The Botanists Companion, Vol. II | Page 2

soil which each is found to thrive best in
SECT. 19. Observations on Hardy Annual Flowers, with the seasons
for sowing each
SECT. 20. Observations on Hardy Biennial Flowers, with their culture
SECT. 21. Observations on Tender Annual Flowers
SECT. 22. Observations on Foreign Alpine Plants, or such as are
adapted to the decoration of rock-work, with the best soils for each
denoted

APPENDIX.

British Plants cultivated for ornamental purposes

Miscellaneous Articles not mentioned under the foregoing heads
On extracting Sugar from Beet-root
On liquid Sugar made from Apple-juice
On the Urtica canadensis, or Canadian Hemp-plant
On the bleeding of Trees and obtaining Sap for the purposes of making
Wine and brewing Ale

PLANTS USEFUL IN AGRICULTUE.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CULTURE OF GRASSES, 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
Grasses, which are in all countries the principal 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 Grass-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 passed
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
Grasses, 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.--GRASSES.

1. ANTHOXANTHUM odoratum. SWEET-SCENTED
VERNAL-GRASS.--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 grass, and is much relished by all kinds of cattle. It is highly
odoriferous; if bruised it communicates its agreeable scent to the
fingers, and