LEGUMINOUS CROPS. 555 



Handling the Young Stand. 



The seedling lucerne plants are thus up by the early part of May and 

 winter showers keep them growing slowly until the spring. Nothing in the 

 nature of cultivation is attempted, with the possible exception (under very 

 adverse circumstances) of running a light seeding harrow over the crop 

 with the tines sloping backwards. The plant is delicate and will not stand 

 being disturbed at this stage, though it will resist drought surprisingly. 

 Indeed, more young lucerne plants are killed by too much water than by too 

 much dry weather, for lucerne is distinctly hardy in respect to the latter. 



In the spring — about September — it is advisable to run the mower over 

 the ground and to allow the very light cutting to remain on the ground; 

 the same may have to be done again in October, though it may be possible 

 with a good stand to let the second growth go for a light hay crop. The 

 plants must be encouraged to stool at this stage, however, and cutting is 

 valuable to that end. The growth must be watched with care, for (as with 

 most other plants) as soon as the conditions become a bit adverse there is an 

 impulse to preserve the species by setting seed — an occurrence that cannot 

 but exhaust the plant and permanently affect its vigour. 



Perhaps in November a cut worth saving as hay will be obtained, and by 

 that time an application of water will most probably be necessary. It is 

 one of the disadvantages of spring sowing that before the plant has attained 

 any height it may be necessary to apply water, which in turn makes a light 

 harrowing a necessity in order to loosen the surface and let the little 

 plants grow. Such a disturbance is never in favour of the plant, but in 

 such circumstances it may be unavoidable. Sometimes, if the surface has 

 become set, it is possible to give a very light watering and then to run an 

 ordinary tine harrow over the ground. 



The Irrigation of Lucerne. 



The first application of water is given as soon as the first crop of hay is 

 off the land in order to stimulate an early growth, and further irrigations 

 follow as the season requires. Generally speaking, one irrigation for each 

 cut is sufficient in the early part of the season, but as the weather gets hotter 

 more are necessary, averaging two per cutting, and the exact time when 

 these are made must entirely depend on the season. 



The practice at the farm is to irrigate a week before cutting. A second 

 watering is given as soon as the hay has been taken off; this makes two 

 waterings per cutting, which is usually sufficient. Should the weather be 

 excessively dry and hot an extra watering about fourteen days after cutting 

 may be found necessary. The object aimed at is to keep sufficient moisture 

 in the soil to produce maximum results. Other periods of watering have 

 been tried, but the above practice has been found to give the best results. 

 It is not advisable to wait until the lucerne shows signs of distress; this 

 must be anticipated as much as possible. 



As already indicated, a big body of water is never turned on the lucerne 

 at one time. The head ditch is filled and then a gap is opened in the bank 

 about half-way between the check banks, allowing enough water to escape 

 to spread from bank to bank, just covering the surface and moving forward 

 very slowly. The slow advance of the water robs irrigation of much of its 

 attractiveness, no doubt, but a rush of water is never satisfactory, for it 

 wets the surface without saturating the subsoil. It should take from six to 

 eight hours for the water to reach the lower end of the block 6 chains away, 



