SUNDEY AGBICULTUEAL PLANTS. 87 



while on the Continent a thin seeding of. corn is often put in 

 with it.-^ 



When well established the Jierbage must on no account be 

 allowed to grow old before being cut ; in fact, the plant 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 pecuharly rich in albumen, and is even more 

 nutritious than Eed Clover. Given alone, and especially when 

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

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

 Lucerne is 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 seed unless the crop can 

 be allowed to stand for at least three years. 



ONOBEYCHIS SATIVA 



{Sainfoin). 



Sainfoin is a native of England and has been cultivated in 

 this country for over two hundred years. It is essentially a food 

 for sheep, which in pasturing the plant do it no injury. Sainfoin 

 is also useful for horses, but produces nothing like the quantity 

 of green food that Can be obtained from Lucerne. 



In Norfolk and some other of the Eastern counties. Sainfoin 

 takes the place of Eed Clover, and is rarely allowed to remain 

 down more than two years, generally only one. Against this 

 practice nothing can be urged, for it is probably the best possible 



' Mr. Clare Sewell Read tells me that he has been most successful in obtaininji; a plant 

 of Lucerne by sowing it in 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. 



