100 



GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



the whole season, exceeds belief. It is no sooner mown than it 

 pushes out fresh shoots ; and wonderful as the growth of clover 

 sometimes is, in a field that has been lately mown, that of 

 lucerne is far more rapid. Lucerne will last for many years, 

 shooting its roots — tough and fibrous almost as those of liquorice 

 — downwards for nourishment, till they are altogether out of 

 the reach of drought. In the dryest and most sultry weather, 

 when every blade of grass droops for want of moisture, lucerne 

 holds up its stem, fresh and green, as in the genial spring." 



I am. convinced, also, that the failures of attempts to culti- 

 vate lucerne with us may be ascribed, in nearly every instance, 

 to an improper selection of soils, and am inclined to think that 

 a more accurate knowledge of the plant and a more careful 

 observation of its habits of growth would lead to its more gen- 

 eral adoption as an economical forage plant. 



I have procured fine specimens of lucerne in various parts of 

 this State, where it is very successfully cultivated, but on too lim- 

 ited a scale to determine its comparative value as a farm crop. 



Sainfoin, (hedysarum ono- 

 brychis,') differs from lucerne 

 in many important particu- 

 lars. It is a leguminous 

 plant with many stems from 

 two to three feet long, strag- 

 gling, tapering, smooth, leaves 

 in pairs of pointed, oblong 

 leaflets, slightly hairy on the 

 under side, flower stalks high- 

 er than the leaves, ending in 

 a spike of crimson or varie- 

 gated flowers, succeeded by 

 flat, hard pods, toothed on 

 the edges and prickly on the 

 sides, root perennial, and hard 

 and woody. Flowers in July. 

 Fig. 94. The flower is 

 shown in Fig. 95, and the 

 fruit in Fig. 96. 



Experiments have been made in introducing ■ and cultivating 

 it in this State, but without success. It requires a calcareous soil. 



Fig 95 



Fig. 94. Sainfoin. 



