SAINTOIN, or SAINTFOIN, Onobryehis satire, a plant of the natural order leguminosT, suborder papaiowteece, of a genus nearly allied to het/pare/in (see FRENCH HONEYSUCKLE), but having one-seeded pods, which are marked with wrinkles or pits, and are more or less prickly-toothed at the margin. It' is a spreading perennial, about 2 or 3 ft. high, with leaves of 9 to 15 smooth acute leaflets, and spikes of beautiful flesh colored flowers, striated with rose-red, on lona. stalks. It is a native of the continent of Europe and of the s. of England, and is much cultivated as a fodder-plant 'in dry, and particularly iu calcareous soils, to which it is admirably adapted. Its cultivation was introduced into England in 1651; and before the introduction of turnip-husbandry, the sheep-farmers of the chalk districts depended almost entirely upon it, as they still do to such a degreethat in many leases there is a stipulation for the tenant's leaving a certain extent of land in sainfoin. It is, however, a very local crop, being scarcely cultivated on an V but the most
calcareous soils, where nothing else is nearly equal to it, although it has been found to succeed well on any soil sufficiently dry. There is no more nutritious fodder than sain loin, whether for sheep, oxen, or horses. Even the dry stems of it crop which has pro duced seed are readily consumed by ca'tle, if cut into small pieces. Sainfoin sometimes endures for 10, or even 15 years on the same land—more generally only for 4 to 7 years; and in the eastern counties of England it is often sown instead of clover on light and so:t•o:lett calcareous sands and sandy loans, and the ground is plowed again in two or three years.The name sainfoin is perhaps rattier sang foin, from the blood-color of the flowers, than saint-pia (holy hay).