40 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



account of French agriculture, in his late publi- 

 cation. 



LvcERX. — Lucern is cultivated very extensively 

 ir France, and, indeed, may be considered as their 

 p-eat dependence for green fodder. It is a general 

 ^ninion that no plant will, in this respect, yield a 

 groptcr return. Indian corn will yield more green 

 ibvjd, but a crop of lucern may be got much earlier. 

 Three things are important in the culture of it ; first, 

 that the soil on which it is sown should be rich ; sec- 

 ond, that it should be deej:), good in the subsoil as in 

 the surface soil ; and third, that it should bo kept clean 

 from weeds. On my visit to an admirably managed 

 farm, about twenty miles from Paris, where every 

 thing indicated the most exact care and attention, 

 and which might almost be cited as a model farm, the 

 fanner informed me that his lucern, which he culti- 

 vated largely, was usually cut three times, and gave 

 him at the rate of fourteen tons to an hectare, made 

 into hay. A French hectare is about two and a half 

 acres, and this would be, therefore, a j'ield of more 

 than five and a half tons to an acre. A dry season 

 is particularly unfavorable to it. It requires a rich, 

 but suffers from a wet soil. 



Lucern is sometimes sown among wheat or bar- 

 ley ; but the most certain mode of securing it against 

 weeds, is to plant it in narrow drills, and keep it 

 clean by the hoc for a time, until it becomes avcU 

 established. About eight pounds of seed — though 

 this is deemed a large allowance — are sovsti to an 

 acre. It will boar cutting three times a year, and will 

 endure in the ground eight to ten years. It does 

 not come to perfection the first year ; and the cir- 

 cumstance of its being ordinarily continued in the 

 ground for a term of years forms an objection to its 

 culture, with those who wish to pursue a regular ro- 

 tation of crops. Gypsum is applied to lucern with 

 the same success as to clover ; and the best farmers 

 advise to harrow it in the spring, and, indeed, after 

 each cutting, excepting the last cutting in the autumn. 



CHOOSING A HORSE. 



There is much pleasure and profit in the service of a 

 f!;:)od horse, but very little of either in a bad one. 

 There are many mean hoi-ses that make a good 

 appearance when taken from the hands of a jockey. 

 In purchasing a horse, then, trust not to the seller's 

 words; let yoiu- own judgment, or that of a friend, 

 be chiefly relied on. See that he has good fore feet 

 and joints, and that he stands well on his legs. See 

 that his fore teeth shut even ; for many horses have 

 the under jaw the shortest ; these will grow poor at 

 grass. See that his hair is short and fine ; for this 

 denotes a good liorse. Observe his eyes, that they 

 are clear and free from blemish — that he is not moon- 

 eyed or whitc-cyed ; for such are apt to start in the 

 night. A large, hazel-colored eye is the best. 



Look at his knee ; see that the hair or skin is not 

 broke, for this denotes a stumbler. Take care that 

 his wind is good ; for a trial of this, lot him be fed on 

 good hay for twenty-four hours, take him to water, 

 and let him drink his fill, placing him with his head 

 the lowest ; if then he will breathe free, there is no 

 danger. See that his countenance is bright and 

 cheerful ; this is an excellent mirror to discover his 

 goodness in. If his nostrils are broad, it is a sign 

 that he is well winded; narrow nostrils, the contrary. 



See that his spirits are good, but that he is gentle 

 and easily governed ; not inclined to start. In trav- 

 elling, mind that he lifts his feet neither too high nor 

 too low ; that he docs not interfere or overreach, 

 and that he carries his hind legs the widest. Sec 

 that he is well-ribbed back, and not high-boned. 

 The size may be determined by the purchaser. Age 

 from five to ten is the best. There are many tricks 



practised by jockeys to make horses appear young, 

 but it is not consistent with the size of my book to 

 detect them ; all I would say is, that hoi'se's teeth, 

 when young, are wide, white, and even ; the inside 

 of their mouths is fleshy, and their lips hard and 

 firm. On the contrary, the mouth of an old horse is 

 lean above and below ; the lips are soft and easily 

 turned up ; their teeth grow longer, narrower, and 

 of a yellow color. — Selected. 



THE HORSE'S EYE. 



I will now inform you how, for certain, you may 

 know whether a horse has a strong and good eye, or a 

 weak eye, and likely to go blind. People in general 

 turn a horse's head to a bright light to examine his 

 eyes. You can know very little, by this method, 

 what sort of an eye the horse has, unless it be a very 

 defective one. You must examine the eye first, 

 when the horse stands with his hoad to the manger. 

 Look carefully at the pupil of the eye, in the horse ; 

 it is of an oblong form ; carry the size of the pupU 

 in your mind, then turn the horse about, bring him 

 to a bright light, and if, in the bright light, the pupil 

 of the eye contracts, and appears much smaller than 

 it was in the darker light, then you may be sure the 

 horse has a strong, good eye ; but provided the 

 pupU remains nearly of the same size as it appeared 

 in the darker light, the horse has a weak eye ; there- 

 fore have nothing to do with him. — Old Almanac. 



GRAFTING THE APPLE INTO THE PEAR. 



Has any one in this section ever tried the experi- 

 ment of grafting the apple into the pear ? A friend 

 of ours informs us that he once met with a tree of 

 this kind in the gardens of a friend in England, and 

 that the apples had a peculiar flavor, somewhat like 

 a pear ; and whether the flavor was peculiar to the 

 variety of apples, or whether it was occasioned by 

 the influence of the stock, he was not able to say. 



As a general thing, a pear stock is more valuable 

 to engraft jaears upon than apples ; but as an experi- 

 ment in ascertaining what influence such a stock may 

 have upon the graft, it may be interesting. 



The pear, unless attacked by the modern disease 

 called the blight, will live longer than the apple-tree 

 generally does ; and it is possible that the apjile graft, 

 if the union is not too uncongenial, may be the 

 means of prolonging the duration of the variety. 

 Little, or indeed nothing, is known in regard to that 

 at present. — Maine Farmer. • 



Remarks by the Editor or the New E.vglaxd 

 Farmer. 



"We never saw or heard of the apple growing on 

 the pear, until we made the experiment incidentally 

 last spring. In grafting and planting out in the 

 nursery a lot of apple stocks, among Avhich were 

 a number of pear stocks, som.e of the latter were 

 grafted with apple scions, and set out without being 

 recognized as pears. 



On examining them in the summer, wc noticed 

 that sLx or eight scions had been set in pear stocks, 

 which was indicated by suckers from the root. Th*e 

 scions on the pear were nearly as large, on an average, 

 as those on the apple. We let them remain for ex- 

 periment. On a part of them, we left a pear sucker 

 to grow with the apple scion, to save the stock in 

 case the apple should fail. 



