208 



THK FARMERS* REGISTER. 



Wormwood, rue, savory, lavender, frreen co- 

 riander, and all plants of a strong odor have the 

 earae efJect. 



Jlnolher. 



Melt Burgundy pitch, and by means of a bit of 

 low make a slight coatmi? of it upon the shovels 

 used lor stirring the grain hciips, and then rub 

 them over with the oil of peirolcum. Alter turn- 

 ing ihe grain with ihem two or three limes, the 

 weevils will disappear. It will be necessary to 

 renew the oil and piich whenever they become 

 detached from the shovels. 



The above are some of the first "secrets centre 

 les insects and les aniiiiaux nuieibles," and are a 

 fair specimen of '.he whole. Some of the pro- 

 cesses I should judge to be inert. You can per- 

 haps deiermine wheiher auy of them are valuable. 

 Very respectlully and truly yours, 



M. A. Ctrtis. 



[The foregoing recipes all apply, it is pre- 

 sumed, to the black weevil, a small insect of the 

 beetle tribe, which has wings, but is not known to 

 fly, which lives through the winter, and infests 

 mills and granaries which have grain always in 

 them, so as to furnish a regular supply of food to 

 the insects. The moth or flying weevil, which is so 

 much a greater depredator on the crops of neg- 

 ligent farmers in lower Virginia, is not common 

 in France, even if certainly existing there. Clean- 

 'iness in barns and granaries — cleaning out all 

 the old grain, and all the grain some part of every 

 year, is the best preventive against the black 

 weevil. And the flying weevil, though even a 

 more formidable foe, usually may be perfectly 

 guarded against by care and attemionj. with a 

 proper knowledge of the habits and especially the 

 mode of propagation of the insect. See a long 

 article on this subject at page 325, vol. i. Farm- 

 ers' Register.— Ed. F. R. 



GRASSES AND GRASS CULTURE OF FRAKCE. — 

 CONTINUED. 



Translated from "Le Bon Jardinier," for the Farmers' Register. 



Luzerne, Medlcago saiiua.— The great advan- 

 tages of this plant, the most productive ol all of 

 those employed in artificial meadows, are well 

 known. It prefers good land, deep, sound, well 

 cleansed, and manured the year before it is sown ; 

 but it succeeds in many soils of different natures, 

 but not on those which are grassy or have clay 

 on the surface, or are very [loor. If it is manured 

 at the time of sowing it is necessary (o do it wiih 

 compost well pulverized. The considerable pro- 

 duct and the ureat durabliiy of lucerne, owing 

 very much to the facility with which the roots 

 penetrate llie earth to a great depth, should liave 

 the effect of bringing it into universal cultivation. 

 In situations that are either low or near woods, or 

 that are from some cause eubject to late frosts, it 



is prudent not to sow it until May. In some can- 

 tons it is not uncommon to see it postponed until 

 the summer. In dry and light lands it may be 

 sown early in the autumn with barley or rye. 

 The ground having been well prepared the seed 

 should be sown witii that care which their fine- 

 ness renders necessary. To keep up tiie product 

 of a lucerne field, and to prolong its durability, it 

 is proper lo top-dress it in the winter, or in ihe 

 commencement of spring, with well decomposed 

 manure or with the ashes of turf or coal, or what 

 is still belter, with ground plaster, a substance 

 which produces on all plants of ihe le;_'uminoua 

 family the most astonisliing efiects. Plaster should 

 be sown in a spell of damp weather when there is 

 a prospect for rain ; it may be done not only in 

 the latter part of winter, before vegetation has 

 comnienced, but also in the spring and summer 

 when the first and second growths have begun to 

 be developed. Few persons are ignorant of the 

 Ir^equenl ciccidents ihat occur from grazing the 

 aftermath of clover and lucerne ; when cattle are 

 pernntted to go on it before the dew has been dis- 

 sipated, or afier a rain, they become inflated, and 

 often perish. Farmers, therefore, cannot be loo 

 careliii in this respect, as well as in employing it 

 green in the stables ; lor if given there whilst 

 wet, or in too great quaniities, it will occasion 

 similar accidents. They sow forty pounds of seed 

 per hectare. 



Luzerne rustique, Medicago media. — There 

 grows naturally m France a lucerne similar 

 to the cultivated species, but which diflers Irom 

 it in its disposition to elevate iis stalks and lo 

 grow more erect, and in its being more tardy to 

 put out in the spring. This is ihe variety which 

 1 here call ihe luzerne rustique. From many obser- 

 vations that have been coamiunicated to me, and 

 Ir-om ihose which 1 have made myself, I have rea- 

 son to believe that it is more hardy and less diffi- 

 cult to suit with a proper soil than the medicago 

 saliva. It is very vigorous, and often produces 

 stalks more than lour feel in length. Alhough 

 the experiments ihatl have made are not suffi- 

 ciently advanced for me to form any certain opi- 

 nion, yet this plant appears to me to possess suf- 

 ficient interest, to render it my duly lo point it 

 out to larmcrs, and to call their attention to it. 

 It is an intermediate between the common lucerne 

 and the Lucerne faucille, {Medicago /alcata,) and 

 1 think, without being certain, that it is the plant 

 designated hy Persoon, in the Synopsis Plantarum, 

 as the Medicagn viedia. The Luzerne faucille, 

 the culture of which has been frequently recom- 

 mended, has always, in the attempts that I have 

 made, appeared very inferior to the variety of 

 which 1 write ; but as it grows naturally on ihe 

 poorest lands, it deserves to be submitted to the 

 pro if of culture. After coniinued attempts for 

 many years I have determined to give up entirely 

 the I'uzerne faucille. Although it grows naturally 

 on poor chalk lands, yet sown on these same 

 lands, the plants near one another do not grow 

 wilh any ol ihat vigor Ihat ihey possessed when 

 growing isolated here and ihere. Aiioiher objec- 

 tion is, ihat the stalks have a decided tendency to 

 lie upon the ground. Finally, lo obtain any de- 

 cided profit from it on poor land, it is necessary to 

 ameliorate it very much ; in which case the medi- 

 cago sativa is far preferable. Although ihe j^u- 

 •zerne rustique eucceedcd with me, yet it did not 



