18 



NEW-YORK FARMER AND 



in a season, and was used in its green state for soiling 

 cattle. 



Your experiments have, no doubt, been made with 

 care. A detailed statement of them will be of service 

 to our agricultural interests. If you will oblige me by 

 furnishing the statement, it will gratify me to be the 

 medium of communicating it to the public. 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



I. M. ELY. 



Hon. Jesse Buel, Albany. 



Albany, Dec. 1th, 1S27. 



Dear Sir — I most cheerfully comply with your re- 

 quest, in communicating my experiments in the cul- 

 ture of Lucerne. 



My first essay to cultivate this grass was made in 

 1820. I sowed it with summer grain, but too thin ; 

 the summer was dry, and not more than a fourth of the 

 plants survived till autumn. I ploughed it up at the 

 end of the second year. 



In 1824 I sowed 16 lbs. seed on an acre, well pre- 

 pared by manure and potatoes the preceding year, with 

 half a bushel of winter rye, the whole broadcast. The 

 ground was well harrowed and rolled after it was sown. 

 The rye soon spread its leaves upon the surface, and 

 protected the Lucerne until its roots had good hold of 

 the soil. It grew well, notwithstanding the drought. 

 The latter end of August, perceiving that some of the 

 rye was pushing up seed stalks, and that some weeds 

 were overtopping the grass, I mowed it, and fed it green 

 to my cattle. In 1825, 1 cut three tolerable crops, and 

 soiled it to my cows. In 1826, I cut it four times for 

 green fodder, and in the autumn gave the field a slight 

 top dressing of rotten dung. This year my stock has 

 consisted of six cows and four oxen. My summer pas- 

 ture would not more than suffice for two of them. I 

 fed them on ruta-baga and hay until about the 20th 

 May, when I commenced cutting and feeding my Lu- 

 cerne, morning and evening, in such quantities as I 

 found my cattle would consume. By the time I had 

 cut over the acre, the part first mown was again fit for 

 the scythe. Two cuttings with the small pasture in 

 whicli the cattle run, sufficed until my meadows and 

 grain fields were fit to turn into. A. third crop was 

 cut for hay, and fourth might have been cut also, but 

 for t'ie difficulty of curing it. This is the field which 

 you saw when at my house. 



From my own experience, as well as from the ob- 

 servations of others who have cultivated this grass, I 

 am satisfied, that an a<re of good Lucerne will feed 

 six cows five months, from the 20th or 25th May to the 

 25th Oct. This, to a person located as I am, upon a 

 small farm, where land is high, would be worth $45, or 

 $!1 30 per month for each beast. 



Lucerne is less affected by drought than any grass I 

 am acquainted with ; and but few grasses abide lon- 



ger ti.an it does in the soil. It does not attain its full 

 strength until the third year, and its medium duration 

 is ten or twelve years. 



I will further remark, for the guidance of those who 

 may undertake to cultivate Lucerne, and are unac- 

 quainted with its character and habits-, that it requires 

 a rich, deep, clean, light, and dry soil. It will neither 

 do well upon clays nor wet grounds. 



It should be sown only in the spring, when the ground 

 has acquired warmth sufficient to promote a quick and 

 vigorous growth. 



It should be mown for soiling as soon as the blos- 

 soms appear ; and be permitted to wilt a few hours in 

 the swath before it is fed to neat cattle. And lastly, 

 like all other crops, 



It is benefitted by an occasional dressing of manure. 

 I think the best way is to apply compost or short dung 

 in autumn, and harrowwith a light harrow in the spring. 



When cut for hay, there is a difficulty in curing Lu- 

 cerne without great loss, as the leaves dry and crumble 

 before the stem is cured. It should be managed like 

 clover — lay a few hours in swath, and then put into 

 small slender cocks with a fork. It will cure in two 

 good days, i mixed my autumn crop, in the barn, with 

 alternate layers of straw. 



Your obedient servant, 



J. BUEL. 

 Isaac M. Ely, Esq.. 





[From the Appendix of G. Thorbtirn & Son's Catalogue.] 

 ART. 15.— Culture of Mangel JTurzel. 



Every man who assists in introducing the successful 

 cultivation of any new variety in animal or vegetable 

 life, which was before unknown or practised, and which 

 promises to be more useful than any one of the like 

 genus or species, before cultivated, deserves well of 

 the public. This service, every farmer has, at times, 

 an opportunity of performing. The Mangel AVurzel 

 holds forth this promise, in a more eminent degree, 

 perhaps, than any other plant. It may be attempted, 

 with hardly the possibility of disappointment or loss. 

 There can be but little or no trouble or expense in ma- 

 king the experiment. 



Why, then, will not every farme<- or horticulturist 

 make the trial in a small way, if it be not convenient 

 to extend it beyond a little spot on his farm, or bed in 

 his garden ? 



The Mangel Wurzel is the Bela-cicla of the family 

 of the Beet, sometimes called the Root of Scarcity, and 

 likewise called the White Sugar Beet, much celebra- 

 ted in England and Prussia. 



Time of sowing, months of April and May. Prepare 

 a plot or field, as for turnips or potatoes ; open two 

 drills with the plough, two feet apart, and put in a suffi- 

 cient quantity of dung, according to the ground ; then 



