L U C E R N. 



But the principal and mod advantageous praftice, in the 

 application of hiccrn, is tliat of foiling horl'cs, neat cattle, 

 and hog^ ; yet as a dry fodder, it may alfo be capable of af- 

 fording much aifillance in many cafes ; and as an early food 

 for ewes and lambs, be of great value in particular cafes. 

 " As this plant bears repeated cutting, better rhan moft of 

 thofe of the artificial gv\l- Ivind, fprings ni a more quick and 

 expeditious manner, and affords a healthy nutritions food, it 

 mull be of valt utility to the farmer, where horfes and calile 

 form a large part of his ftock ; with horfes in this way, it 

 has been found by fome, as ftated in the fourth volume of 

 Mr. Young's Eallern Tour, ' to anfwer better than any 

 other fort of green food that has been tried. The number 

 of cuttings that it admits of, being on different foils, and 

 under different modes of culture, from about three to five, 

 affording a produce of green herbage adequate to the fup- 

 port of from three to four or five horfes, for a period of 

 nearly fix months in the fummer feafon, as has been feen 

 above ;' and though much of this vafl advantage, in the 

 fupport of thefe animals, may with propriety be afcribed to 

 the economy of the confumption of the food, that unavoid- 

 ably takes place in this excellent practice, the real produce 

 in green food, is, without doubt, larger than in niofl other 

 grals crops. The broad-cafl crops, in the trials of fome 

 cultivators, appear to have been more profitable, in this 

 mode of confumiug tlie produce, than thjfe of either the 

 drilled or tranfplanted methods of culture ; in the praflice 

 of Mr. Hall, the former fupported from four to live horfes 

 for twenty -fix weeks, while the tranfplanted crop, in rows 

 two feet afunder, only afforded produce fufficient for the 

 keeping, of three. And in thofe of Mr Clayton, in the 

 broad-caft meth.-d, without grain, five horfes were kept 

 from the middle of May tdl Michaelmas, while that drilled 

 in equidillant rows, at the diltanee of eighteen inches, only 

 fupported four." There are many other fafts, that lead 

 to the fame conclnfion. " On very rich foils, the drilled 

 lucern will, without doubt, when the plants are kept per- 

 fedlly clean, and the mould well ftirred between the rows, 

 and laid to tlieir roots, aflord an abundant produce, perhaps 



more fo than in the broad-caft ; but to do this, great atten- 

 tion in the culture mull be beftowcd." And in "its appli- 

 cation, in the foiling of cows, and other forts of cattle, in 

 tin: foid yards, and in the feeding and fattening of oxen, its 

 importance is equally great. It is found that in foiling 

 cows, the proportion of this fort of food, confumed in 

 twenty-four hours, is from about lixty or feventy, to up- 

 wards of a hundred pounds, in thofe which are of the mid- 

 dling-fized kinds; an acre maintaining in the proportion of 

 about four for twenty wetks. In other trials, larger pro- 

 portions of ftock have been kept by this praiSlicc." In 

 feeding cattle with this fort of food, it is obfcrved, that 

 " in its green Hate, care is neceffary, however, not to give 

 the animals too much at a time, elpecially when it is moift, 

 as they may be hoven or blown with it, in the fame way as 

 with clover." The trials, it is added, that have been made 

 in fattening bullocks or other cattle v-ith this green fodder, 

 are not numerous, but they are fufficicntly fo to prove its 

 utility in fuch application. In Mr Young's trials, cattle 

 have been found to increafe faft in flefli by it, ])aying at the 

 rate of four fhiilings and fixpence a head per week, which 

 is conlidered as a great proof of the value of the plant in 

 this view. Its fuperiority to tares is prodigious. It has 

 alfo been confidered of the greatelt value in this view, in 

 Ireland, by Mr Herbert, after much experience of it. The 

 great power which it poflcffes in fattening is rendered indeed 

 fufficicntly evident, by the fudden eff-els wliicli it produces 

 in this wav, in foiling horfes ; in moft inftances they get into 

 high condition, in a fhort time becoming " tat, without oats 

 or hay," in fome cafes. And " fheep have hkewife been 

 fattened on this green food with great fuccefs, in Mr. Bald- 

 win's trials." Alfo, " in foiling hogs in the fold yards, it 

 has been attended with confiderable fuccefs and it has been 

 fuggetted that as thefe animals do not bite fo clofely as (heep, 

 they may be admitted upon the crop with fafety." 



And the advantage of this mode of application over that 

 of making the crops into hay, and their cxpence, produce, 

 and profit, are ftated by Mr. Young in this way. 



Further, the refult of the comparative experiment made 

 by Mr. Anderton with this crop, and thofe of burnet and 

 laintfoin, as ftated by the fame writer in his Eaftern Tour, 

 (liews its fuperiority over them clearly. 



Lucern, at four cuttings, green, produced 159 



Burnet - - - - 84 



Saintfoin - - - - 82 



And the advantages of making them into hay, are thus 



ftated : 



One cutting of each. 

 Lucern, in grafs, 57^ lb. in hay, 22 lb. 



Burnet, in ditto, 25 i 7 



Saintfoin, in ditto, 29^ _— g 



Although lucern crops fhould not be clofely fed down with 

 fheep, it is not improbable but that " in particular cafes they 

 may be applied as an early green feed for ewes and lambs with 

 great utility and convenience, as they may be rehcd on for 

 this fort of feed much fooner than any of the other kinds of 

 artificial grafs crops, efpecially in foils of the rich, dry, and 

 warm defcriptions, being often ready for this purpofe foon 

 after the middle of March, affording a good bite through 

 the whole of the following month ; the moll difficult period 

 for the providing of fuitable fupport for this kind of ftoek. 

 The benefit in the healthy growth and imnrovement of the 

 lambs in this mode, will much more than counterbalance any 

 lofs fuftained in the firft cut, for the foiling of horfes. The 



{heep 



