LUCERNE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), 5 January 1881, Page 4

LUCERNE.

In suitable land no more profitable crop | can be grown for feeding green to stock or j for making into hay than lucerne. Many of our farmers are already aware of this and have contrived to have a good lucerne patch as a stand-by and an excellent one it has proved. Experience with this valuable fodder plant goes to show that it thrives best in- a porous soil when the roots can penetrate to any depth without being flooded out with stagnant water. Lands deficient in drainage or having a strong and tenacious clay for a subsoil it cannot be grown in, for when the summer heat and rains- come it languishes and finally dies out. Any soil, however, where good drainage can be had will grow lucerne well, and one very important fact in connection with this plant is, that being a deep rooter and therefore finding much of its food at a lower level than most plants, it invariably leaves the land better than when it was sown. This fact enters largely into the science of rotation of crops, and both it and clovers _ are used because they bring fertilising particles from great depths and level them on or near the surface in an available form for being immediately taken up by the succeeding crop. No one should attempt sowing lucerne in land otherwise than clean. It is best to put it in where the land has been tilled and cropped previously and weeds persistently kept under. Lucerne takes some time at the start to get a good hold, and consequently if weed seeds are at all abundant they will outgrow the young lucerne and make it extremely difficult if not altogether impossible so to clean the land as to give the lucerne a chance. In most cases where it is sown in foul land weeds and crop have to be ploughed in altogether and either a fresh start made or another substituted therefor.

In good clean land lucerne may be sown broadcast and the quantity of seed needed in such a case is about twonty lbs. to the acre. Taking all things into consideration, however, it is much the best plan to drill in tho seed in rows from fifteen to eighteen inches apart and then it is comparatively easy to operate upon any weeds that start and endanger the crop. Something like fourteen or fifteen lbs. of seed will sufllce for an acre of land when properly drilled in. The best season to sow lucerne depends upon climate and other conditions. When the heat is moderate during summer it will get along well when so to in spring, but where the summer heat is at all intense and constant it is best to sow during March, or at any rate when the summer heat declines and before the moisture of the soil is too far gone to allow of the seed germinating properly. Lucerne seed often refuses to germinate well even when good, and generally it does when the soil heat is at all in excess of its requirements. This is also the case Avith seeds of many descriptions, and often blame is thrown upon the seedsman for sending out indifferont'seeds when such was not the case. It is well to bear in mind therefore that unless seed is sown seasonably satisfactory results cannot reasonably be lookod for, but with proper car» and culturo lucerne grows and thrives admirably when it is sown in season, or in accordance with the rules already laid down with reference thereto.

In cutting lucerne either for fodder or hay it is always best to do so when the bloom is on it and before seed begins to form. If left longer its leaves begin to fall and the stems to toughen and the quality of the fodder suffers. While in blossom it has its nutritious properties developed to the full, and as the plant advances or before it arrive* at this stage it is not nearly so nutritious. As a fodder plant tor horses, cows, or swine, it has few superiors, and no owner of stock can possibly afford to be without so useful a commodity even for home use, and those in close proximity to a good market manage to turn a good penny by its sale.