Lucerne 



follows. After it has been cut, and allowed to dry 

 for two or three days according to the weather, 

 take a good wisp and twist it strongly in the hand. 

 If no juice can be squeezed out it is ready to go 

 into the stack. Put first a layer of straw, about 

 12 ins. deep, then 3 feet of lucerne hay, then 

 another foot of straw, and so on. The whole 

 makes particularly good feed for home consump- 

 tion, and gives excellent results when fed to 

 milking cows. The writer knows of one i6-acre 

 field of lucerne, which in the past three years 

 has fed sixty-two cows, twelve calves, five horses, 

 and three bulls, over a total period of nine weeks 

 each summer. During this time the cows were 

 given practically no other food. 



On a good grass field, at a rental, say, of 40^. an 

 acre, and receiving proper attention, brush harrow- 

 ing, and an occasional dressing of super or basic 

 that might be put down at an average of ^s. a 

 year, and which would yield about ten tons of grass 

 during the summer months, the grass consumed 

 by the stock in the field works out at a cost of 

 3^^. a cwt. The cost of lucerne over a period of 

 seven years works out as follows : — 



155 



