6 
gathering cross the swaths. If the rake runs 
with the swaths, and the crop is rather dry, con- 
siderable leaf is lost by the stems running 
through the teeth of the rake. 
To prevent waste of leayes, extreme care is 
necessary. It should be raked on the tough side 
rather than when too dry. If very dry it would 
be better to defer raking until daylight the next 
morning. After raking into windrows it should 
be cocked with care, so as to prevent waste of 
leaf, and in building the centre of the cocks 
should be kept highest, so as to enable them to 
turn a shower. If well wilted the cocks may be 
of a fair size but not too large; the curing pro- 
cess goes on more quickly in small heaps and 
it would be ready to stack earlier. Small cocks 
have the disadvantage of offering a larger sur- 
face to the bleaching effects of dews and 
showers. Ir very favorable hot weather the 
hay may be stacked three or four days after 
cutting. In the earlier and later parts of the 
season it may take from one to two weeks. It is 
important to have it cured as quickly as pos- 
sible, as rains and heavy dews interfere consi- 
derably with its quality. 
When the weather is unfavorable, and the 
hay carted on the soft side, it is wise to make 
narrow stacks, so that the curing will go on 
after stacking. Well cured hay in the field is 
stacked safely in broad and large stacks. In 
the spring or autumn it is frequently difficult 
to cure the hay, and it has of necessity to be 
stacked on the soft side. ‘To prevent undue 
heating narrow stacks are built and flues can 
be put in to advantage. These latter are easily 
made by first laying a couple of posts or logs, 6 
or 8 inches thick, parallel to each other and 
about 8 inches apart, on the land, and long 
enough toreach the middle of the stack. few 
sticks are placed across, to prevent the straw or 
other material used for the stack bottom from 
blocking the air channel. A chaff-bag full of 
straw or chaff is then stood upright over the 
end of the logs or posts, and the hay. built 
around it. The bagis lifted as the building pro- 
gresses until finished. An air-channel is thus 
left from the outside ‘of the stack at the bot- 
tom and upwards through the middle, the out- 
side being in the roof. A few such flues in 
narrow stacks are helpful under certain condi- 
tions, but should only be used when the weather 
does not allow of sufficient curing in the field, 
Well made hay retains its leaf and rich green 
color. After the haymaking season, it may be 
grazed lightly through the winter, but the plant 
will last if stock are not turned upon it. 
During August the stock should be taken off 
and the surface thoroughly cultivated, to loosen 
itand destroy seeds. A most efficient imple- 
ment for the purpose is the Lucerne Digger and 
Cultivator, putented by Meesrs Wilton Bros., 
of Mudgee. Ordinary cultivators, with very 
strong narrow tines, as well as disc arrows, are 
also used. When the soil is tramped tightly 
around the plants by stock, it becomes a more 
efficient conductor of heat, and the increased 
temperature of tie soil in hot climates very 
often destroys the plant. The cultivated surface 
Temains much cvoler, and in hot districts a 
loose surface is very desirable. 
Lucerne under Cultivation. 
To irrigate lucerne efficiently and economi- 
cally, the land shonld be graded into perfectly 
level checks. The size of the checks are deter- 
mined by the fair water supply, one-acre checks 
are convenient. It is impatient of stagnant 
water, and it shou d not be allowed to lie on the 
plot more than t enty-four hours. In the hot 
Weather it 1s wise to irrigate about ten days 
aiter cutting, when there is sufficient growth to 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
prevent the scalding of the very tender leaves, 
excessive evaporation and crusting of the sur- 
face. A plentiful watering between each cutting 
is sufficient. It may be cut as frequently as every 
four or five weeks. 
Value as a Fodder. 
Lucerne is an extremely valuable fodder for 
all classes of stock. When fed to cattle and 
sheep care must be taken, as they are very likely 
to suffer from bloat or hoven. For this reason 
it is best to feed to suchas hay. It is best fed 
in conjunction with cereal hays or grasses. It is 
very valuable for milch cows and breeding 
ewes, as it increases the milk supply. It con- 
tains a large proportion of poteids and lime, 
essential to bone and flesh production. For this 
reason it is valuable for growing animals. 
Stock should be brought from other foods on 
to lucerne gradually, or otherwise digestive 
troubles may occur. It is laxative and diuretic, 
and is one of the most valuable fodders during 
droughts when green grass is not obtainable, 
Lucerne, in common with other leguminous 
plants, is able by means of bacteria, to fix the 
free nitrogen of the atmosphere in its tissues, 
By growing lucerne the nitrogen in the goil 
may be increased. It is for this and other 
reasons a valuable crop in a rotation. Upon 
light soils it responds to applications of 
manures containing phosphoric acid and potash, 
On account of its many sterling properties, 
it is desirable that its cultivation should be ex. 
tended —Agricultural Gazette of N.S:W. 
Breaking-in Farm Horses. 
Youna farm horses should be broken in to the 
collar when they are about two and a half years 
old or a littic older, and it is the general prac- 
tice among farmers to break them in at this age, 
At two anda half years old a yonng horse has 
not nearly attained to its full development and 
strength, and is a long way off maturity, It is 
quite unfitted at this age to perform real hard 
work, on account both of its lack of strength 
and immaturity. The frame of the young horse 
is unablo to stand much strain without injury, 
and to tax its powers unduly by demanding 
severe work from it is most injurious and spoils, 
if it does not ruin the young animal for the 
future. 
When young horses are being broken in they 
must receive very considerate treatment, and 
every care must be taken not to overtux their 
strength in any way either by inaking them pull 
too hard or working them for too long a time. 
They should be accustomed to being worked in 
a most gradual manner, and the work must be 
light and easy, such as drawing light harrows or 
pulling the plough an hour daily during the first 
fortnight. It is a good plan to let the young 
animal have a whole day’s rest at frequent inter- 
_Yals, and when it is thus rested for a day it is 
best to turn it out to graze but it must receive 
its usual allowance of grain at the same time. 
When they are being put to work young 
horses require an ample allowance of grain in 
order to keep them in condition. 1t does not do 
to put a young horse on a big allowance of grain 
after it is taken up from grass and brought in 
to the stable to be broken in. As the animal is 
not accustomed toa grain diet, its digestion will 
be upset and digestive troubles will ensue if it 
is suddenly given much grain. At first only a 
small allowance of oats, say from 5 to 6 lbs, 
should be fed, the daily ration being gradually 
increased every two or three days until the full 
allowance is reacned. Young horses whilst 
Fresruary 19, 1903 
being accustomed to work should not be stinted 
in their ration of grain, and they ought to ba 
liberally kept, as they have to make growth and 
development, and for this purpose they needi 
plenty of nourishment. Theyhave also to build 
up muscle, and there is nothing like oats for- 
making muscle in a horse. 
To break young team horses to the collar i8> 
an easy matter, and very little trouble need be- 
experienced if the breaking-in process is carried. 
out in acompetent mauner. The young horse - 
ought to be accustomed to wearing a collar and 
carrying a hazness, and also to having a bit in 
its mouth, before it is put to the plough or the - 
harrow. Horses require to be taught what they 
have to learn by stages, and it is no use trying 
to make them learn everything at once and at . 
the same time. It is here that a mistake is made 
by those who have to break in a colt. 1tseems 
so often to be assumed that a young horse ought | 
to know without learning what it has todo and 
what it has not to do, but that is all wrong, and 
it is absurd to expect that unbroken horses . 
shall take quietly to all the new things con- 
nected with the breaking-in process. all at once - 
and for the first time of asking. When ayoung . 
horse gives any unusual trouble whilst being . 
broken in it is in ninety-nine cases out of a 
hundred entirely the fault of the trainer, and it 
may safely be presumed that the latter is not. 
carrying out the process in a proper manner, . 
When they are being trained young farm. 
horses should be harnessed along with. steady 
horses, whose temper is not easily upset. by any 
unusual occurrence. It serves to steady the - 
young one and to add to its confidence and. 
docility if it has a quiet and docile companion, 
The chief and practically the only thing in 
breaking in young horses is to avoid flurrying - 
or exciting them in any way, and this can easily 
be done by gentle treatment. Ifthe young horse - 
is excited or flurried by rough treatment or by ~ 
punishment, it is sure to cause trouble—excite- 
ment and nervousness being the chief reasons, . 
as a rule, why young horses prove troublesome 
on being taught to pull. A badly-fitting collar is . 
probably the only other cause besides excite- 
ment and nervousness which induces the young 
horse to become troublesome. It is the greatest 
importance that the collar should fit perfectly, 
so that it does not cause discomfort to the 
animal nor wring or hurt its shoulders, which 
often become more or less tender at first owing - 
to the pressure of the collar against them. In. 
order to harden the skin on them it is a good 
plan to bathe them with a solution of galt in. 
water (or alum in water) when the young horse - 
has finished its work for the day. 
-The farm horse soon learns to answer the - 
reins practically of its own accord, and there is.. 
nothing much to teach it in this respect. The 
bit should be provided with a thick mouthpiece, . 
as this is much more comfortable than a thin, 
one, the latter being apt to cus and make the 
mouth sore. The bits on the bridles of farm. 
horses are more often than not.provided with 
too thin mouthpieces. 
The yonng horse must be taught to obey the . 
yoice as much as possible, and it readily learns . 
to do this in a short time. It is due to the 
phlegmatic disposition, and to the ingrained 
docility of draught horses that the breaking-in 
process is such an easy matter and causes so.- 
httle trouble. But despite the natural docility 
and the quiet temper of a young draught horse, . 
it will resent any rough treatment, and unne- 
cessary punishment tends to. spoil its temper 
and impair its docile behaviour. 
There is, as a rule, no reason why the young, 
animal should be punished,.and it ought always.. 
be treated with kindness and gentleness, 
