108 



NEW E N GLAND FARMER 



OCT. 7, ■S40. 



LUCERNE— fTl/frficfig-o sntiva.) 

 In our previous volumes, several articlrs on the 

 character and cultivation of this i)huit have already 

 bee[i given to our renders ; but we cannot resist 

 the hiyh praises given it, and select another from 

 the many we find in our eotemporaries. We are 

 not aware of any attempt to cultivate it in Ken- 

 tucky, hut we believe that it would prove very use- 

 ful. The excellencies of this grass are its great 

 product and long continuance— yielding from three 

 to five, sometimes even eight tons per acre, and 

 continuing from one sowing from six to ten years, 

 depending upon situation anil soil, and a proper 

 preparation of the jironnd at the sowing. It re- 

 sists the effect of drought, by means of its long, 

 deep crowing roots. It is best used by assoiling ; 

 that is, cutting and feeding it green ; or by (Uthir- 

 in^-) confining the animal to be fed, to a very small 

 space at one time, or in hay. In the last mention- 

 ed it is treated as clover, but the first is the way in 

 which we suppose it would be most profitable to us. 

 An acre, or two acres sown near the stable, would 

 furnish the horses with an abundance at every feed 

 from May to October- We would be glad to he-.'.r 

 of some one trying the experiment, if no more. Wo 

 are informed that the seed cost from twentyfivo to 

 thirty cents per pound. — Franklin Fiirmer. 



Ldckrnk. — As we have expected, and as it de- 

 serves, this plant is attracting more of the public 

 attention. This is the result of the merits of the 

 plant itself, and a growing disposition among agri- 

 culturists to diversify their crops more than they 

 have done heretofore, and especially to make, as 

 it is their obvious interest to do, better provision 

 in the way of grasses and roots. 



A very sensible writer in a late number of the 

 Farmer's Cabinet, who is justly impressed with the 

 great value of lucerne, and who has evidently been 

 a close observer of its cliaracter and habits, makes 

 in regard to its cultivation the following remarks. 

 — Jimer. Farnur. 



"My experience in raising this astonishing crop 

 has been pretty extensive, and as I have long been 

 convinced that it is peculiarly suitable to many 

 parts of this country, I would detail a mode in the 

 culture, which, in suitable situations and under fa- 

 vorable circumstances would, Jam convinced, be 

 attended with perfect success. 



The land designed for it siio.uld be summer-fal- 

 lowed, the weeds being carefoUy gathered after 

 every ploughing, and not a moment should be lost 

 in bringing fnrward as many crops of seed-weeds 

 as possible, by frequent ploughings and harrow. 

 ings, turning them down as fast as they come. 

 Before the last ploughing, a covering of well-rotted 

 manure should be spread on the land, and this be- 

 ing turned in, the seed, twelve or fourteen pounds 

 per acre, should be sown broadcast, in August or 

 September, unaccompanied with any crop, and be 

 immediately rolled in. In the middle and southern 

 States there would be no danger of its being injur- 

 ed by the winter cold, provided it be protected by 

 the usual quantity of s/iow, and although the weeds 

 which might still remain in the soil, may sprint: up 

 with the lucerne, yet as they would bo prevented 

 from growing in the winter, that crop would shoot 

 earlier in the spring tlian they, and would soon 

 out-top and overgrow them; while four or five cut. 

 tings of the lucerne during the next summer would 

 prevent these weeds from obtaining even a chance 

 of success. 



It is a mistaken idea that lucerne requires a 



rich soil ; this is by no means the fact; indeed I 

 have known several attempts to raise it on such fail, 

 in consequence I think of this very circumstance; 

 but a suHuble soil is quite necessary, and what that 

 i.s, is not sometimes easily definable beforehand; 

 but experiments on a small scale will soon point 

 theni out. The subsoil for tliis crop is of much 

 more importance than the surface, and the most 

 prolific crops have been obtained from soils sup- 

 posed too barren to produce any profitable yield 

 whatever. .Ashes form an excellent top-dressing 

 for lucerne, as they contain no seeds of weeds, and 

 this is a circumstance of incalculable importani'e 

 to its future well being: all other manures should 

 bo applied during the frosts of winter, for before 

 the seeds of the weeds, which might be contained 

 in them, can vegetate in the spring, the lucerne 

 has started, and will then keep the lead ; and when 

 the crop has taken full possession cf the soil, noth- 

 ing appears more tenacious of life, or equal to cope 

 with it, especially during a season of drought, 

 when all other vegetation has disappeared from the 

 face of the earth ; then, I have often known it to 

 shoot away at the rate of two inches in height ev- 

 ery twentyfour hours. It has been the custom in 

 pome places, to raise the crop on a seed bed, and 

 transplant the roots, but this is changing the na- 

 ture of the plant, for its peculiar characteristic — a 

 tap-rooted plant — is thus destroyed ; and however 

 much it might thereafter flouri.-^h on good soils, it 

 is not so fitted to pump up, from the depth of twelve 

 or fourteen feet, moisture sufficient to sustain a 

 crop of eleven tons per acre, during the hottest 

 season of the year ; nor is it, after that, so well 

 able to cope with the weeds, as its strength is nev- 

 er so great as when its roots are deep, and forms a 

 woody crown about three inches in diameter, bid- 

 ding defiance even to the ploughshare, and seem- 

 ing to gain strength from the roughest treatment. 



Nor is the very general practice of drilling the 

 seed, and keeping the rows clear of weeds by the 

 hoe, at all to be recommended ; it is thus made to 

 flourish, but it is at the cost of too much labor and 

 expense ; nor have I ever known a hoed crop at 

 all to be compared with very many that I have 

 seen broadcast, and which had been raised with 

 little expense or labor. The observation, at page 

 ii^S, vol. 3, of the Cabinet, that unless the lucerne 

 crop is sown in drill.*, and kept clear by hoeing, it 

 will never answar to the farmer, is erroneous — 

 nothing can be farther from the fact — thick sowing 

 in the autumn or late summer on a clean and suita- 

 ble soil, will render quite unnecessary drilling and 

 hoeing ; and will insure larger crops than can be 

 obtained by any other mode of management. 



Lucerne has been denominated an impatient 

 crop, but on suitable soils, nothing succeeds so 

 well or with less trouble; the seeds start in a very 

 (rw days, and the growth of the plants is at first as 

 decided and rapid as the common red clover; but 

 it must be admitted that after this, it seems ready 

 to give nay to a crop of weeds, and the most prom- 

 ising prospect is often destroyed in a few days. 

 But to those who are aci|uainled with its habits, 

 the cultivation is neither diificult or hazardous, and 

 when it once decides the question "to grow or not 

 to grow," in the affirmative, there is no crop on 

 earth that can at all kee;. pace with it ; and it is 

 then a crop for life, or thereabouts. The best 

 crops which I ever knew, were those which grew 

 on the sea shore, not two feet from high water 

 mark — nay, I have known it grow and flourish on 

 the sea beach, overflown by every spri.ng tide, with- 



out sufl^ering the least injury from it. Those crops 

 grew on white sand, with not a particle of earth 

 to be seen in its composition, and there were, of 

 course, no weeds to impede its growth ; but, at the 

 depth of several feet, this bed of sand was found 

 resting upon a substance of fine light mould, into 

 whicli the roots had penetrated and produced crops 

 which were truly astonishing iii their bulk and vig- 

 or ; and upon these fields it had been customary 

 to tether cows during the whole summer, for ages, 

 without manure, and yet no diminution of its 

 strength was ever dreampt of. During the whole 

 of the winter, not a blade of lucerne was to be 

 seen, the roots had all been covered by a light coat 

 of sand, which had been blown up I'rom the beach; 

 this protected the crop from the frosts ; and very 

 early in the spring, the shoots of lucerne would be 

 found penetrating it in all directions, like aspara- 

 gus plants, and in a few days they would spread 

 the surface like a carpet, furnishing, in about the 

 space of two weeks, excellent food for cattle of ev- 

 ery description, and upon which hogs would fatten, 

 fit for slaughter ; it being remarkable that these 

 last, after masticating even the woody stalks of 

 the plant, would not eject any portion of it, but 

 swallow the whole." Via. 



RECLAIMED .MEADOWS. 



There are in all parts of our country more or 

 less lands called swamps, bogs, or bog-meadowa, 

 as they may happen to be bare, or productive of a 

 little worthless grass. Now such spots are usual- 

 ly the richest part of a farm, being points on which 

 for ages the most valuable parts of the surrounding 

 fields, the salts, manures, and fertile mould, have 

 been centred, and where they have been preserved 

 as in close reservoirs ready to reward the hand and 

 the labor that, directed by skill, should endeavor 

 to turn them to account in the cultivation of land. 



One of the surest indications of an improved ag- 

 riculture in this country, is the notices that fre- 

 quently meet our eyes in the contemporary jour- 

 nals, as well as those furnished for the Cultivator, 

 of the reclamation of these long neglected places, 

 and their extreme productiveness when brought un- 

 der cultivation. They are found not only to he 

 reservoirs of the richest manures, requiring only to 

 have the acidity which such wet places are sure to 

 give the vegetable matter collected in them, cor- 

 rected by lime or fermentation, by mixture with 

 other manures, but by proper treatment, to be ca- 

 pable of giving crops of roots or grass of the most 

 luxuriant kind. 



If it is desirable to convert the earth of these 

 natural meadows into manure, the best method is 

 to draw it in the summer or fall to the barn yard, 

 which should be covered to the depth of at least a 

 foot with the transported material. This will ab- 

 sorb the liquid manure of the yards, be mixed by 

 the feet of the animals, with the long manure made 

 from waste stalks, hay, straw, &c., and in the 

 spring when wanted for the crops, will be found 

 more valuable than barn yard manure usually is. 



If it is desired to cultivate the earth where it is, 

 or convert the swamp into first rate tillable land, 

 thorough draining in every part must be attended 

 to, or nothing can be done to advantage. If made 

 dry enough for the plough, let the surface be fully 

 juilverized with that implement. If bogs or brush 

 abound, they must be grubbed and burned, and a 

 dressing of lime or ashes, or even mere common 

 sand or gravel, will produce an excellent effect—.. ' 

 Alb. Cult. ' 



