No. 11. 



Lucerne. 



.335 



nothing else ; and since its disastrous exit, 

 they are inclined to consider such flaminor 

 accounts as mere moonshine, and will not, 

 yet a while, consent to be led away by " such 

 another i<rnis fatuus, such another dance." 



I am drawn to this subject at the present 

 moment, by reading conflicting testimony, 

 for and against this crop, in the papers of 

 the day, and cannot but think the time is ap- 

 proaching when such very wide differences 

 must be reconciled by practical experiment, 

 and that too, by those to whom such employ- 

 ment will be legitimate — by the rr.al culli- 

 vators of the soil — not men of all other de- 

 nominations and persuasions, as was the 

 case in the cultivation of the morus multi- 

 caulis, and the breeding of Merino sheep. 

 I find, according to the eastern papers, that 

 the cultivation of lucerne has been tried 

 in several places in that country, and has 

 totally failed ; while in the Baltimore Amer- 

 ican Farmer, for 29th April, there is a par- 

 ticular account of a crop which has as sig- 

 nally succeeded — accounts as opposite as 

 north and south, and which, possibly, is the 

 main cause of such discrepancy ; at the 

 same time, much also must depend on the 

 very opposite nature of the soils in these 

 distant regions ; that of the eastern states 

 being about as unsuitable to the growth of 

 tap-rooted plants, extending to the depth of 

 ten or twelve feet into the sub-soil, as can 

 possibly be imagined — proverbially rocky, 

 swampy, and cold — while on the light and 

 warm soils of Maryland, nothing would seem 

 more suitable than a crop which draws its 

 support, even during the hottest seasons, 

 from a depth far out of the reach of the se- 

 verest droughts. 



Now, I must be permitted to profess my- 

 self an advocate for the cultivation of this 

 plant in our country; but I do not indulge 

 myself in the idea, that it is suitable for all 

 soils, situations, and circumstances. And 

 although I have seen it growing luxuriantly 

 in a small quantity, adjoining the fence of a 

 cottage on the hill, above the sugar refinery 

 of John Brown & Co., at East Boston — and 

 ■where it might still be found, I have no doubt 

 — and have failed in my attempts to raise it 

 on the warm sands of Jersey, under the most 

 careful treatment, still, that it may be raised 

 in this country with perfect success, in suita- 

 ble situations, I am as thoroughly convinced 

 as I am of my existence ; but I do not think 

 it can be done to any good purpose in the 

 eastern states generally, or on those lands 

 which have moist and poisonous sub-soils : 

 these last are destructive to its growth, the 

 deleterious matter being taken up by the tap- 

 roots of the plants, in the way described at 

 page 18 of the 3d volume of the Cabinet. 

 Th'e spot at which I attempted the cultivation 



in New Jersey, was at a farm near the Del- 

 aware, three miles above Camden, where 

 the owner g;ive me a piece of his garden for 

 the experiment : the seed came up very 

 quickly, and tiie progress of the plants was 

 truly astonishing, and until they were about 

 a foot or fourteen inches in height, all ap- 

 peared as it should be; but my next visit 

 convinced me that tluTO was an end to all 

 my hopes : the under leaves had turned yel- 

 low, and the tops of the shoots were sharp 

 and pointed, and showed that they were 

 struck at the root, of which 1 was convinced 

 on digging them up, for their tap-roots, all 

 of them, were cankered and rotten, and 

 broke easily, even by gentle handling : still, 

 these plants, after the decayed roots were 

 removed, would grow and flourish, when 

 planted in a drier spot, for a considerai)le 

 time, but when their roots had again reached 

 the poisonous sub-soil, they would again 

 become prostrated. 



My experience in raising this astonishing 

 crop has been pretty extensive, and as I have 

 long been convinced that it is peculiarly 

 suitable to many parts of this country, I 

 would detail a mode in the culture, which, 

 in suitable situations, and under favourable 

 circumstances, would, I am convinced, be 

 attended with perfect success. 



The land designed for it should be sum- 

 mer-fallowed, the weeds being carefully 

 gathered after every ploughing, and not a 

 moment should be lost in bringing forward 

 as many crops of seed-weeds as possible, 

 by frequent ploughings and harrowings, 

 turning them down as fast as they come. 

 Before the last ploughing, a covering of 

 well-rotted manure should be spread on the 

 land, and this being turned in, the seed, 

 twelve or fourteen pounds per acre, should 

 be sown, broadcast, in August or September, 

 unaccompanied with any crop, and be imme- 

 diately rolled in. In the middle and southern 

 states there would be no danger of its being 

 injured by the winter cold, provided it be 

 protected by the usual quantity of snow, 

 and although the weeds, which might still 

 remain in the soil, may spring up with tho 

 lucerne, yet as they would be prevented from 

 growing in the winter, that crop would shoot 

 earlier in the spring than they, and would 

 soon out-top and overgrow them ; while four 

 or five cuttings of the lucerne during the next 

 summer, would prevent these weeds from 

 obtaining even a chance of success. 



It is a mistaken idea that lucerne requires 

 a rich soil : this is by no means the fact ; in- 

 deed I have known several attempts to raise 

 it on such fail, in consequence,! have thought 

 of this very circumstance — but a suitable 

 soil is quite necessary, and what that is, is 

 not sometimes easily definable beforehand ; 



