60 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



dies. In the spring, however, the rye will again come forth 

 mixed with lucerne, will add much to the quantity on the ground, 

 and prove a most excellent feed for cattle. The rye cut green in 

 this way and before getting into seed will admit of being cut 

 two or three times in the course of the season, with the lucerne 

 before it decays. 



The kind of soil most suitable for this culture is a dry mellow 

 loam, but a sandy or clay loam will also answer, provided it is 

 not wet. In a favorable season, the lucerne may be cut the next 

 fall after sowing. After the first season you may generally be- 

 gin to cut green for cattle by the first of May, which saves your 

 young pasture and is in every respect a very great convenience, 

 as hogs and every description of animals devour it with equal 

 avidity. Backward as this season has been, I have been furnish- 

 ing a copious supply every day to seven cattle, since the 5th of 

 May. The seed can be procured at Thornburn's or other seed 

 stores in New York, at 40 to 50c per pound. 



The following notes on the culture of alfalfa and 

 sainfoin are from a book called ' ' Practical Farmer ' ' 

 published in 1793 by John Spurrier and dedicated to 

 Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Spurrier was a transplanted 

 English farmer. It is curious to note how nearly 

 he came to knowing how to grow each of these crops, 

 and how vitally he failed to grasp the truth that 

 these plants thrive on "gravels" when these gravels 

 are composed of limestone pebbles, not necessarily 

 when they do not! This quotation is presented 

 through the courtesy of J. M. Westgate : 



Saintfoin took its name from the French; for the word Saint- 

 foin, translated into English, is Holy-Hay, which name they gave 

 it from its excellent nutritive quality. 



There may be more benefit reaped from this grass than any 

 other; as you may get a very great crop in the most dryest land, 

 on hills, gravels, sands, or even barren ground; and it will so 

 improve all those lands in such an extraordinary manner that 

 they will bring great crops of any sort of grain after it. 



The stalks of the plant in poor land will be two feet high, and 

 in rich land it will grow as high as six feet. It has tufts of red 

 flowers, of three, f^r. or five inches in length of the honey- 

 suckle kind: they are so beautiful and sweet that 1 nave seen 



