And tho’ the poor Land, and ill Management generally allotted to it, cause it to yield but One mowing Crop a Year; yet it has yielded Two great ones on rich sandy Land, even when sown in the common ordinary matter.
Thin St. Foin cannot be expected to cover all the Ground at first, any more than an Orchard of Apple-trees will, when first planted at Thirty Feet Distance from each other every Way; yet this is reckon’d a proper Distance to make a good and lasting Orchard. But if these should be planted at Three Feet Distance, as they stand in the Nursery, it would not be more unreasonable than the common Method of sowing St. Foin is; and there would be much the same Consequence in both, from covering all the Ground at first Planting; except that the St. Foin, being abundantly longer rooted downwards than Apple-trees are, has the greater Disadvantage, when by its Thickness ’tis prevented from growing to its full Bulk, and Length of Roots[175].
[175]Horizontal-rooted Plants suffer no greater Injury by their Pasture’s being over-stock’d than Cattle do; because their Pasture lying near the Surface of the Ground, they have it all amongst them: But St. Foin, and other long Tap-rooted Plants suffer yet more, because great Part of their over-stock’d Pasture is lost by them all, when they hinder one another from reaching down to it, by shortening one another’s Roots, which they do when they all become Dwarfs by reason of their Over-thickness.
The Difference is only this: People are accustom’d to see Apple-trees planted at their due Distance: but few have seen St. Foin planted and cultivated at the Distance most proper to St. Foin; or ever consider’d about it, so much as to make the necessary Trials.
I have constantly found, that, upon doubling any Number of narrow Rows, having equal Number of Plants in each Row, the Crops have been very much diminish’d; and, upon leaving out every other Row, that is, lessening the Number of Rows to half, the Crops are increased; and where Two Rows are wide asunder at one End of a Piece, and near at the other End, the Plants are gradually less and less, as the Rows approach nearer together.
We ought never to expect a full Crop of St. Foin the First Year[176], if we intend to have good Crops afterwards, and that it shall continue to produce such, for the same Reasons that must be given for planting an Orchard at other Distances than a Nursery.
[176]But when it has been planted on rich sandy Land, and proper, it has produced very great Crops the first Year; but then the Summer wherein it grew amongst the Barley, must not be reckoned as the first Year.
The common Error proceeds from mistaking the Cause of a great or small Crop.
Where the Spaces betwixt Rows are wide (if there be not too many Plants in them) we always see the St. Foin grow large, and make the greatest Crop; but when ’tis young, or after cutting, we see room (as we fansy) for more of such Plants, to make a yet larger Crop; not considering that ’tis the Wideness of those Spaces, and less Number of Plants, that cause the Crop to be so large, there being more Pasture for those Plants.
Where these Spaces are narrower, and the Rows of equal Thickness, we see the Plants less when grown, and that they make a less Crop; and yet there seems to be room for more Rows, which we fansy might make the Crop larger, not considering that ’tis the Narrowness of those Spaces that causes the Plants and Crop to be less, for want of sufficient Pasture.