136 THE LUCERNE CROP. 



stand and be productive for thirty years. 1 Each of these 

 authors gives copious directions as to the cultivation of 

 the crop so highly valued by them directions which are 

 equally applicable at the present day, and upon the observ- 

 ance of which, indeed, the permanence and the produce 

 of the crop mainly depend. They all agree that the land 

 should be deeply ploughed and got into fine tilth, all 

 stones and rubbish removed, manure liberally applied, 

 and the seed sown carefully, and rolled in lightly, so that 

 it be not too deeply buried. Strict injunctions are 

 given to extirpate the weeds, as they come up during the 

 whole duration of the crop, which ought to be cut only 

 once the first year ; and in after years it may be cut four, 

 five, or six times, especially if water be given to it after 

 each cutting. It is recommended not to sow the seed until 

 the end of May, so that the young plants, which are very 

 tender, may run no risk of injury from spring frosts; and 

 although the practice of the Roman agriculturists was to 

 sow it broadcast, it never exceeded the rate of five pecks 

 to the imperial acre. 



We find lucerne mentioned by several of our own early 

 agricultural authors as being known to them, and as having 

 been met with in cultivation in small plots ; but we have no 

 evidence of its being subjected to regular field cultivation in 

 England prior to the seventeenth century. The introduc- 

 tion of artificial grasses and their companions the clovers 

 and other leguminous plants into Scotland was at a much 

 later period. The Earl of Haddington and Mr. Cockburn 

 of Ormiston. are supposed to have been the first who intro- 

 duced Eed clover into East Lothian, between the years 

 1720 and 1730; and Lord Stair is entitled to the credit 

 of having introduced both lucerne and sainfoin into West 

 Lothian, about ten years afterwards. Although cultivated 

 only to a limited extent in England, and still less in 



1 Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. x\iii. cap. xvi. 



