28 



?iEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Auirusii?, 182:. 



From Memoirs of the Mass. Ag. Soc.for June 1817. 



ON THE CULTURE OF LUCERNE. 



There is no branch of agriculture which has 

 been more neglected in the State of Massachu- 

 setts than that of the cultivated frrasses. Till 

 within a few years our farmers rarely sowed any 

 grass seeds, but those of clover and herd's grass 

 seeds,or timothy, as it is called in the middle States. 



If the farmer should say, that they are good e- 

 lough for all their purposes, our reply would 

 promptly be, how can you know that until you try 

 others ? That there are better grasses than either 

 of them for certain purposes, and on certain soils, 

 we know. 



The objections to red or Dutch clover are nu- 

 aierous. Ft is apt to bo winter killed, much more 

 so than the plant we shall recommend in its place ; 

 in strong soils, it is too luxuriant ; its stalks are 

 coarse, and are rejected by all but very hungry 

 cattle ; its leaves are very apt to fall in drying, 

 and every time the hay is removed ; lastly it lives 

 but two years ; if it did not sow itself, when left 

 to stand till herd's grass is ripe, there would not 

 be a trace of it the third year. These are seri- 

 ous objections. There are some objections to 

 herd's grass, though smaller in degree. It is not 

 well adapted to dry soils ; it is a late grass, gives 

 no early feed, and no after math or after feed to 

 any valuable extent. We shall speak of its par- 

 tial substitute hereafter, — we mean the Orchard 

 grass. This grass has been the subject of dis- 

 cussion these thirty years, but it is only within 

 ten or fifteen years, that its merits have been ad- 

 mitted, and that it lias been cultivated for some 

 purposes in preference to Herd's grass. The 

 Connecticut farmers, we believe, were the first 

 who cultivated it in New England, and .Tohn 

 Prince, Esq. was the person who first introduced 

 it into this vicinity. It may be now considered as 

 having fairly overcome prejudices, and when its 

 seeds can be easily procured and at a cheap rate 

 we shall see as many fields of it as of herd's grass; 

 the latter, however, will always be preferred in 

 low lands. It is not to us extraordinary that it 

 did aot make its way earlier. Our farmers liavo 

 a contempt for every thing new, especially if it is 

 proS'ered by " book fanners." It was more than 

 forty years after " Spinach" was introduced into 

 the gardens of the opulent before you could buy 

 it at Boston market, though it had been a regular 

 and important article at Covent Garden, and in 

 the Paris markets, for more than one hundred 

 years. • The disgrace of being so slow to receive 

 valuable novelties is not confined to our farmers 

 and gardeners. The medical faculty of Paris pro- 

 scribed as poisonous the potato one hundred years 

 after that plant had raised millions of vigorous, 

 and athletic troop.s, who, under Marlborough, iiad 

 beaten the finest armies of France ! Let us delay 

 our translation one moment more, by saying that 

 cvrn now the Salsafij can hardcly be said to be a 

 regular marketable article ; that the Rhubarb was 

 twenty years in coming into favor, and that the 

 &(! fra/e, the favorite vegetable of Great Britain, 

 cannot find one intelligent cultivator, who will 

 tempt the Boston gentlemen with this luxury. 



Ai Orchard grass is now admitted to be worth 

 cultivating, we may hope tliat Lucerne, or as the 

 French call it, Luzerne, will have a fair trial as a 

 substitute for clover. Will Lucerne bear our cli- 

 mate ? It will ; it is hardier than clover. The 

 late Mr John Qorc had a field of it at Dorchester 



nearly twenty years ago ; its early, vigorous 

 grov.'th attracted notice ; and it endured many 

 years. The writer of this article received a pint 

 of the seed of Lucerne from Florence, under the 

 name of Lupinella, by which it is known in Italy. 

 He sowed it five years ago ; not a plant has ever 

 died. His experience enables him to state, that ■ 

 it starts earlier than clover, grows more rapidly. 1 

 On this day, April -30, 1827, it is nine inches high, 

 and several inches higher tnan clover by tlic side 

 of it. It has been cut every year four times ; its 

 stalks are not so coarse or woody as those of clo- 

 ver ; its leaves are more numerous ; it is eaten 

 greedily by cows and horses, both green and dry. 

 Such is the experience derived from the culture 

 of two rods square only. An hiilf acre has now 

 been sown with it the present year. We shall 

 now proceed with the translation of the Abbe 

 Rozier's article, under the head of Luzerne. — 

 France has cultivated this grass for a century at 

 least, and no man could bo a better judge of it 

 than this learned agriculturist. 



Translated and abridged from the course of agri- 

 culture of the Ahbe Rozier. 



" OF THE SOIL ADAPTED TO LUZERNE." 



" Many authors assert that it succeeds in all 

 sorts of soil. This assertion as a general one is 

 true, but it is very false as a particular one. I 

 have often said in the course of this work, that 

 you may lay it down as a safe rule in agriculture, 

 that the roots of plants will show what sort of 

 soil they require. The root of the Luzerne is 

 (what we call) tap rooted : has few fibres (or 

 small roots) and runs directly down as soon as it 

 finds a soil adapted to it. It is not uncommon to 

 find plants of Luzerne whose roots are six, and 

 sometimes even ten feet long. It is clenr from 

 tliis fact, which I certify to be true, that this 

 plant would not succeed, or would grow poorly 

 in a soil purely stony or sandy ; in a strong, clayey, 

 compact soil, or even in a vegetable soil whjse 

 thickness does not exceed from six to twelve inch- 

 es, and which rests upon a basis of gravel or clay. 



The roots in that case cease to run down, and 

 at the least drought the plants suffers, languishes, 

 and afterwards perishes. The great point is to 

 seek a deep soil. The be^t soil for it, doubtless, 

 is one that is botli light and substantial. Inter- 

 vale lands have the requisite qualities, rich sandy 

 loams, and generally all lands which are situated 

 at the foot of hills or mountains, because they are 

 constantly enriched by the earth brought down by 

 rains. On the quality of the soil depends the 

 duration and beauty of the Luzerne. In suitable 

 soils, when none of the accidents to which we 

 shall advert happen to it, it « ill last in southern 

 provinces (of France) from ten to twenty years. 

 Its duration diminishes in proportion as the soil is 

 less adapted to it, and sometimes it will not last 

 morn than four or five years or even less ; in this 

 case it is hardly worth while to sow it, except as 

 an alternate crop, or to restore a field exhausted 

 by over cropping with wheat." 



[Note. — Though the Abbe Rozier would seem 

 to restrict the culture to the best soils only, yet 

 he admits that other writers contend that it is fit- 

 tod for any soils ; and the land on which we have 

 seen it flourish he^e is not remarkable for its 

 goodness ; any good loam easily penetrated by its 

 roots would suit it ; but no doubt, a plant so lux- 

 urious in its growth, and with such a quantity of 



leavis, could not sustain drought on a gravelly 

 or cliyey soil.] 



■ W the choice of seed and the lime of mowing. 



The seed is usually gatliered only from old 

 field; of Lucerne, which are about to be destroy- 

 ed, a^d in that case, you leave it to dry on the 

 stalk till the first frost. As the seed vessel or 

 pod tf this plant is in a spiral form, and opens 

 with difficulty, the farmer is not pressed as to the 

 time 5f thrashing out, or liarvesting the seed. In 

 the lorlhern parts of France the grass should 

 not bi cut in the year in which it is intended to 

 gatho- the seed ; but in tlie south of France you 

 may make a crop of early hay, and the second 

 crop will ripen its seeds. [Experience has shown, 

 that we may in America take a first crop of hay. 

 and that the second growth will ripen its soedt 

 in great abundance.] It is very important, that 

 the secd.•^ should be thoroughly ripe, otherwise 

 they will not vegetate. Tiie seeds should acquire 

 a brovvn colour, or else they will come sp thinly, 

 and not cover the ground. When you judge that 

 the seed is ripe enough, you cut it in a dry day, 

 and leave it exposed to the heat of the sun seve- 

 ral days running, after which, it is carried under 

 cover, ir. order to be thrashed on some dry day 

 in the following winter. I have remarked thai 

 the pods open with great dilKculty, and that the 

 seeds come out very hardly. You must not then 

 bo weary in thrashing it thoroughly, in winnow 

 ing it often, aJid in thrashing that which has been 

 winnowed — in short, it requires patience to sepa- 

 rate tliis seed ; of course, tiie winter, as a season 

 I of leisure, is chosen for this purpose. You must 

 i take care not to throw the chaff" on the dung heap. 

 I for many seeds will still remain, and if carried 

 ! out with the dung will grow and be difficult to 

 eradicate, or destroy. Many authors maintain, 

 ! that the seeds of this plant are not good for sow- 

 I ing after the first year, but the Abbe do Rozier's 

 1 experience vv-as to the contrary, though he thinks 

 lit safest to sow new seed, but by no means to 

 ' throw away old seeds. 



Of the proper time of soiling Lucerne. 



i To point out a precise moment would lead ti 

 error. It depends on the climate and the season. 

 In the south of France there are two seasons, one 

 in the course of September, and the other at the 

 end of February, and so on into March, and even 

 later, even till the middle of April. The sowings 

 in September gain one year ; the next season 

 following the sowing, you cut the Lucerne like all 

 other grasses ; in that case (of fall sowing) the 

 plant flowers later the first year, and you cut but 

 one crop. [In the northern parts of the United 

 States we cannot sow in autumn ; the plants 

 would be winter killed.] Mr ilozier says, that in 

 the northern parts of France, the sowing must be 

 governed by the season and may be done as soon 

 as the frosts have ceased, and should not be regu- 

 lated by Saint's days. We should not be in haste 

 to take a crop, and it is prudent to take but one 

 the first year, in order not to exhaust the plant, 

 and especially to permit it to grow so thick, as to 

 stifle all pernicious weeds. When the Lucerne 

 has once taken hold in a field, it demands very 

 i little care. Some recommend thin sowing in or- 

 i der that the root may have room to send up many 

 I stalks. Mr Rozier on the other hand advises to 

 sow it thick because a!! the seeds will not grow. 



