SUGGESTIONS FOR DROUGHTY SEASONS.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2425, 13 January 1882, Page 4

SUGGESTIONS FOR DROUGHTY SEASONS.

["Prairie Farmer."] A correspondent of the paper " founded by Horace Greeley," makes aome suggestions in a recent isaua of that journal, relating to droughty aeasona whioh may possess an interest for many of our readers. A very dry season affords a good opportunity for taking notes that may be of much valuo touching the effects of drouth upon different kinds o£ vegetation. Among the points named by this writer are these:—lt is important to know what forage plants have furnished the best pasturage the present season, when milk and butter have been scarce, consequently bringing the highest prioe ; also under what conditions of locality and cultivation tho various crops have best ondurect the drouth. Has level culture for thoaa crops that are usually .killed proved advantageous ? Has deap ploughing and a well pulverised soil given aa paying results on rolling as on level prairies ? It was very evident in passing over the drouthy districts that a good forage plant that could flourish in a dry season would be ,a great boon. The year's experience may enoourage a more general and thorough trial of lucerne. This plant seems to possess more valuable qualities for a forage plant than any other with whioh •we are acquainted, more desirable even than clover, for the following reasons: It is perennial, it furnishes pasturage later in the season, it grows more rapidly, and stands drought much better. Flint in his " Grasses and Forage Plants," says of it: "In a mellow or sandy soil lucerne has been known to ■end its long tap-roots down to a depth oE thirteen feet; lam oonvinoed that many ot the failures in growing lucerne come from an improper selection and preparation of the «"■" .-. L, Lucerne requires conditions for its eucoeisful cultivation whioh need to be well understood before it is sown to any considerable extent out of its natural habitat. In some situations aa far north as Canada it has been grown with good results. If it oould be depended upon in our Northern States it certainly would be a great boon to farmers, especially in dry seasons, and always in midsummer. In well drained soils it has sucoeeded, we are told, in some portions of this State and Wisconsin, but ordinarily it does not flourish here. But it is well to experiment with this forage plant in a small way and ascertain if by any feasible method it can be so treated as to become a profitable crop. The writer above-mentioned refers to several plants olassed as noxious weeds that remain green in continuous dry weather, and ■ayi, "It is rather (hooking to the ideaß of good farming to have what has been considered as troublesome weeds recommended for cultivation, but the way in whioh pigweed, purslane, and plaintain stood up green and succulent in the dusty earth and under the •oorohing sun of the past summer, when grass and clover were as brown and crisp as at midwinter, suggests that prejudice be laid aside and these heretofore despised weeds be fairly judged as to their qualifications for forage plants. All of them are relished by stook. Ihe plaintain (Plantago lanoeolata), the only perennial of the three, has been cultivated to some extent for sheep pasturage, to whioh it seems better adapted than for other stock on aooount of its low habit of growth. The Amaranthus retroflexus, or pig weed, is an annual, and seems to he endowed with a most vigorous constitution. When the main stalk is bitten off the little stump will ■end out a surprising number of thrifty branches in a short time. This plant, too, has been cultivated for forage, and is certainly capable of yielding a large quantity. Purslane (Portulaca oleraoea) is an annual, and was formerly used as a pot herb. Eyery owner of a pig and garden patoh is acquainted with the fattening qualities of its fleshy, nutritrious leaves. It would not be well to experiment largely with these plants till well tested, but till luoerne becomes a success is there anything better offered fur a drouthy ■eason ?

On the same subject A. B. Allen writes: " The past very hot and dry summer south and west, and in some parts of the east, has taught our farmers the necessity of growing a greater variety and abundance of forage crops. Aside from olover, lucerne and what are more commonly called the grasses, let there be every year rye and wheat sown the preoeding autumn, oats and barley early in the spring, followed by corn of the sweet dwarf and larger sorts, as soon as the ground is warm enough, and oontinue sowing this every week a little at a time till July, and later in those latitudes where it is certain to tassel before a severe frost falls. Add to these sorghum, millet, and Hungarian grass as required. If the grain orops mentioned are not wanted for soiling, they can be suffered as the season advances to ripen, and then threshed; the same with corn to shell; thus there would be neither waste nor loss, although the variety is so great."