42.  Cichorium Intybus.  Cichory, or blue succory.-Much has been said of the good properties of this plant; and if it has them to the full extent mentioned by different authors, I wonder there is not little else than Cichory grown in this country.  It is very prolific, and will grow extremely quick after the scythe during the summer months:  but I fear, from the observations I have made, that it does not possess the fattening quality it is said to have.  The plant is so extremely bitter, that although cattle may be inclined to feed on it early in the spring, yet as the season advances and other herbage more palatable is to be met with, it is left with its beautiful blue flowers and broad foliage to rob the soil and adorn our fields, to the regret of the farmer.  It grows wild in great abundance in Battersea fields, where my late friend Mr. Curtis used ludicrously to say that bad husbandry was exhibited to perfection.  This plant is there continually seen in the greatest abundance, where the ground has not been lately disturbed, even under the noses of all the half-starved cattle of that neighbourhood that are turned in during the autumn.

The root dried and ground to a powder will improve Coffee, and is frequently drunk therewith, especially in Germany, where it is prepared in cakes and sold for that purpose.

43.  Hedysarum Onobrychis.  Saint-foin.—­This is certainly one of the most useful plants of this tribe, and in the south of England is the life and support of the upland farmer:  in such places it is the principal fodder, both green and in hay, for all his stock.  I have not observed it to be cultivated in Worcestershire or Herefordshire, where there appears to be much land that would grow it, and which is under much inferior crops.  The seed sown is about four bushels per acre.  A mistake is often made in mentioning this plant.  The newspapers, in quoting prices from Mark Lane, call it Cinquefoil, a very different plant, (Potentilla) of rather a noxious quality.  See Gleanings on Works of Agriculture and Gardening, p. 88, where a curious blunder occurs of this kind.

44.  Lathyrus pratensis.  Meadow vetchling.—­Abounds much in our natural meadows, particularly in the best loamy soils, where it is very productive and nutritious.  It is not in cultivation, for the seeds do not readily vegetate; a circumstance much to be regretted, but unfortunately the case with several of our other Tares, which would otherwise be a great acquisition to our graziers.