36 Stable Management and the Prevention of Disease 



forage contractor, by allowing him to deduct the value of 

 them from the grain ration. 



LUCERN. 



Lucern should if possible be grown for the horses of every 

 battery and regiment, as it is a very agreeable change of food 

 in .the hot season, and may be given in quantities of six or 

 seven pounds daily to each horse. Horses required for hard 

 work ought not to have more than half the above amount in 

 the cold season. Very few Europeans in India seem to know 

 how to grow it properly. The amount obtained from a given 

 quantity of land depends greatly upon the way in which it 

 is managed. It is sometimes sown broadcast or in rows upon 

 ground which has been simply ploughed and then made 

 smooth. Grown in this way it is seldom luxuriant, and when 

 irrigated the lower parts of the stalks are soiled by standing 

 in the water. 



The best system of preparing the ground is firstly to 

 spread over it a quantity of rotten stable manure; plough 

 this in, pulverize the earth as finely as possible, and then 

 make it into ridges a foot high and eighteen inches to two 

 feet apart. Having beaten the ridges into a compact mass 

 with a spade, plant the seed thinly and not more than half 

 an inch deep along their tops. This should be done either in 

 the cold season or during the latter part of the rains. If at 

 their commencement, the ridges and furrows will be washed 

 level and half the seed buried deeply during some of the 

 violent storms. The rain falls much more gently at the latter 

 end of the season, and for some time afterwards in the 

 cool weather the heavy dews afibrd all the moisture required 

 to make the lucern strike its roots deeply into the soil. It 

 should be cut when just breaking into bloom. When the 

 dews cease to be heavy, the lucern will require irrigation, 

 and if this be properly attended to it will give a fresh crop 

 about every two months, sometimes even more frequently. 

 Of course, if planted late in the season when dews have 

 ceased, irrigation must be commenced at once, otherwise the 

 seeds will not readily germinate. The water running down 



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