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Ofi the cultivation of Lucerne, By John Patrick. 



Perth Amhoy, N, J, July lOthy 1823. 



Having been for eight or ten years past, in the 

 successful practice of cultivating Lucerne, I think it may 

 promote the interests of agriculture, to offer you a few 

 remarks on that subject. 



This article I have found by experience, to be not 

 only the most convenient, but also the most profitable of 

 all grasses. It vegetates quicker in the spring than any 

 other grass ; it resists the effects of droughts ; it may be 

 cut four or five times in, the. course of the season ; and it 

 will endure from ten to twelve years without renewing. 

 Of all the grasses it is the most profitable for soiling, 

 I am fully of opinion, that one acre properly got in, would 

 be more than sufficient to maintain at least six head of 

 cattle, from 1st May, until the frosts set in ; for before 

 it can be cut down in this way, the first part of it will 

 again be ready for the scythe. English writers have re- 

 commended the drill system for this grass, but in this 

 climate I have found this plan not to answer. The pro- 

 per mode is to put the land in good order ; and to sow 

 it broad cast during the month of i\pril, or the early 

 part of May. Fall sowing will not answer, as when 

 sowed so late, it, like clover, is found not to resist the 

 effects of the frosts. It may be sown either by itself, or 

 with spring rye, or barley, or with oats, but in the last 

 case, the oats would require to be cut green, and before 

 the seeds form, and by this means an early feed for cat- 

 tle would be obtained without impoverishing the soil. But 

 the mode I would most confidently recommend, would 

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