274 



Farming of Cumherland, 



The growth of Italian rye-grass in small patches, for soiling 

 purposes, is gaining ground, and seems justly approved when 

 carefully followed up after each cutting with liquid manure or 

 guano, &c. It answers best when sown without a corn-crop at 

 the rate of 2 bushels of seed per acre on turnip land or other 

 clean fallow in good condition. It is not necessary that the land 

 should be of high quality, for it will succeed on inferior soil if 

 well drained and manured. The writer's experience with it is in 

 favour of mixing the seed with, one-third of a bushel of spring 

 vetches, for cutting along with it during the first summer ; and 

 with 10 or 12 lbs. of red clover, which comes in for the second 

 year's cuttings, and is useful both as an addition to the crop and 

 as a variety of food for the horses or cattle to which it is given. 



Lucerne is grown to some extent in the neighbourhood of St. 

 Bees, where it was first introduced by Mr. Carter, and there are 

 small patches in other parts. Mr. Carter sows 14 lbs. of seed in 

 April along with the barley-crop, on light soils with open and 

 dry subsoils, where the roots may penetrate several feet, and 

 carefully avoids sowing it where either clay or water, even in 

 very small quantity, exists. He does not sow any grass seeds or 

 clover with it ; and after cutting three or four times annually for 

 a few years — covering with compost and harrowing well every 

 year — he ploughs again for oats. His horses thrive and do their 

 summer work as well with green lucerne alone as they formerly 

 did with other food and a fair allowance of corn. It makes 

 excellent hay, and ought to be much more extensively cultivated 

 than it is. The dry soils of Brampton, Irthington, Hayton, 

 Wetheral, &c., are well adapted to the growth of lucerne, but 

 there it is a perfect stranger. Cows have been found to gather 

 flesh quickly when fed on lucerne in the house, but to diminish 

 in their milk, and to recover again on grass. Horses, cows, pigs, 

 and poultry, are all fond of it, and all thrive well on it. The 

 seed has been known to miss occasionally, even under favourable 

 circumstances, and it is liable to be destroyed in its young state 

 by slugs and insects ; but its great value renders repeated trials 

 desirable. 



In the summer of 1851 the writer noticed a few plants of the 

 cynosurus ecMnatiis* growing among his Italian rye-grass on a 

 clayey loam, and regarded it then only as a botanical rarity, but 

 its rapid growth and broad, luxuriant herbage, induce him to 

 expect a more valuable result from a trial he is preparing to 



* Mr. Dickinson of London (to whom a specimen was submitted, and whose 

 celebrity as the improver of the Italian rye-grass is known over the United King- 

 dom) pronounced it as likely to rival the lolium italicum. Should this essay ever 

 be honoured by publishing, it is hoped that sufficient trials may be made of this 

 new candidate for favour. 



