■35° 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo May, 1910. 



LUCERNE FIFTH CUTTING FOR 



THE SEASON. 



Single stools of Hickory King 

 and Boone County Special weighed 

 12 lbs. each, and a section of the 

 latter, cut and weighed, showed equal 

 to 20 tons to the acre. Had it not 

 been for bad germination in places, 

 which Mr. Jackson attributed to the 

 superphosphate which was applied to 

 the drills at the jate of 2 cwt. to the 

 acre, the crop would have been much 

 heavier. The ground has been under 

 cultivation for over 30 years and 

 during the last five vears the only 

 other fertilizer it has had was a light 

 top-dressing of manure gathered from 

 the wool-shed and sheep-yards. The 

 prolific crop of maize this year 

 may be attributed to the thorough 

 pulverising of the soil and inter- 

 cultivation, for the rainfall was low, 

 not more than 3 inches being registered 

 from the time of planting until the 

 heavv fall early in March. 



The lucerne crop is on heavy black 

 soil and was laid down eight or nine 

 vears ago. The sample illustrated 

 was from the fifth cutting this .season 

 and another cutting will be secured 

 before winter. Some eighteen months, 

 ago, Mr, Jackson put the scarifier into 

 the ground, preparatory to ploughing 

 it. as the lucerne was getting a bit 

 thin. However, after the scarifying, 

 it was left for a while, and it made 

 such a vigorous growth that he de- 

 cided to give it another chance, with 

 the result that it is as thick now as 

 ever it was. The plants were over 

 2 feet high at this cutting and grown 

 without any water other than the 

 season's rainfall. The land has never 

 been manured. 



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