10 Sept., 1919.] Farm Notes for August. 565 



The lucerne land was then cultivated and manured with 2 cwt. super. 

 per acre, and during early November of last year the first hay crop 

 was harvested. Lucerne, as a winter forage, after it reaches second 

 season's growth at Worribee can, in average years, be made to yield 

 feed worth from £4 to £5 per acre during the months April to August, 

 without materially interfering with the production of the following hay 

 crops. The secret of successful lucerne grazing is the frequent shifting 

 of the sheep from one small field to another. If this is carefully done 

 the maximum results will be obtained. 



Renovation of Lucerne Fields. 



One of the most important farm operations' for the month has been 

 the renovation and manuring of lucurne fields. To maintain a proper 

 lucerne stand, it is necessary to cultivate and manure it during the 

 early spring months Lucerne has proved itself to be " King of 

 fodders " on the irrigation lands of Werribee, and, therefore, deserves 

 the best of treatment. 



The heavy-tine implement is used, as shown in tlie accompanying 

 illustration, to thoroughly break up the surface to a depth of 3 lucres 

 to 4 inches. 



The practice has been to feed off the lucerne field quite bare during 

 April, May, June, and July, and then, in August and September, give 

 two cultivations, if possible at right angles to each other. 



Lucerne is a hardy plant. The operator is often led to believe that 

 harm to the field will result from heavy cultivation, but this has not 

 been found to be so at Werribee. The work should be done to the 

 depth of 3 to 4 inches, if possible. The second cross cultivation should 

 be the deeper. The cultivator should be followed by the ordinary seed 

 and manure drill ; the manure box and gear being used to distribute 

 from 1 to 2 cwt. of super, per acre as a top dressing. Two cwt. has 

 been proved to be the most profitable application at Werribee. After 

 the drill a light roller should be used to insure a good clean crop of hay, 

 free from clods, which are usually lifted during the cultivation. The 

 following figures show the cost of this lucerne renovation: — 



Two tine cultivations at 2s. 6d. each 



Drilling superphosphate 



Rolling after drilling 



Super., 2 cwt. at 5s. 6d. on ground 



£0 19 6 



The approximate cost of doing the work thoroughly is thus £1 per 

 acre; on lighter soils^ 15s'. should represent tho total cost. This means- 

 that, if half-a-ton extra of lucerne hay is harvested during the several 

 cuts of the subsequent season, a profit will be shown. As a matter 

 of fact, for the past five year? experimental investigations here have 

 proved that from one and a half to two tons extra hay is obtained as 

 a result of renovation and manuring. 



Lucerne growers on dry areas would also be well advised to renovate 

 and top-dress their lucerne fields, aud under these conditions 1 cwt. 

 of super, per acre each year should give excellent results. 



