HISTORY. 55 
lish farmers that the lower sides of their lucerne 
fields remained thrifty after the upper ends were 
half destroyed, just because of the fact that the man 
with the scythe commenced on the upper end before 
it was time to cut the immature plants, and by the 
time he had reached the bottom of the field it was 
sufficiently mature, so remained in vigorous condi- 
tion. 
The article follows from ‘‘Rham’s Dictionary of 
the Farm,’’ published in 1853: 
Lucerne is a plant which will not bear extreme frost nor super- 
abundant moisture, and its cultivation is therefore restricted to 
mild climates and dry soils; but where it thrives its growth is so 
rapid and luxuriant that no other known plant can be compared to 
it. In good deep loams lucerne is the most profitable of all green 
crops; when properly managed the quantity of cattle which can 
be kept in good condition 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 which has been lately mown, that of lucerne is far 
more rapid. Where a few tufts of lucerne happen to be, they 
will rise a foot above the surface, while the grass and clover 
which were mown at the same time are only a very few inches 
high. 
Lucerne, sown ina soil suited to it, will last for many years, 
snooting its roots downwards for nourishment till they are alto- 
gether out of the reach of drouth. In the driest and most sultry 
weather, when every blade of grass droops for want of moisture, 
lucerne holds un its stem, fresh and green as in a genial spring. 
The only enemies of this plant are a wet subsoil and a foul sur- 
face. The first is often incurable; the latter can be avoided by 
good cultivation. 
It is useless to sow lucerne on very poor sands or gravel or on 
wet clays. The best and deepest loam must be chosen, rather 
light than heavy but with a good portion of vegetable earth or 
humus equally dispersed through it. If the ground has been 
trenched, so much the better; and if the surface is covered with 
some inferior earth from the subsoil it will be no detriment to 
the crop, for it will prevent grass and weeds from springing up 
and save much weeding. The lucerne will soon strike down be- 
