LUCERNE GROWING

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 63, 8 December 1920, Page 10

LUCERNE GROWING

QUALITY OF SEED. Mr. I?. C. M'Adam, manager of tho Aberdeen Freezing Works, New South Wales, who 16 a foremost exponent of lucerne ouHurc, lins forwarded an exchange an extract on the subject. Mr. M'Adam is an ex-Dunedinite, who lias achieved wonders in lucerne culture in New South Wales. The extract is from the "Scone Advocate," and is as follows: At a meeting of the. Primary Producers' Union. Aberdeen, hold on October 18, tho appended resolution was unanimously adopted: "That the central executive of the P.P.U. be asked to strongly advocate that all luoerne seed' for export be Government graded, must have a germination test of not less than 90 per cent., and all packages marked with: the Stato and district of origin, together witli the year, produced." Tho following is an extract from n speech made by Mr. C. V. Garnsey, the mover of this resolution: "In sowing lucerne, the most essential thing] is good, clean seed—seed that has been reclcuned after being thrashed. But no miittor how good or how clean your seed is, there aro other things essential to a good stand of lucerne. There are only two soils lucerne will not grow in. On'o is a soil tbat is constantly wet and the other is a soil made Bour by overcropping. The first is easily noticed; tho other has to be tested, and this can be done bv driving a knife well into the soil and placing a slip of litmus paper into the opening and pressing together. Leave the paper there a few hours. If on examination the paper has a pink appearance, it is a proof of acidity. This acid can generally be sweetened by an application of lime. The farmeir obtains his seed from two sources—bo raises it or he buys it. If the former there, should bo jess danger, as the chief source of poor seed is careless handling in harvesting and storing. 'When- he buys, it is a different matter. If all seed were bought from reliable dealers there would be less trouble, but farmers too often buy where tliev can buy cheapest. They pay for trash" that is cither full of harmful weed seeds or bns a liberal admixture of oil and dead seeds left over from previous seasons. Climatic conditions also bear a lot of weight. A farmer sliould buy his seed from as near as possible/,tho same latitude as lie intends to sow in. Another tliingi, ho should not buy irrigated seed if he intends to work a non-irrigated form. The one thing to look for when buying seed is good seed that will grow; if. is hard to find the price is generally high, and the only way to be sure is to get a sample and test it. To secure a good standard lucerne, perfect cultivation is ono of the main things. -In nearly all cases this is the reason of poor germination. When preparing a held of lucerne von must begin at least twelve months before; plough once or twico deeply about September or October. This should be kept worked until a fine tilth is obtained and weeds kept down. Some men keep working this fallow aftor overy shower of rain until April or May. then they sow. This is nil right on. land that has been' previously cropped,. and in no case should virgin land be sown without at least two crops have been taken off. In preparing land myself, I prefer to plough deeply in August or September, work to n fine tilth, then sow a crop of cowpeas or pumpkins, which can be harvested by May. then disc the land constantly until July, and sow in that month. Never on any account sow immediately after ploughing. This is often the cause of a bad stand, and the seed is blamed. Another cause of bad. germination is lack of lucerne bacteria in tho soil. If the ultimate aim is lucerne, always in preceding crops sow a little lucerne seed. This will not only give you an idea if lucerne will thrive, but will introduce bacteria into the soil. The practice of importing soil from another farm or other State to innoculate tho ground is not to bo • recommended, because of the danger of importing weeds. All farms have weeds enough of their own, and weeds are the greatest enemy of lucerne. If, as said before, lucerne sown with another crop fails to grow, and a crop of cow-peas can 1» sown and ploughed under, generally sufficient bacteria is formed. . Another way is to procure ft pure culture of lucerne bacteria which used to 1m on the market in Sydney, and innoculate your seed. I tried this one year and got very good results. Lucerne sown in Senlomber caught up to lucerne sown in July alongside, and in the first cutting in .October no difference could be 6een. Lucerne is as a child in tho sun—permanent shade of any sort is its enemy—and when young it is not a good fighter against adversaries of any sort. More failures are duo to weeds than any one cause. In this district, the Upper Hunter, nearly nil seed is from land sown the first tune, with lucerne, that is to say has not had lucerne before, and then replougbed. and lucerne again, anil the seed is good. But farmers must be careful a? their fields get older that no weeds get into their seed crops. Never allow anyone to thrash for you unless he has an up-to-date machine for reclenning the seed.