350 EXPERIMENTS ON Part HI. 



be loft, and that the infedls may be deftroyed before they entirely 

 con fume the root. 



6. When the feed is to be faved, it muft fland till it is quite 

 ripe, and that crop of grafs is loft. 



When the feed is quite ripe, the tops of the plants, where the 

 pods grow, Ihould be cat off with a Iharp lickle, (ihaking them as 

 little as poffible,) and laid in a cloth held ready to receive them» 

 on which they are dried in the fhade, and then beat out and clean- 

 ed. The reft of the grafs is afterwards cut down; rather to clear 

 the field, than for any ufe it can be of; being now too coarfe aad 

 hard, 



C H A P. IX. S E C T. 11. 



Experiments on Lucerne cultivated according to the new hu/handry, by 

 M. DE Chateau -viEUx. 



" T T is truly with regret, fays M. de Chateau-vieux, that I am 

 -'■ forced to treat a fubjedl of this importance, in fo fummary a 

 way as the limits of this letter * require. However, I hope that 

 even ihis general account of my experiments may be a guide to thofe 

 who would cultivate this plant. Many perfons who live at a con- 

 fiderable diftance from this place -f-, have already followed mv ex- 

 ample, and are extremely well fatisfied with their fuccefs. 



*' Though I agree with M. Duhamel, and the other partifans of 

 the new huibandry, that lucerne and fainfoin thrive beft when cul- 

 tivated in beds; yet my pradlice differs, in many refpedls, from 

 theirs. This difference confiffs in, 



1, The principle ivhich I apply particularly to the culture of Lucerne . 



"T UCERNE naturally grows with one large perpendicular 

 ■■— ' root, which penetrates very deep into the earth, and has 

 few, if any, lateral roots. From fimilar experiments on other tap- 

 rooted plants, I was induced to think, that this too, by tranfplant- 

 ing it, and at the fame time cutting off part of its tap-root, might 

 be made to (hoot out feveral horizontal roots, which, reaching into 

 the loofe mould of the alleys, and extending themfelves there, would 

 colled; a greater quantity of nourifliment for the plant, and confe- 

 quently enable it to produce more abundant crops. 

 ** The event has proved, that when we reafon upon found principles, 



we 



* His letter to M. Duhamel. f Geneva. 



