THE SELECTION OF GEASSES AND CLOVEES. 77 



dangerous from the seeds it may contain. Ash of all kinds is 

 beneficial, and, of course, artificial manure can be freely resorted 

 to. Three hundredweight of superphosphate per acre is a good 

 dressing. The best preparation is a crop of potatoes. As a rule, 

 April is the time for sowing, and the seed must not be deeply 

 buried. In England Lucerne is almost always sown alone, while 

 on the Continent a thin seeding of corn is often put in with it.^ 



When well established the herbage must on no account be 

 allowed to grow old before being cut ; in fact, it should not be 

 permitted to flower. 



Lucerne is rarely made into hay, as the leaves are lost 

 during the drying, and the process is exceedingly wasteful. 

 The most convenient and profitable way of growing it is to sow 

 a patch near the homestead, so that the daily portion when 

 cut has only to be carried a short distance to the stables. 

 The plant is peculiarly rich in albumen, and is even more 

 nutritious than Eed Clover. Given alone, and especially when 

 very young, there is a possibility that cattle fed upon it may 

 become blown, but when chafied with good oat or barley straw 

 it makes a wholesome and valuable food. Several cuts are 

 obtained in a year, making altogether an immense weight of 

 keep. It is not worth while to sow Lucerne unless the plant 

 can remain down for at least three years. 



Onobrychis sativa [Sainfoin) is a native of England and 

 has been cultivated in this country for over two hundred years. 

 This plant is essentially a food for sheep, and in pasturing it the 

 sheep do it no injury. It is also useful for horses, but produces 

 nothing like the quantity of green food that can be obtained from 

 the Lucerne plot. 



^ Mr. Clare Sewell Read tells me that he has been most successful in obtaining a plant 

 of Lucerne by sowing it ia wheat, while he has never succeeded with it in barley, and seldom 

 when sown alone. He attributes the failure among barley to the closer sowing of this 

 corn as compared with wheat ; and the failure when sown alone to the plant being 

 smothered by annual weeds. 



