FIRST PRIZE ESSAY. 3 



SOWING. 



The quantity of seed sown per acre varies very much in dif- 

 ferent countries and different localities. In France, for instance, 

 .-as much as 30 Ibs. of seed is sown t > the acre. One acre measures 

 -exactly 4,840 superficial square yards ; roughly about -70 yards by 

 70 yards. From 30 Ibs. an acre in France, we find as little as 2 to 

 .3 Ibs. per acre sown by some Australian farmers in laying down 

 sheep pastures. We know of a Colonial farmer in the^Graaff- 

 Reinet district whose standard is about 8 Ibs. 'to the acre. But 

 personally we have found here-that it is safer to 'allow a good mar- 

 gin for loss of young plants through cut- worms, earth-fly, drought 

 and other thinning out causes, and we have adopted the following 

 quantities per acre broadcast as a safe standard, viz., 15 Ibs. to the 

 acre in freshly broken virgin soil, and 20 Ibs. on old grain lands 

 where plant food is scarce and weeds are plentiful. Lucerne is far 

 better sown broadcast than in drills or rows. ' If Drilled on a large 

 scale, the inevitable weeding i; would 'entail constant and heavy 

 expense, even if done by horseThoe; " Where 'grasses of the root 

 propagating kind are troublesome, the seed 'should be 'sown extra 

 thick (say 25 Ibs. to the acre), to enable the' young Wcerne crop to 

 smother the grass in the struggle for mastery. The seed should 

 not be covered too deeply unde'r the soil. An ordinary medium 

 heavy bush harrow will cover the seed quite deep enough. Indeed, 

 if sown during a rainy month it ''needs no covering with the har- 

 .iows at all, but will germinate and root 'splendidly simply lying 

 uncovered upon the surface. Some people prefer to sow lucerne 

 along with wheat, or barley, or oats, reaping the grain crop when 

 ripe, and leaving the lucerne then in sole possession of the ground. 

 If a " non-stooling" variety of wheat, like Italian (Blauwkoorn), 

 or Defiance (Kaalkop), is sown, it is certainly beneficial to the young 

 lucerne, especially if the ground s is an old weedy grain-field. The 

 wheat checks the growth of the, numerous tap-rooted weeds, and 

 thus gives the young lucerne crop a better chance for rooting and 

 establishing itself. We do not recommend the sowing of lucerne 

 with either barley or oats. They " stool" too much, especially oats. 

 English oats are nearly as bad as grass for choking out a field of 

 young lucerne. The very lest time for sowing lucerne in the Midlands is 

 Certainly in the rainy season, that is from February to the end of April. 

 At this season the nights are dewy, and the dry scorching winds of 

 October to December are avoided. Lucerne germinates, and in its 

 younger stages thrives far better under successive showers of rain, 

 followed by dewy nights, than under the most highly approved 

 methods of scientific artificial irrigation. We disapprove of the 

 usual method of first watering the ground, then ploughing it, and 

 s nving the seed in this moist ploughed ground to germinate with 

 o.ily the moisture in the ground. The surface of ploughed ground 

 unless at once rolled with a heavy roller dries out so rapidly, 

 that the delicate seedlings are very apt to wither and die for want 



