The Botanist's Companion Part 1

The Botanist's Companion.

by William Salisbury.

PREFACE

In demonstrating the Plants which occur in our annual herborizing excursions, I have found it necessary to put into the hands of my pupils some Manual of Botany; and in so doing I have found all that have yet been published, deficient in one or two essential points, and particularly as relating to the uses to which each plant is adapted; with out which, although the charms of the Flora are in themselves truly delightful, yet the real value of Botanic knowledge is lost. The study of plants, so far as regards their uses and culture, has engaged my particular attention for the last twenty-five years, during which time I had the honour of conducting a series of experiments on the growth of plants, for the Board of Agriculture, which gave me an opportunity of ascertaining many facts relative to our Gra.s.ses, &c. an account of which, I have had some time ready for publication. The necessity of a work of this kind in my present profession, has therefore induced me to abridge it and put it to press; as such I offer it to the Public. To the Subscribers to my Botanic Garden this will also prove of great service; it being intended to arrange the plants in their several departments, so as to make it a general work of reference both in the fields or garden.

In the department which treats of the Vegetables used for medicinal purposes, I have given as ample descriptions as the nature of the work will admit of, having in view the very necessary obligation which the younger branch of the profession are under, of paying attention to the subject.

In prosecuting this work, I have been more actuated by a desire to render to my pupils and others, useful in-formation, than that of commencing Author on such a subject; and writing for the press has been but very little my employment, I trust that an ample excuse will be granted for any errors that may appear, or for the want of that happiness of diction with which more able and accomplished Authors may be endowed.

BOTANIC GARDEN,

Sloane Street, May 1816.

PLANTS USEFUL IN AGRICULTUE.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CULTURE OF GRa.s.sES, AND ON SAVING SEEDS, &c.

It is now fifty years since the celebrated Stillingfleet observed, "that it was surprising to see how long mankind had neglected to make a proper advantage of plants, of so much importance to agriculture as the Gra.s.ses, which are in all countries the princ.i.p.al food of cattle." The farmer, for want of distinguishing and selecting the best kinds, fills his pastures either with weeds or improper plants, when by making a right choice he would not only procure a more abundant crop from his land, but have a produce more nourishing for his flock. One would therefore naturally wonder, after this truth has been so long published, and that in an age when agriculture and the arts have so much improved, that Select Seeds of this tribe of plants are scarcely to be produced.

From the experience I have had on this subject, I find their culture is attended with certain difficulties, which arise not so much from the nature of the plants, as from the labour requisite to this purpose, great attention being necessary for saving Gra.s.s-seeds at the seasons when the farmer must exert all the strength of his husbandmen to get his other business accomplished.

The only mode by which this can be effected is by selecting a proper soil for the kinds intended to be saved. The seeds should be drilled into the ground at about one foot distance; and care taken that the plants are duly weeded of all other kinds that may intrude themselves, before they get too firm possession of the soil. The hoe should be frequently pa.s.sed between the drills, in order both to keep the land clean and to give vigour to the young plants. The sowing may be done either in the spring or in the month of September, which will enable the crop to go to seed the following spring. In order to preserve a succession of crops, it is necessary every season to keep the ground clean all the summer months, to dig or otherwise turn up the land between the drills early in the spring, and to be particular in the other operations until the seeds ripen. Now this business being so inconvenient to the farmer, it is not to be wondered at, that, wherever attempts of this kind have been made, they should fail from want of the necessary care as above stated, without which it is needless to speculate in such an undertaking. There is nevertheless still an opportunity, for any one who would give up his land and time to the pursuit, to reap a rich and important harvest; as nothing would pay him better, or redound more to his credit, than to get our markets regularly supplied with select seeds of the best indigenous Gra.s.ses, so that a proper portion of them may be used for forming pasture and meadow-land.

The above hints are not thrown out by a person who wishes to speculate in a theory which is new, but by one who has cultivated those plants himself both for seed and fodder, and who would readily wish to promote their culture by stating a mode which has proved to him a profitable pursuit, and for which he has, already, been honoured with a reward form the Society of Arts.

The following observations are intended to embrace such kinds only as are likely to be cultivated, with those that are distinguished for some particular good properties; as it would be impossible within the limits of this small memorandum to enumerate all the plants that are eaten by cattle. The same mode shall be pursued under all the different heads in this department.

PLANTS USEFULL IN AGRICULTURE.

SECT. I.--GRa.s.sES.

1. ANTHOXANTHUM odoratum. SWEET-SCENTED VERNAL-GRa.s.s.--This is found frequently in all our best meadows, to which it is of great benefit. It is an early, though not the most productive gra.s.s, and is much relished by all kinds of cattle. It is highly odoriferous; if bruised it communicates its agreeable scent to the fingers, and when dry perfumes the hay. It will grow in almost any soil or situation. About three pounds of seed should be sown with other gra.s.ses for an acre of land.

2. ALOPECURUS pratensis. MEADOW FOX-TAIL-GRa.s.s.--One of our most productive plants of this tribe: it grows best in a moist soil, is very early, being often fit for the scythe by the middle of May. About two bushels of seed will sow an acre, with a proportionate quant.i.ty of Clover; which see.

3. ALOPECURUS geniculatus. FLOTE FOX-TAIL-GRa.s.s.--Is very good in water meadows, being nutritive, and cattle in general are fond of it. We do not know if the cultivation of this plant has as yet been attempted.

4. AGROSTIS capillaris. FINE BENT-GRa.s.s.--Dr. Walker, in his History of the Hebrides, speaks very favourably of this gra.s.s. I have therefore noticed it here, but I do not think it so good as many others. It grows on the sandy hills near Combe Wood in Surrey, and forms the princ.i.p.al part of the pasturage; but it is neither very productive, nor are cattle observed to thrive on it. The seeds are very small; one peck would sow an acre.

5. AGROSTIS pyramidalis. FIORIN-GRa.s.s [Footnote: Fiorin is the Irish name of b.u.t.ter].--No plant has engaged the attention of the farmer more than this gra.s.s, none ever produced more disputes, and none is perhaps so little understood. It is perfectly distinct from any species of Agrostis indigenous to this country: it is introduced by Dr. Richardson, and to that gentleman's extraordinary account of it we are indebted for numerous mistakes that have been made respecting it. It is an amphibious plant, thriving only in water or wet soils, is very productive, and the stalks after a summer's growth secrete a large quant.i.ty of sugar. It has the power, when the stalks are ripe, of resisting putrefaction, and will become blanched and more nutritious by being cut and laid in heaps in the winter season, at which time only it is useful. The cultivator of this plant must not expect to graze his land, but allow all the growth to be husbanded as above; and although it will not be found generally advantageous on this account, it nevertheless may be grown to very great advantage either in wet soils, or where land can be flooded at pleasure.

The seeds are often barren; and the only mode is to plant the shoots or strings in drills at nine inches apart, laying them lengthways along the drills, the ends of one touching the other.

6. AIRA aquatica. WATER HAIR-GRa.s.s.--This is an aquatic, and very much relished by cattle, but cannot be propagated for fodder. Water-fowl are very fond of the young sweet shoots, as also of the seeds; it may therefore be introduced into decoys and other places with good effect.

Pulling up the plants and throwing them into the water with a weight tied to them, is the best mode of introducing it.

7. ARUNDO arenaria. SEA-SIDE REED-GRa.s.s.--This is also of no value as fodder, but it possesses the property of forming by its thick and wiry roots considerable hillocks on the sh.o.r.es where it naturally grows: hence its value on all new embankments. If it be planted in a sandy place, during its growth in the summer the loose soil will be collected in the herbage, and the gra.s.s continues to grow and form roots in it; and thus is the hillock increased. Local acts of parliament have been pa.s.sed, and now exist, for preventing its destruction on the sea-coast in some parts of Great Britain, on this account.

8. ARUNDO Phragmites. COMMON REED.--Is useful for thatching, and making slight fences; it grows best in ponds near streams of water; it does not often seed, but it could easily be introduced to such places by planting its roots in spring: it is a large-growing plant; and where herbage may be wanted either for beauty or shelter for water-fowl, nothing can be more suitable, and the reeds are of great value.

9. AVENA flavescens. YELLOW OAT-GRa.s.s.--Is much eaten by cattle, and forms a good bottom. It has the property of throwing up flowerstalks all the summer; hence its produce is considerable, and it appears to be well adapted to pasture. The seeds of this gra.s.s are not to be obtained separately; hence it is not in cultivation. It is however worthy of attention, as the seeds are produced very abundantly in its native places of growth. It will grow either in wet or dry soils.

10. AVENA p.u.b.escens. ROUGH OAT-GRa.s.s.--This appears to have some merits, but the foliage is extremely bitter. It grows in dry soils.

11. AVENA elatior. TALL OAT-GRa.s.s.--From the good appearance of this gra.s.s some persons have recommended it as likely to be useful for forming meadows; but it is excessively bitter, and is not liked by cattle generally, though when starved they are sometimes observed to eat of it. There is a variety of it with k.n.o.bby roots which is found to be a most troublesome and noxious weed in arable lands, particularly in some parts of the coast of Hampshire where it abounds. This variety was some years ago introduced into the island of St. Kitts, and it has since taken such firm possession of the land as to render a large district quite useless. Persons should be cautious how they speculate with weeds from appearances only.

12. BRIZA media. QUAKING-GRa.s.s.--Is common in meadow land, and helps to make a thick bottom; it does not however appear to be worth the trouble of select culture. It is bitter to the taste.