CUTTING. — HARDINESS, 193 



clover-seed, and the plant tillers less, it is necessary to 

 sow a larger quantity per acre. It may be sown in 

 the spring along with grain crops, as clover often is, 

 and not a very large crop should be expected the first 

 year. 



Lucerne should be cut as soon as it begins to flower, 

 or even earlier. If cut much earlier, it is apt to be too 

 watery and less nutritious, and cures with greater diffi- 

 culty ; if later, it becomes coarse and hard, with woody 

 fibre, and is less relished by cattle. It may be cut and 

 fed green, and is an exceedingly valuable plant for 

 soiling cattle, or it may be cut and cured and used like 

 clover hay ; but in either case it must be cut before 

 blossoming. 



It is thought by many that lucerne will not endure 

 our northern climates ; but I do not think it satisfacto- 

 rily proved, and I have been somewhat minute in speak- 

 ing of it, in the hope of inducing more careful experi- 

 ments on a scale and under circumstances sufficient to 

 determine its relative value for us. I am the more 

 anxious on this point from the fact that I am convinced, 

 after much study and observation of our climate, that 

 we should direct our labors in farming more with refer- 

 ence to the frequent droughts of summer to which we 

 are liable every year, and from which there is no imme- 

 diate and practicable escape, except in thorough drain- 

 age and deep tillage, which most farmers are iinwilling 

 to undertake at present. "When properly managed, 

 the number of cattle which can be kept in good condi- 

 tion on an acre of lucerne, during the whole season, 

 exceeds belief. It is no sooner mown than it pushes 

 out fresh shoots ; and, wonderful as the growth of 

 clover sometimes is, in a field that has been lately 

 mown, that of lucerne is far more rapid. Lucerne will 

 last for many years, shooting its roots — tough and 

 17 



