AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
99 
is kept in the nearest proximity to the seed, 
without coming in contact with it. 
Lastly.—Be sure to get, if possible, the gen¬ 
uine article ; cheap guano there is none. 
The- quantity of genuine guano, per acre, 
used, is from two to three hundred pounds. 
The latter quantity when the land is deficient 
and requires speedy renovation. 
-- 
ON THE CULTURE OF LUCERNE. 
BY A PRACTICAL FARMER. 
[We are glad to meet with the following arti¬ 
cle, which we find in the Marie Lane Express. 
The Lucerne crop is one of great value in Eng¬ 
land, and we have little doubt that it will be 
found worthy of general adoption in this coun¬ 
try. The article will well pay a careful peru¬ 
sal.] 
“Lucerne is a deep-rooting perennial plant, 
sending up numerous small and tall clover-like 
shoots, with blue or violet spikes of flowers. It 
is a native of the south of Europe, and appears 
to be acclimatized in the warmer parts of Eng¬ 
land. Lucerne or medic is highly extolled by 
the Roman writers.” “ Lucerne is much grown 
in Persia and Lima, and is mown in both coun¬ 
tries all the year round, it is also of unknown 
antiquity in Old Spain, Italy, and the south of 
France, and was introduced to England from the 
latter country, according to Miller, in 1657.” 
Columella speaks of it, as the choicest of ali 
fodder, and lasting many years ; that it may be 
cut from four to six times annually ; that it en¬ 
riches the land upon which it grows; that it 
fattens healthy cattle, and is a remedy for sick 
ones; and that the produce of one rood will 
keep a horse the whole year. 
I cannot admit the full force of the latter re¬ 
marks ; but I know it to be a most valuable 
“artificial grass,” and worthy of the attention 
of every cultivator; and it has, as a plant, be¬ 
come so hardy, that no great apprehensions 
need exist as to its successful cultivation on all 
suitable soils in this countiy. The soils best 
adapted to its growth are, I believe, a deep mild 
loam on a chalky subsoil; but all lands that are 
well drained and suited to the growth of wheat 
or turnips will do well for lucerne ; they must, 
however, possess fertility arid depth, and the 
richer the better. 
The preparation of the land should be by 
deep plowings; it must be brought to perfect 
culture, and be cleansed from every weed, as 
these are very detrimental to the young plants. 
The pulverization should be complete; and when 
the soil is rendered as fine as possible, it should 
be supplied with a heavy dressing of rich well- 
fermented dung—this is to be immediately 
plowed in, the land rolled down, and all to be 
finished by the latter end of April or beginning 
of May. 
Seeding. — The seed should at once be drilled 
in, at the rate of sixteen pounds per acre, at in¬ 
tervals of nine or ten inches. If sown broad¬ 
cast, about eighteen pounds should be the seed¬ 
ing per acre. Drilling, however, is by far pre¬ 
ferable, as offering much greater facilities for 
cleaning the crop, and other subsequent man¬ 
agement. 
It is not an uncommon practice to sow lu¬ 
cerne upon a corn crop. This I think very ob¬ 
jectionable. It is in its early stages of very 
tender growth, and requires every attention and 
advantageous nursing that can be given to it as 
a crop; but when once it has secured a good 
hold upon the soil, it is one of the hardiest and 
most productive of fodder crops. The great 
desideratum is to procure a good plant in face 
of its numerous enemies—the fly, slug, beetle, 
grub, wireworm, and last, though not least, 
weeds—all are very destructive; and on that 
account I strongly urge the above course as 
most likely to secure a good and permanent 
plant. 
Subsequent Management. —This will mainly 
consist of repeated hand-hoeings, forkings, and 
pickings, together with a periodical supply of 
rotten dung, to be well forked in. Ilarrowings 
are to be deprecated, (hough constantly prac¬ 
ticed ; it may be a cheap way of tearing up sur¬ 
face weeds ; but it also greatly injures the lu¬ 
cerne plants, and of course renders the cuttings 
less productive. In the third or fourth year 
after drilling, the crop may be very greatly im¬ 
proved by hoeing up every alternate row; it 
will by this time have attained sufficient growth 
and strength of plant to fill up the intervals 
with its luxuriant herbage, and may then be 
more economically cleaned and better cultivated 
by the horse-hoe and ridge-harrow. The plant 
will also grow more vigorously, and yield more 
abundant fodder. As a top-dressing, gypsum 
stands first, at the rate of three to five cwts. per 
acre, applied when the herbage is growing freely. 
The saline mixtures come next, and most of the 
artificials used as manures are beneficial; but 
being a deeply tap-rooted plant, they are of lit¬ 
tle value as compared with good farm-yard dung 
put to the roots. Great care is required to keep 
the crop clean, as it cannot long exist amidst 
grassy weeds, neither can it bear depasturing 
any more than a carrot-bed; for if once the 
head or eye is eaten, the root is almost certain 
to die. If, however, the crop is well managed, 
and duly cleaned and manured* it will continue 
to yield large supplies of very nutritive fodder 
for ten or twelve years in succession, and the 
cuttings after the first year may average from 
three to five, each cutting amounting to from 
three to five tons of green fodder per acre. It 
will frequently be ready for the first cutting by 
the latter end of April; and its growth is some¬ 
times so rapid as to attain one-half inch in 
height per day, for thirty or forty days together. 
This, I would observe, is only attained in row 
culture. On the broadcast system it does not 
grow with such rapidity; of course its cuttings 
are less frequent and also less abundant, and its 
earlier destruction more certain. 
I do not know of any domestic animal that 
does not manifest a decided partiality for fresh 
cut lucerne. They may be seen weeding it out 
from other grasses, and eating it with the great¬ 
est relish. Horses,'cattle, sheep, pigs—all alike 
do this. For milk cows it is superior to clover 
in every particular, causing an increase in the 
quantity and quality of both milk and butter. 
In this respect it cannot be too highly recom¬ 
mended to cottagers “who keep their cow,” a 
rood of land being sufficient to grow food for 
one cow; and to all occupiers it must forma 
very valuable addition to their ordinary supplies 
of green food ; to those in particular who adopt 
the soiling system it is almost indispensable, 
partly on account of its amazing produce, and 
partly as a wholesome and highly-nutritious 
change of food. Much has been written rela¬ 
tive to its transplantation to produce a crop ; it 
will undoubtedly produce a crop in this way ; 
but it is undesirable, except to fill up old gaps 
and the like, as the general crop begins to de¬ 
cay ; this, however, is of very doubtful efficacy. 
It may be, and frequently is, sown with an or¬ 
dinary spring crop, as barley, oats, early peas, 
flax, buckwheat, &c. ; but I have no hesitation 
in saying, that it is the best, and eventually the 
most profitable course to prepare the land, es¬ 
pecially for the lucerne crop, and put it in alone. 
I have named the month of April as the best 
time for sowing this crop, but it may be defer¬ 
red so late as August; however, the earlier it is 
sown in the intermediate months the better; 
that sown in April would yield one cutting in 
September, and yet be strong enough in plant 
to abide the winter. It is seldom grown for a 
seed crop in this country ; this is generally im¬ 
ported, and chiefly from France. I need not ob¬ 
serve that most plants die after producing their 
seed; and although this is not the case to its 
full extent with lucerne, still it is irretrievably 
injured by taking the seed crop ; hence it should 
not be taken until the last year it has to stand ; 
it should be once cut, and then allowed to pro¬ 
duce its seed, which, when ripe, may bo cut and 
managed in the same way as the clover crop, 
which mode has been described in my previous 
papers. It is also seldom cut for a hay crop, 
for which it is in fact not well adapted, its chief 
value being for soiling as a green herbage crop. 
It is sometimes greatly injured by mildew, for 
which it appears to me there is no preventive 
or remedy. Caterpillars will attack it in great 
numbers—in such case, it should be all cut at 
once, and the land hoed and well raked, or, in 
such an cventualitjq a light harrowing might be 
allowed, as it is important to destroy these ma¬ 
rauders instantly. Stock when feeding upon it 
are not so liable to colic, or to become hoven, as 
when feeding upon tares or clover; it is, never¬ 
theless, desirable to cut it a few hours before 
required for use. 
- 3 0 0 - 
For the American Agriculturist. 
WAYNE COUNTY, N. Y. 
CHARACTER OF SOILS, FARMING PRODUCTS, &C. 
Perhaps a few remarks on the climate, soil, 
and productions of Wayne County, N. Y., may 
meet your approbation. It can be safely classed 
among the six best counties of the State, and is 
improving perhaps as rapidly as any other. The 
southern part has been settled much longer 
than the northern portions bordering on Lake 
Ontario. For fine, pleasant villages, and pro¬ 
ductive and pleasant farming country, the south¬ 
ern part cannot be excelled in the State. The 
facilities of canal and railroad give them th.e ad¬ 
vantage over the northern part, though there is 
now a railroad in progress from the Central R. 
R. at Newark to Sodus Point, a good harbor on 
the Lake, which will make an outlet for that 
part of the county. The northern part is com¬ 
paratively new. 
The probable reasons for its not being sooner 
settled, were the high prices at which the land 
was held by the Holland Company who first 
purchased it, and to its being unhealthy in some 
localities. But if you now look in upon its 
many good farmers, you will be convinced that 
the state of things is progressive, and I venture 
to say we have as good a farming district as can 
be found. The climate is temperate, as the 
lake modifies the cold and heat. Last fill cat¬ 
tle fed out until the 19th of Dec., and got a good 
living. Tomato vines were not destroyed until 
near the 1st of Nov. The thermometer has 
ranged the past winter from 2 deg. below to 50 
above zero, and we have had but little snow, 
not enough to make good sleighing. 
The soil of this county is varied. In the south¬ 
ern part it is a clayey loam interspersed with 
gravel. In the eastern part there is considera¬ 
ble low land, portions of which are covered with 
black ash and tamarack; the soil being a black 
loam, or muck. In fact these black ash swales 
are found in nearly all parts of the country, af¬ 
fording a fine supply of good fencing. In the 
northern part, there are two kinds of soil with a 
distinct boundary between them. In the town 
of Sodus is the commencement of the Lake 
Ridge Road, which extends west to the Niagara 
River. This road runs along on the ridge which 
is said once to have been the shore of Lake On¬ 
tario, which is quite probable. On the south 
side of this ridge, the surface is rolling or inter¬ 
spersed with smaller ridges, and the soil is a 
gravel. This is very productive. Wheat is 
grown successfully. It is true the weevil has 
injured this crop to some extent, but not as much 
as in parts more remote from the lake. Corn, 
barley, oats, buckwheat, &c., are raised in great 
quantities. It is not as natural for grass as the 
loamy land, but good crops of clover are grown. 
North of this ridge the soil is a sandy loam, and 
in many places very thickly covered with cobble 
stones, many of them quite large. It is low and 
level, and considered very good for wheat. 
As a fruit growing region, Wayne Co. cannot 
be excelled. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, 
cherries, and Quinces are raised in great abun¬ 
dance, and form no small item in its exports. 
There is no county in the State, (I believe, from 
statistics,) that sends out as much fruit, both 
green and dried, as Wayne. 
