LUCERNE. 



ering 4 or 5 acres ^\'ilh a tliick coat of herbage, 

 in \vhich tlie lamb:» were bro^^'sing breast-high, 

 while diere was little or no other feed in the 

 neighborhood. I hud, too, in the late Mr. 

 Rbam's Dictionary of the Farm, a yet more fa- 

 vorable account of it. Under the article Rye, 

 in that convenient little book, our lamented col- 

 league observes : " There is a variety of Rye 

 mentioned by continental authors by the uaine 

 of St. Johns-day Rye, becau.so it grows so i-apid- 

 ly that if sown about St. John's-dav it will be fit 

 to mow green by the middle of September; 

 and iu favorable seasons may be fed off again in 

 November without preventing its giving ample 

 feed in Sprhig, and a good crop of grain at the 

 next harvest. It might be advantageous to in- 

 troduce this variety into England, if it be not 

 already known." On the other hand, it is right 

 to state that, when our seedsman, Mr. Gibbs, in- 

 quire(i respecting it in iU native country, he 

 was informed that its cultivation was not spread- 

 ing Lu Belgium. But the rea.son assigned was 

 it8 inferiority to the common Rye in yield of 

 seed ; and this objection, though valid in coun- 

 tries where rye bread is eaten, will not apply 

 where, as in England, Rye is intended princi- 

 pally for green fodder. Although then, as I 

 said, my trial of the St. John's-day Rye is mcom- 

 plete, and though it has not been .sown here as 

 yet on its peculiar day, it has evidently t\vo ad- 

 vantages over the common Rye. It tillers so 

 much as to produce double the quantity of herb- 

 age on tlic same space of grouij^. Indeed, m 

 one field where the two varieties were growing 

 together, the common Rye, after twice feeding 

 cff, became so thin that I plowed it up ; while 

 this new Rye covers the ground with its third 

 crop as with its first. Besides tillering more, it 

 is also sweeter than the common rj-e when 

 yonng. Where they grow together, the hares 

 and rabbits, while we had any, ate it before the 

 other. Its principal merit, however, is its supe- 

 rior sweetness in advanced growth, and the con- 

 sequently longer time during which it remains 

 fit for use as spring feed. Good farmers who 

 have seen it agree -svith me, that this new Rye 

 -should be tided upon such light hoUo^v soils as 

 we sometimes find on our southern chalk-hiUs. 

 On such land, in dry seasons, fanners often lose 

 their tuniip crop after it is singled out ; but Rye 

 is known to boar well such looseness of soil. If 

 it were .sown instead of tumip.s, or where the 

 turnips had missed, on a part of the turnip-land, 

 even one sreen crop in the Autumn, to say no- 

 thing of two, and another in Spring, might com- 

 pensate for .such a crop of roots as this land gen- 

 erally yields. If it stood for seed afterwards, it 

 would then ahso take the place of the barley 

 crop — the turnip's natural successor ; and the 

 rotation would remain undisturbed. I will only 

 add one suggestion, or rather call attention to a 

 statement of Mr. Taunton's, that if the St. John's- 

 day Rye be left uneaten in the Autumn, it will 

 artbrd feed for ev.es and lambs equal to the best 

 water-meadow, as early as the beginning of 

 March or the end of Februarj- — an invaluable 

 time for such feed. All that is hoped of a new 

 plant is seldom reali.scd in practice ; but what I 

 have myself seen of the St. John's-day Rye, and 

 the opinions of farmers who have also watched 

 it, make nie sure that I should not be rash in 

 advising occupiers of light lands to give it a 

 trial, but that unfortunately, as I am informed, 

 no .seed is now to be procured abroad with a 

 certainty of its genuineness. 

 Piiseyi May 12, 184,'i. 

 (-279) 



ON LUCERNE, AND THE PKKPARATION OF 

 THE LAND. 



B Y J . TO WE BS. 



The more we see of Lucerne, the more have 

 we cause to be delighted. In Thauet, and such 

 chalky districts, it forms the chief article of 

 green fodder, for upon such soils meadovz-grass 

 will not thrive to perfection. 



The land which the plant aflfccts is a rich, 

 mellow loam, not very heavy, but uuctuons, re- 

 posing upon a chalk rock, at a foot or more be- 

 low the surface : but Lucenie will prosper well 

 in any good garden soil, and continue in heart 

 for eight or ten years, yielding, iii showery sea- 

 sons, five, six, or seven cuttings eveiy season, 

 provided the foolish, unremunerative practice 

 of leaving the herbage to stand till the flowering 

 be abandoned. 



I propose to treat of the culture of Lucerne 

 experimentally, after as.suming that it is essen- 

 tially a lime plant, since it has been found that 

 the ashes contain, of phosphate of lime, 13 

 per cent. ; chalk, or calcareous matter, .50 per 

 cent. 



If these be onlj' approximations, we are 

 taught thereby that lime or its combinations 

 form the specific and appropriate manure ; and, 

 therefore, that in any inland county on the south 

 side of Yorkshire, there can be little difficulty 

 in securing a great return for comparatively a 

 moderate degree of labor and attention. 



I shall suppose a case which is of common oc- 

 currence — that of an old pasture, foul with 

 meadow crowfoot, (ranunculus acris.J dande- 

 lion, &c., which requires to be broken up. The 

 1(171(1 must be cleaned, and this is best effected 

 by paring and burning, by which mjTiads of the 

 wire-wonn may be destroyed, and some alkali 

 and calcareous matters produced, in the form of 

 ashes. These ashes are to be scattered over the 

 pared surface, and then the ground should be 

 trenched two good spits, or eighteen inches 

 deep. At the bottom of each trench, and again 

 over the first returned spit of earth, a two or 

 three-inch stratum of street or spit dung, or of 

 prepared cloacene, should be laid. By prepared 

 cloacine, I mean the contents of a privy, mixed 

 with twice or thrice the volume of loam or 

 good earth, over which has been sprinkled 

 tv^'o or three gallons of diluted sulphuric acid 

 to fix the ammonia. This compost, after stand- 

 ing six months and being once turned and 

 mixed, would prove an excellent phosphated 

 manure. 



\Vlien tlie trenching is completed, a further 

 dressing of dissolved bones should be given in 

 the following manner : For the half of an acre, 

 take one bu.shel and a half of true bone dust, 

 one-third of its weight of concentrated sulphuric 

 acid, and three times its weight of water. Put 

 the last into an open tub, pour into it gradually 

 the sulphuric acid, stirring with a wooden oar, 

 then add the bone dust. Stir from time to time, 

 till the mixture assume an uniform consistence, 

 and it will consist of sulphate of lime and phos- 

 phate of lime, with an excess of phosphoric 

 acid. Incorporate v^-ith it .so much dry, sandy 

 earth, .saw-dust, or fine coal ashes, as will bring 

 it to the temperament of moist garden mould ; 

 then deposit it in heaps on the land, and when 

 ])retty dry, scatter it over the ground; after 

 which, fork the surface, and sow the seed aa the 

 work proceeds. 



If however, the land be somewhat foul witk 

 root weeds, it wiU be better to crop the whole 

 piece with potatoes in the first Spring, omittiaj 



