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makes an enormous growth, but ordinarily its only use is in pastures. 

 It is sometimes recommended to be sown mixed with white clover 

 for lawns, as it remains green through the driest summers. 



Mtih'cugo uinciilnla (Spotted mediek ; bur clover ; California 

 clover; black mediek ; heart clover; St. Mawe's clover; Arabian 

 snail clover). An old world pasture plant, which has become 

 widely introduced in the eastern and southern States, as far west 

 as Texas. It is very similar to .17. tlcnlicnlata in appearance and in 

 its feeding qualities, and is often mistaken for the latter. 



Mean-ago satirti (Alfalfa ; lucerne ; lucerne clover ; 

 lucerne meclicago ; lucerne clover ; Spanish trefoil ; purple 

 mediek. Fig. 21). Alfalfa, or lucerne, is one of the best known 

 and most widely distributed of fodder plants. It is an upright, 

 branching, smooth perennial, one to three feet high, with three- 

 parted leaves, each leaflet being broadest above the middle. The 

 purple pea-like flowers, instead of being in a head, as in red clover, 

 are in long, loose clusters or racemes, scattered over the entire 

 plant. The ripe pods are spirally twisted, and each contains several 

 seeds. Alfalfa is a deep feeder. The taproot descends to a great 

 depth wherever the soil is loose and permeable, often averaging 

 ten to fifteen feet, while extraordinary depths of 50 or 60 feet have 

 been recorded. It will grow in favorable soil anywhere from sea 

 level up to 7,000 feet elevation, and the success or failure of the 

 crop depends as much upon the character of the subsoil as upon 

 the surface layers. Good drainage is necessary, as the plants are 

 killed by excess of water in the soil or on the surface. 



A contributor to the Sydney Mail writing re. lucerne on the farm, 

 makes the following remarks, and gives some good advice as to the 

 sowing and subsequent cultivation and use of this crop : There 

 ought to be more ground under lucerne by a hundredfold in this 

 colony than there is. Beyond a shadow of doubt lucerne is the 

 most useful and the most enduring in usefulness of all the fodder 

 crops that have been tried in Australia. It will flourish in almost 

 every part of New South Wales, and there is no conceivable reason 

 why farmers have not sown it more extensively, unless it be that the 

 returns from it are not immediately under their noses. Once a 

 farmer has used lucerne for cutting for hay, for feeding to stock, or 

 for pasture, he will never be without some of it, unless the bank 

 or some other mortgage closes and the unfortunate man is left with- 

 out anything. Some experts say that lucerne should be sown in 

 April or May, if possible, but September is the best of the other 

 months. For my part I believe September to be the 

 best for the ordinary farmer at all times. It is not desirable to sow 

 on new land, because the soil is almost always too cold for such 

 a small seed, and poor progress is made by the plants at the most 

 critical stage of their existence. Land that has been well broken 

 up to a good depth and cropped once or twice is best, but when a 

 farmer has been at the expense of clearing that land he wants 



