488 



THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



Discing Lucerne* 



IN the Queenslander " Koradji " writes : 

 Recent experiments in running a 

 disc harrow through lucerne crops have 

 shown that the plants receive a consider- 

 able benefit from the process. Frequently 

 lucerne becomes choked with weeds, 

 especially after the crop has been existent 

 for some years. Its vitality becomes 

 more or less impaired, and the weeds 

 in consequence gain the ascendency. 

 Lucerne, as is well known, sends its 

 roots deeply into the ground, when the 

 soil is suitable, and the cutting of the 

 shoots in no way affects the permanency 

 of the plants, but on the contrary im- 

 proves their vitality, notxvithstandiug the 

 fact of their being cut a little below the 

 surface of the ground. The blade of the 

 plant is a net- work of fine ducts in which 

 is circulating the nourishment which the 

 blade draws from its root, and which 

 dries up infallibly when separated from 

 it. By cutting occasionally the plants 

 are prompted to greater vigour, and a 

 more prolific crop ensues. 



A writer in the Prairie Farmer states 

 that his first experience in discing lucerne 

 was in the year 1898, in a field that had 

 been seeded in a dry year some four 

 years previously. The land, which was 

 not altogether suitable for a good crop of 

 lucerne, had been heavily pastured by 

 hogs. When the hogs were taken off a 

 heavy crop of crab grass came up. This 

 came so thick among the thin lucerne 

 that the crop was not considered worth 

 keeping. The field was subsequently 

 harrowed with a disc harrow, the discs 

 being sharp and set at as great an angle 

 as possible. It was immediately crossed 

 —disced with the disc set the same way. 

 The ground was thoroughly pulverised, 

 and the lucerne apparently destroyed. It 

 soon, however, started again, branched 

 out thickly, and during that summer 

 three good cuttings were taken off the 

 field. p]ncouraged by the success of the 

 experiment, the writer goes on to say 

 that the year following, which was very 

 dry, two fields two years old were disced. 

 One field disced on 28th March had the 

 first cutting taken off on 31st May. It was 

 again disced on Gth June, the second cut- 

 ting being taken off on 25th June ; disced 

 again on 27th June, the third cutting 



was taken off 13th August. The lucerne 

 was disced for the fourth time on 20th 

 August, the final cutting being done on 

 13th September. Tnus giving four disc- 

 ings and four cuttings of lucerne on up- 

 land in a dry year. 'As this experiment 

 was made in Kansas, in America, the 

 climatic conditions as to the months 

 which the discing and cutting was done 

 would vary somewhat from those in this 

 country, but the general principle- should 

 apply as well here as there. 



A harrow with sharp sixteen-inch discs 

 was used, the discs being set at right 

 angles, just suffic^exit to turn the soil 

 over. The harrow was weighted to make 

 the discs split the lucerne crowns to a 

 depth of two inches. The discing, split- 

 ting the lucerne roots, made them throw 

 out many new shoots, and also made an 

 earth mulch over the field, thus prevent- 

 ing the evaporation of moisture, usually 

 rapid after a dry time, when the lucerne 

 has just been cut. The discs were set so 

 that they barely turned the soil o\er, and 

 running at a depth of two inches they 

 turned the roots of the grass and weeds 

 up to the sun, which killed them. It 

 appears that it is safe to disc lucerne 

 after it is two years old. It is perhaps 

 advisable to make the first discing in the 

 early spring, and then disc immediately 

 after each cutting. Should the crop be 

 fair to good, set the discs as described, 

 but if a poor crop set the discs deeply, 

 specially if the grass and weeds are thick. 

 It is held that discing is as much value 

 to lucerne as cultivation is to corn. 



Mr George Hodgman, in his amusing book 

 "Sixty Years on the Turf," recently published 

 describes a curious race at Ascot in 185d, whicb 

 put a very large sum into the pocket of Davies, 

 the "Leviathan" bookmaker. Four horses, 

 Sittingbourne, The Reiver, Filbert, and Nut- 

 pecker, started ia the Fourth Triennial Stakes. 

 The last-named two carried no money at all, but 

 there was heavy and sustained gambling oyer 

 the other two, and Davies laid against them till 

 backers were exhausted. As soon as the hag 

 ftll, Sittingbourne and The Keiver, instead ot 

 racing, reared up, then rushed at each other 

 open-mouthed, fighting Uke wild beasts J he 

 result was Filbert won easily. Mr. Hodgman 

 observes that the incident stands unique in 

 Turf history. 



