The Botanist's Companion, Volume II / Or an Introduction to the Knowledge of Practical Botany, and the Uses of Plants. Either Growing Wild in Great Britain, or Cultivated for the Puroses of Agriculture, Medicine, Rural Oeconomy, or the Arts

by William Salisbury

80. HORDEUM zeocriton. BATTLEDORE BARLEY.—This is a fine grain, but very tender, and not now in cultivation in this country.

NAKED BARLEY. The two first species sometimes produce a variety which thrashes out of the husks similar to wheat: these are very heavy and fine grain, but they are not in cultivation: for what reason I know not.

81. PANICUM miliaceum. MILLET.—Millet is of two kinds, the brown and yellow. They are sometimes sown in this country for feeding poultry, and also for dressing; i. e. it is divested of the husk by being passed through a mill, when it is equal to rice for the use of the pastrycook. The seed used is from one to two bushels per acre. This is more commonly grown in Italy, and on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, from which large quantities are annually exported to the more northern countries.

82. PAPAVER somniferum. MAW-SEED.—The large white Opium Poppy is grown for seed for feeding birds, and also for pressing the oil, which is used by painters. The heads are also used by the apothecaries; which see under the head Medicinal Plants. About two pounds of seed to the acre.

83. PHALARIS canariensis. CANARY-SEED.—This is grown mostly in the Isle of Thanet, and sent to London &c. for feeding canary and other song-birds, and considered a very profitable crop to the farmer. It is sown in April, and the quantity of seed is about one bushel and a half per acre.

84. PISUM sativum. THE PEA [Footnote: At the request of Sir John Sinclair I made an experiment, from directions given by a French emigrant, of mixing Pease with urine in which had been steeped a considerable quantity of pigeon's dung. In the course of twenty-four hours they had swoln very much, when they were put into the ground. An equal quantity were steeped in water; and the same quantity also that had not been steeped, were sown in three adjoining spots of land. There was a difference in the coming up of the crops, of some days in each; but that with the above preparation took the lead, and was by far the best crop on the ground. This is an experiment worth attending to. It is usual to prepare wheat in a similar way, but no other grain that I have ever heard of.].—The Gray Hog-pea used to be the only one considered sufficiently hardy for culture in the fields; but since the improvement in our agriculture we have all the finer varieties cultivated in large quantities. The seed used is about two bushels and a half per acre, and the produce varies from three to ten quarters.

The varieties of Peas are many, but the principal ones used in agriculture are the Early Charlton Pea; the Dwarf Marrow; the Prussian Blue. All these are dwarf kinds; and as the demand for this article in time of war is great for the navy and army, if the farmer's land will suit, and produce such as will boil, they will fetch a considerably greater price in proportion.

The varieties that are found to boil are either used whole, or split, which is done by steeping them in water till the cotyledons swell, after which they are dried on a kiln and passed through a mill; which just breaking the husk, the two cotyledons fall apart.

85. POLYGONUM Fagopyrum. BUCK-WHEAT.—This is usually sown in places where pheasants are bred, as the seed is the best food for those birds; it is also useful for poultry and hogs. I have eaten bread and cakes made of the flower, which are also very palatable. Two bushels are usually sown per acre. The season is May; and it is often sown on foul land in the summer, as it grows very thick on the land, and helps to clean it by smothering all the weeds. The crop does not stand on the ground more than ten or twelve weeks.

86. SECALE cereale. RYE.—This is often grown for a spring crop of green food, by sowing it early in the autumn, as it is very hardy and is not affected by frost. It grows fast in the spring months, and affords a very luxuriant crop of green fodder. Tares and Rye are frequently sown mixed together for the same purpose, and the Tares find a support in the stalks of the Rye, by which means they produce a larger crop than they make by themselves. The grain is the next in estimation to Wheat, and is frequently used for making bread. The quantity sown per acre is the same as Wheat.