THE LUCERNE CROP. 



THE next crop for consideration among our Forage Crops 

 is the LUCERNE, which, although not cultivated to any 

 great extent in this country, in warmer climates than our 

 own arrives at such a luxuriant growth that it usually 

 takes the first place in the estimation of keepers of any 

 kinds of stock. It belongs to the same order as the 

 clovers -Leguminosce and, indeed, is closely allied to 

 the genus Trifolium in all its leading botanical char- 

 acters. It is a native of Southern Europe, and has become 

 acclimatized to the warmer districts of this country, and 

 been cultivated from a very early date. Lucerne was 

 well known in Roman husbandry : nearly all of the old 

 Roman authors speak of it in high terms. Columella 

 especially praises it, and estimated it as the choicest 

 fodder, because it lasted many years as a crop, and could 

 be cut down four, five, and often six times each year. It 

 enriches, he says, the land on which it grows, fattens the 

 cattle fed on it, and is often most valuable as a remedy 

 for any beasts that may be sick. He tells us that a "mea- 

 sure of land" equal to about three-fourths of an imperial 

 acre was abundantly sufficient to keep three horses during 

 an entire year. 1 Palladius speaks of it in precisely the same 

 terms. 2 Pliny agrees with Columella and Palladius in 

 respect to the number of cuttings which the crop gives in 

 the course of the season, but differs from them as to the 

 time that it lasts ; and asserts that, instead of ten, it will 



1 Columella, lib. ii. cap. xi. - Palladius, lib. v. tit. i. 



