CULTURE OF LUCERNE. 191 



oblong, toothed ; the flowers pale-blue, violet, or purple, 

 shaped as in Fig. 153 ; the fruit in downy pods, having 

 two or three twirls, as in Fig. 154. 



Lucerne is cultivated in Chili, and grows wild in the 

 utmost luxuriance in the pampas of Buenos Ayres, 

 where it is called alfalfa, which is simply the common 

 lucerne, slightly modified by climate, and may be re, 

 garded as a variety. 



The cultivation of lucerne is somewhat more difficult 

 than that of clover for the first year, requiring a soil 

 thoroughly mellowed, and prepared by clean and care- 

 ful tillage ; and the want of proper attention on this 

 point has led to partial failures in the attempts to raise 

 it in this country. It suffers and languishes in compact 

 clay soils, and does not flourish in light soils lying over 

 an impermeable subsoil, which prevents the water from 

 running off. It will never succeed well on thin soils. 

 But in a permeable subsoil, consisting of loam, or sand, 

 or gravel, its roots can penetrate to great depths ; and, 

 being nearly destitute of lateral shoots, provided with 

 numerous fibrous rootlets, or radical off-shoots, imbibe 

 their moisture and nutriment in layers of soil far below 

 the average of other plants. In this respect it differs 

 materially from clover. 



For lucerne, a suitable subsoil is of the utmost con- 

 sequence. For the short-lived red clover, a suitable 

 surface soil is more important ; a want of care and deep 

 tillage, especially a neglect to break through and loosen 

 up the hard-pan wherever it exists, will inevitably lead 

 to failure with lucerne. But, when the soil is suitable, 

 it will produce good and very profitable crops for from 

 five to ten or twelve years, and, of course, it does not 

 belong in the system of short rotations. 



But, notwithstanding the large quantity of succulent 

 and nutritious forage it produces, its effect is to ameli- 



