Book VI. LUCERN. 877 



5568. The 7nanagement 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 may 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, shortly 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- 

 siderably and become caked, by which the fiowers adhere together and repel the rain ; of course, no loss 

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

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

 carry to the rick-yard and stack. It may either bo 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 by 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 beihg 

 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 j but the 

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



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

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



5572. The ifroduce 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 wliich 

 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 Practical ^grictdture, vol. ii. p. 863.) 



5573. The dLteases of 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, tfee 

 most certain remedy is a naked fallow well worked in the hottest months. . ,, uu'ii. 



Sect. II. Lucern. Medicago satlva L. ; Diadelphia Decdndria L., and Leguminosee^. 

 La Lucerne, Fr. ; Futterklee, Ger, j Medica, Ital. ; and Mielga Span. (Jig. 775.) 



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

 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 riarte'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, he 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 thinks, abundantly 



suflficient 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 

 ancients, and has been long cultivated to advantage in France and Switzerland. If any good reason can 

 be given for this, it is, that lucern is a less hardy plant than red clover, requires three or four years before 

 . it comes to its full growth, and is for these and other reasons ill adapted to enter into general rotations. 

 Where the climate and soil suit, perhaps a field of it may be advantageously sown, adjoining the home- 

 stall, to afford early cutting or food for young or sick animals, for which it is said to be well adapted ; but 

 though it will produce good crops for eight or ten years, yet from the time the farmer must wait till this 

 crop attains its perfection, and from the care requisite to keep it from grass and weeds, we do not think it 

 is ever likely to come into general culture. The Highland Society have lately offered premiums for the 

 culture of this plant in Scotland, and crops have been produced in dry sandy soils in the neighbourhood of 

 Edinburgh ; the climate, however, and the alternate and convertible system of culture generally pursued 

 in the northern parts of the island, and which seems so well adajited to its agricultural circumstances, 

 forbid the hope that it can ever become general. 



