108 
Cultivation of the Lupine as Food for Sheep. 
between the swathes, to pluck the pods, and then to dry them 
separately. There is some difficulty in drying the crop after 
mowing, and the more so if the plant is very succulent and not 
quite ripe. But after having been sufficiently dried, the blue 
lupine makes most excellent hay for sheep. The best plan is 
the Belgian fashion of drying clover : three poles, of 8 or 10 feet 
high, and some sticks fastened horizontally on the poles, forming 
a pyramid — which is entirely covered with the plants after they 
have been exposed some days to the sun and air. The usual 
way of harvesting beans will answer best, if the pods are mostly 
ripe, and the crop intended for thrashing. 
The seeds of both varieties form very superior food for sheep, 
lambs, and fattening wethers. After they had been weaned to 
it, I have often seen them refusing cake if they had plenty of 
lupines. The straw and chaff is excellent for store sheep. It 
has been found by many persons that lupine hay, straw, and 
corn, are in some degree preventives of the rot, and even some- 
times remedial, if the danger is just beginning and the disease 
not far advanced. We know of no other plant which, generally 
speaking, is so peculiarly adapted for sheep. 
The seeds have been used for horses and cattle, and un- 
doubtedly it has been found profitable to mix them with oats or 
beans, but they generallv refuse a greater quantity. Some small 
farmers now begin to give lupine-meal with milk to the weaning 
calves, and they are said to do well, and that the grown cattle after- 
wards are fond of the plant. Swine generally refuse them, and 
some experiments to extract their peculiar bitterness by water or 
chemical agents have not led to important results. 
The following is the result of an analysis of the air-dried 
seeds : — ■ 
Per cent. 
Water 14-15 
Nitrogenous substances 33-36 
Fatty matter 6-7 
Starch, su:;ar, &c 20-30 
Woody fibre 11-12 
Mineral matter 3 -i 
We learn from this analysis that the lupine seeds contain a 
greater percentage of nitrogenous substances than any other of 
our leguminous plants ; so that their high value is fully con- 
firmed by science. 
Generally the seeds are sown broadcast, about two imperial 
bushels to the imperial acre, or even somewhat more. 1 drill 
1^ bushel to the acre (eight metzen to one Prussian morgen), 
in rows 12 or 18 inches apart, and clean them by horse- 
hoeing and weeding. They are very apt to make the land foul ; 
and it is really wonderful to see how the poorest land, which 
