Book V 



LUCERN. 



877 



5568. The management of a crop of clover with a view to saving seed is thus given by a cultivator in 

 Buckinghamshire." A moderate bulk of haulm is generally found most productive of seed, and a moderately 

 rich, sharp, dry soil is the best for having moderate haulm. The field may be pastured till the middle of 

 May, and then" shut up till the ripening is completed. August is generally the ripening month, and the 

 maturity of the seed mav be known by the leaves becoming brown and dropping off. Observe the seed 

 from time to time, and when it has changed from a bright yellow to a deep purple, it is then ready for the 

 scythe. After the crop is cut down, disturb it as little as possible by fork or rake. Form it into small 

 cocks not larger than muck heaps. Should favourable weather ensue, nothing more is necessary than to 

 turn these cocks once over, shortlv before carting home. And, should the weather prove fickle, these 

 small heaps of withered straw are very soon dried, perhaps in one good day, by turning up the bottom, 

 after the top has become a little dried. After remaining some time in the field, the cocks subside con. 

 siderablv and become caked, bv which the flowers adhere together and repel the rain ; of course, no loss 

 of top can be sustained bv gently turning them to dry. It thus appears, that clover for seed is not so 

 liable to be injured as clover for hav. In general six or ten days of favourable weather render it fit to 

 carry to the rick-yard and stack. It may either be threshed by a light flail, or by threshing machines, 

 having a particular additional cover introduced below the drum or beater for that purpose. 



5569. In threshing, whether by the flail or machine, the first operation is to separate the heads or spikes 

 of seeds from the haulm. This operation separates none of the seed, which remains firm in the withered 

 florets, and requires to be separated bv a course of light thrashing, similar to that used for hummelling 

 barley. When on examination it is found that the seed is all separated, the operations of sifting and 

 winnowing ought to be carried on in the usual manner with appropriate sieves; the clover sieve being 

 well known to the sieve-maker. The average produce per acre is three hundred weight. 



5570. Seed may be saved from a second crop ; that is, after the first crop has been mown for hay ; but the 

 sample is seldom so strong or plump as that from a first crop. 



5571. White clover, and also yellow clover, lucern, and saintfoin, when intended for seed, are treated 

 much in the same manner as red clover. {Farm. Mag. vol. xix. p. 276.) 



5572. The produce in seed may generally be from three to four or five bushels per 

 acre, when perfectly clean, weighing from two to three hundred weight. But there is 

 great uncertainty in the produce of clover seed, from the lateness of the season at which 

 it becomes ripe ; and the fertility of the soil is considerably impaired by such a crop. 

 Yet the high value of the seed is a great inducement to the saving of it, in favourable 

 situations. (Dickson s Practiced Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 863. J 



5573. The diseases if clover are the blight or mildew, and suffocation or consumption, 

 from insects, slugs, and worms. It often happens that clover, after being repeated at 

 short intervals on the same soil, either fails or does no good ; whether that is owing to a 

 disease, or to a defect of some peculiar substance which enters into the food of the plant, 

 does not appear to be clearly ascertained. A top-dressing with ashes or lime is said to 

 be unfavourable to the slug ; but where vermin of this sort are very numerous, the 

 most certain remedy is a naked fallow well worked in the hottest months. 



Sect. II. Lucern. 

 La Lucerne, Fr. 



— Medicdgo sativa L. ; Diadelpliia Decandria L., and Leguminosce J . 

 ; Futterkke, Ger. ; Medica, Ital. ; and Mielga Span. (Jig. 775.) 



5574. Lucern is a deep-rooting perennial plant, sending 

 up numerous small and tall clover-like shoots, with blue or 

 violet spikes of flowers. It is a native of the south of Eu- 

 rope, and appears to be acclimated in the warmer parts of 

 England. Lucern or medic is highly extolled by the 

 Roman writers, and also the cytisus, the latter a low ever- 

 green shrub. Lucern is much grown in Persia and Lima, 

 and mown in both countries all the year round ; it is also 

 of unknown antiquity in old Spain, Italy, and the south 

 of France. It was introduced to England from the latter 

 country, according to Miller, in 1657. It is mentioned 

 by Hartlib, Blythe, and other early writers, and was tried 

 by Lisle ; but it excited little attention till after the publi- 

 cation of Harte's Essays, in 1757. It is now only culti- 

 vated in a few places, and chiefly in Kent. Columella 

 estimated lucern as the choicest of all fodder, because it 

 lasted many years, and bore being cut down four, five, 

 or six times a year. It enriches, lie says, the land on 

 which it grows, fattens the cattle fed with it, and is often 



a remedy for sick cattle. About three quarters of an acre of it is, he tliinks, abundantly 



sufficient to feed three horses during the whole year. 

 5575 Clover has found no great reception in this country, though it was so much esteemed by the 



anHents a, d has beei long cultivated to advantage in France and Switzerland. It any good reason can 



£SC d tht KfiKES? a -ess hardy f lant than red do^^u^three^tour^ea.^^ 



culture of t£i p^Tin Scotland, and crops have been « « 



Edinburgh ; the climate, however, and the alternate and ^^^J^^^'^^^ypursurt 

 in the northern parts of the island, and which seems so weU adapted to its agricultural car instances, 

 forbid the hope that it can ever become general. 



