32-1 MOW LUCERNE. [MAY. 



teams are kept out, and a drought should succeed, 

 the tillage will be badly performed, and, perhaps, 

 not at all. Immediately after the scythe, whatever 

 the weather may be, tare land is always in admir- 

 able order for tillage : loose, friable, and, if the 

 crop has been great, putrid. It is best to plough 

 it with Ducket's skim coulter, which will com- 

 pletely turn down and bury whatever remnants of a 

 great crop there may be, which, becoming dry and 

 fuzzy, are apt to impede the common plough, and 

 stick out between the furrows : in this situation it 

 does not rot, is unsightly, and injurious to the 

 work of any implement that follows, which should 

 be the scuffler and harrows. A little attention 

 thus given, will save much trouble and ex pence af- 

 terwards. There are many operations on a farm 

 which can be effectively done only by means of 

 that coulter : a farmer should at all events possess 

 it ; on many occasions, he will not have a more 

 useful implement on his farm. 



MOW LUCERNE. 



If the lucerne was well manured, there will be 

 a cutting, as already observed, towards the end of 

 this month ; however, this will necessarily depend 

 on the season ; if there are late frosts it will be 

 much impeded, and this work not take place till 

 June. Whenever it is fit to cut, the attentive hus- 

 bandman should order his men always to mow 

 longitudinally of the rows if drilled, or of the 

 field if broad-cast. Left to themselves, it is twenty 

 to one but they cut out a square, and enlarge it in 



such 



