The Botanist's Companion Part 4

"Several meadows at Roehampton, belonging to the late B. Goldsmid, Esq., were laid down with two bushels of Meadow fescue-gra.s.s 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 gra.s.ses. 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 gra.s.ses 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 gra.s.ses, 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 a.s.sist 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 gra.s.s-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 quant.i.ties 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 quant.i.ty of each sort should be adopted. Taking into view, therefore, that nothing but a mixture of proper kinds of Gra.s.ses, &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.

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 quant.i.ty 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. BRa.s.sICA 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 quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ty of herbage. For a further account of the culture &c. see d.i.c.kson'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 Bra.s.sica. 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 subst.i.tute. Another advantage is this, that it will last a fortnight longer in the spring, and consequently be valuable on this account. The quant.i.ty 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. BRa.s.sICA Napo Bra.s.sica. 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. BRa.s.sICA 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.

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 Ess.e.x; 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 Ess.e.x, 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 quant.i.ty 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 princ.i.p.ally 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 quant.i.ty 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 cla.s.s 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 princ.i.p.al 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 quant.i.ties. A description of an improved Mill for this purpose is to be seen in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, p. 283.