FARivlERS' REGISTER. 



401 



roois of ilie plants, in ihe way describpfl at page 

 18 of ihe 3il volume oi'die C.ihinet. The spot at 

 vvlucli 1 attempted the cuhivaiion in New Jersej-, 

 was at a farm near the Del.iware, three niiles^ 

 above Camden, where the owner jrave ine a piece 

 ol" Ills ffarden lor the ex|)eriment : the seed came 

 up very quiciily, and the progress ol' the [)!anlt; 

 was truly asiionisiiiiiiT) «i'd uiilii they were about a 

 fijot or Iburieen inches in heiirht, all appeared as 

 it should he; but my next visit convineed me thai 

 there was an end to all my hopes: the under 

 leaves hud turned yellow, and the tops of the 

 shoots were sharp and pointed, and showed that 

 they were struck ai tlie root, of vvhiidi I was con- 

 vinced on dii;(ring 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 dri r spot, 

 lor a considerable lime, but when their roots had 

 again reached the poisonous subsoil, they would 

 again become prostrated. 



My experience in raising this astonishing crop 

 has been pretty extensive, and as 1 have long been 

 convinced that it is peculiarly suitable to many 

 pans of this country, I would detail a mode in the 

 culture, which, in suitable situations, and under 

 tiivorable circumstances, would, 1 am convujced, 

 be attended with perlect success. 



The land desiifned lor it should be summer- 

 fallowed, the weeds being carefully gathered after 

 every ploughing, and not a moment sliould be lost 

 in bringing forward as many crops of seed-weeds 

 as possible, by frequent ploughmgs and iiarrow- 

 ings, turninir them down as last as they come. 

 Belbre the last ploughing a covering of well-rotied 

 manure should be spread on the land, and this be- 

 ing turned in, the seed, twelve or fourteen pounds 

 per acre, should be sown, broadcast, in August or 

 Sf>ptember, unaccompanied with any cro[), and be 

 inmiedia'ely rolled in. In tie middle and southern 

 states there would be no dangerof its being injured 

 by the winter cold, provided it be protected by the 

 usual quantity of snow, and althouyh the weeds, 

 which miiiht still remam in the soil, may spring 

 up with the lucerne, yet as ihey would be prevent- 

 ed from oTowiiig in the winter, that crop would 

 shout earlier in the spring than they, and would 

 poon out-top and overgrow them ; while four or 

 five cuttings of the lucerne during the next sum- 

 mer, 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 ; indeed f have 

 known several attempts to raise it on such finl, in 

 consequence, [ have ihouirht, of this very circum 

 stance — but a snUable sod is quite necessary, and 

 what that is, is not sometimes easily definable be- 

 forehand ; but exi'erimenis on a small scale will 

 soon point that out. The subwil lor this crop is 

 ol' much mo'^t^ importance than the surface, and 

 the most prolific crops have been obiained from 

 soils supposed too barren to [iroduce any profitable 

 yield whatever. Ashes form an excellent lof)- 

 dressing for lucerne, as they contain no seeds of 

 weeds, and this is a circumstance of incalculable 

 importance to its future well being: all othT ma- 

 nures should be applied during the Irosts of winter, 

 for belbre the seeds of the weeds, which m'ght t>e 

 contained in them, can vegetate in the spring, the 

 Jocerne has started, and will then keep the lead : 



Vol. A^III-51 



and when the crop has taken full possession of the 

 soil, nothing apjjeara more tenacious of life, or 

 equal to cope wiih it, especially during a season of 

 drought, when all other vegetation has disappeared 

 lioin the face of (he earth; then, I have olien 

 known it to slioot away at the rate of two inches 

 in liei«rhi every iweniy-lour hours. It h.is been 

 I he custom in some places, to raise the crop on a 

 seed-bed, and transplant the roots, but this is 

 changing the nature of the plant, lor its peculiar 

 characteristic — a tap- rooted plain — is thus destroy- 

 ed ; and however much it might thereafter flourish 

 on good soils, it is not so fined to jDuni/> w/>, from 

 the depth of twelve or fourteen teet, moisture 

 sufficient to suslain a crop of eleven tons per acre, 

 during the hottest season of the year; nor is it after 

 ihat, so well able to cope with the weeds, as its 

 strengiliis never so great as when its roots are 

 deep, and Ibrins a woody crown about three inched 

 in diameter, bidding defiance even to the plough- 

 share,, and seeming to gain strength from the 

 rouchest treatment. 



Nor is the very general practice of drilling the 

 seed, and keeping the rows clear of weeds by the 

 hoe, at all to be recommended ; it is thus made to 

 flourish, but it is at the cost of too much labor 

 and expense ; nor have I ever known a hoed crop 

 at all to be compared with very many that 1 have 

 seen broadcast, and which had been raised with 

 little expense or labor. The observation, at page 

 258, vol. 3, of the Cabinet, that unless the lucerne 

 crop is sown in drills, and kept clear by hoeing, it 

 will never answer to the farmer, is erroneous — 

 nothing can be lartherfrom the lad — thicksowing 

 in the autumn or laie summer, on a clean and 

 suitable soil, will render quite unnecessary drill- 

 ing and hoeing; and will insure larger crops 

 than can be obtained by any other mode of man- 

 agement. 



Lucerne has been denominated an impatient 

 crop, but on aoUs when suitable, nothing succeeds 

 so well, or with less trouble ; ihe seeds start in a 

 very lew days, and the growih of the plants is at 

 first as decided and rapid as the common red clover; 

 but it must be adiniiied that, alier this, it seems 

 ready to give way to a crop of weeds, and the 

 most promising prospect is olien destroyed in a lew 

 days. But to those who are acquainted with its 

 habits, the cultivation is neither dilficult or hazard- 

 ous; and when it once decides the question "to 

 grow, or not lo grow," in the afi^rmaiive, there is 

 no crop on earth that can at all keep pace with it; 

 and it is then a crop /or lile, or thereabouts. The 

 best crops which I ever knew, were those vvhi(!h 

 grew on the sea-shore, nut two leet from high 

 water mark — nay, I have known it grow and 

 flourish on the sea-beach, overflown by every 

 spring tide, witiiout suflering the least injury from 

 it. Those crops grew on while sand, with not a 

 particle of earth to be seen in iis composition, and 

 I here were, of course, no weeds to impede its 

 growth ; but, at the depth ol'several feet, this bed 

 jf sand was Ibund resting upon a substance of fine 

 light mould, into which the roo's had peneirated, 

 and produced crops which were truly astonishing 

 in their bulk and vigor; and U[)on these fields it 

 had been customary to leiher cows during the 

 whole summer, lor ages, wiihout manure, antj 

 yet no diminution of its stn-ngth was ever dreainei 

 of During the whole of the winter, not a blade 

 oi lucerne was to be Been, the roots hud all been' 



