[195] These Estates consisted of thin Slate Land; which before it was planted with St. Foin, was valued at two Shillings _per_ Acre, and some Part of it at One Shilling _per_ Acre (as I have been inform’d); and yet Oxen are well fatted by the St. Foin it produces. If it should be ask’d, Why St. Foin is an Improvement so much greater in _England_, than in other Countries? it might be answer’d by shewing the Reason why _English_ Arable is of so much less Value than Foreign[196] where the Land is of equal Goodness, and the Corn produc’d of equal Price. [196] ’Tis doubtless from the extraordinary Price of _English_ Labour above that of other Countries, occasioned by _English_ Statutes being in this Respect different from all other Laws in the World. CHAP. XIII. _Of_ LUSERNE. _La Luserne_ is that famous _Herba Medica_ so much extoll’d by the Antients. The high Esteem they had of its Use appears by the extraordinary Pains they bestow’d on its Culture. Its Leaves resemble those of Trefoil: It bears a blue Blossom very like to double Violets, leaving a Pod like a Screw, which contains the Seeds about the Bigness of broad Clover, tho’ longer, and more of the Kidney-shape. The Stalks grow more perpendicular than any of the other artificial Grasses that I know, slender, full of Knots and Leaves: ’Tis of very near an equal Bigness from Bottom to Top: When cut, if vigorous, the Stalks will spring out again from the Stubs, immediately below where the Scythe parted them; which makes them the sooner ready for another Mowing; an Advantage which no other Grass has. It has a Tap-root that penetrates deeper into the Bowels of the Earth, than any other Vegetable she produces. Tho’ one Luserne-root be much more taper than another towards the upper Part of it, ’tis sometimes seen, that a single ho’d Plant of it has many of these perpendicular Roots, some of them springing out from the very Branches of its Crown. Its Roots are abundantly longer than the Roots of St. Foin: I have One that measures very near Two Inches Diameter: Those which are higher than the Ground have a Bark like a Tree. Upon this account, and by its Stalks springing again just below the Place where cut off, and by the woody Hardness of its Stalks, when they stand too long without cutting, it seems that Luserne is of a Nature nearly approaching to that of a Shrub. Luserne is the only Hay in the World that can pretend to excel or equal St. Foin. I have known Instances of the pinguefying Virtue of this _Medica Hay_, that come up to the highest Encomiums given it by the _Romans_; which being to the Vulgar incredible, I forbear to relate, but leave to be confirm’d by the Experience of others, when it becomes frequent in _England_.