I905-] 



Cultivation of Lucerne. 



225 



the Aynsome Seed Testing Station and by one or two of the 

 agricultural colleges. Some of the agricultural newspapers 

 also make arrangements for seed testing on behalf of their 

 readers. 



Attention was drawn in the April number of this Journal to 

 the provisions of the Adulteration of Seeds Acts in regard to 

 killed or dyed seed, &c 



Lucerne (Medicago sativd) is a crop which has been increas- 

 ingly cultivated in several counties of England during the past 



the preceding year it had exceeded 60,000 acres. It is chiefly 

 grown in the Eastern, South-Eastern, and Midland districts, the 

 largest areas being in Essex (14,661 acres), Kent (11,946 acres), 

 Suffolk (4,568 acres), Hertford (3,285 acres), and Cambridge 

 (2,271 acres), while Bedford, Berks, Bucks, Hants, Lincoln, 

 Norfolk, Northampton, Oxford, and Sussex each had over 1,000 

 acres in cultivation in 1904. 



As was stated in a previous article* on the subject, it is essen- 

 tially a crop for dry climates and dry soils, and its cultivation 

 has been most successful in countries where those conditions 

 prevail. It is very largely grown in Argentina and in the 

 irrigated districts of the United States, where it is now culti- 

 vated almost to the exclusion of other forage plants. It is also 

 grown on a large scale in France and to a considerable extent 

 in Germany. There are many districts in this country, however, 

 in which it thrives and where it forms a useful fodder crop for 

 the farmer, and it is interesting to note that in the United 

 States at the present time the growth of lucerne is extending 

 northward and eastward, and it is found that it can be accli- 

 matised in many regions where it has not hitherto been com- 

 monly grown. 



In a bulletin recently published by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture it is stated that it grows best in a well- 

 drained, loamy soil, with a subsoil sufficiently open to allow the 



Cultivation 

 of Lucerne. 



ten years. In 1894 the area m Great 

 Britain was under 22,000 acres, whilst ten 

 years later, in 1904, it was 55,700, and in 



* Journal, Vol. IX., p. 343, Dec, 1902. 



T 



