts of land which are not rich enough to bear Clover and other flronj
growing plants, might be much improved by the introduftion of the Birds-foot Trefoil;
In wet and boggy fituations this plant grows much taller and becomes very hairy.
The infe£l called by L inn,eus Thripsglauca, fometimes renders the flowers tumid and manflrous. 1«
FL Scot.