LUCERN (Medic:Igo maim), a plant of the Linnienu clam Diadelphift and order Decandria, with a papilionaceoua flower, and of the natural fatniiy.of the Leguininone. There are many species of the Nedicago. of 'Mich one is super-eminent as an artificial grass in temperate climates, and a must valuable plant fur feeding cattle. It was in high repute among the ancients. The authors Re /Instil-a speak of it with enthusiasm, and all over the continent of Europe, wherever husbandry has made any progress, it is in high reputation. Lucern is • plant which will not bear extreme frost nor superabundant moisture, and its cultivation Is therefore restricted to inn(' climates and dry soils ; but, when it thrives, IG growth is rapid and luxuriant. In good deep loam. lucern lithe most profitable of all green when properly managed, the quantity of cattle which can be kept in good condition on an acre of Intern, during the whole sermon, exceeds belief. it is no 1100fICT mown than it pushes out fresh shoots, and wonderful as the growth of clover menetitnes Is in • field which has been Lately mown, that of lumen is far more rapid. IVItere a few tufts of to they will rise a fov.,t slime the surface, while the grass and clover. which were meet, at the name time, are only a very few Inches urn, *own in a soil suited to it, will lest for many years, shoot leel its mots downwards for nourishment till they are altogether out f the roach of drought. In the driest and most sultry weather, when gamy blade of gram ditel• fur want d f moisture, lucern holds up its stem, frail' and green as in a genial spring. The only enemies of this petit are a *et pulsed and a foul surface. The first is often incurable; the latter can to avoided by good cultivation.
It is umlaut to sow lucern on very poor sands or gravel, or on wet clays. The boat and deepest loam must be chosen, rather light than heavy, but with a good portion of vegetable earth equally dispersed through it. If the ground has been trenched, so much the better ; and if the surface is covered with some inferior earth from the subeoil, it will be no detriment to the crop, for it will prevent grass nnd weeds from springing up, and save much weeding. The lucern will soon strike down below it. It is not a bad practice to cover the lucern-field with a coat of coal-ashes or poor sand, merely to keep down the weeds, where this can easily be done.
The soil in which it is intended to sow lucern-seed should be well prepared. It should be highly manured for the two or three preceding crops, and deeply ploughed if not trenched. It should be perfectly clean, nnd for this purpose two successive crops of turnips are most effectual The turnips should be fed off with sheep. In the month of March, the /and having been ploughed flat and well harrowed, a very small quantity of barley, not above a bushel to the acre, may be sown, or rather drilled on the ground, and at the same time from 30 to 40 lbe. of lucern-seed sown broad.cast, and both harrowed in and lightly rolled. at the land will not bear to be laid flat without water-furrows, it will be useless to sow lucern in it.
As the crop comes up it must be carefully weeded ; no expense must be spared to do this effectually, for success depends upon it. When the barley is reaped, the stubble, which will probably be strong, should be pulled up by the hand-hoe, or by harrowing, if tho plants of lucern be strong, and, at all events, the ground roust be cleared of weeds. It
must not be fed off with sheep; they would bite too near the crown. Lucern should always be cut as soon as the flower is formed. If it is kept clear of weeds the first year, there will be little difficulty with it afterwards, when the roots have become strong. The second year the lucern will be fit to cut very early, and in a favourable season it may be cut four or five Ones. After each cutting it is useful to draw heavy harrows over the land, or an instrnment made on purpose resembling harrows, the teeth of ,which are flat, and cut the soil like small coulters. It will not injure the plants, even if it divide the crown of the root, but it will destroy grass and weeds. Liquid manure, which consists of the urine of cattle and drainings of dunghills,is often spread over the lucern immediately after it has been mown, and much in vigorates the next growth ; but if the land is rich to a good depth, this is scarcely necessary. The lucem will grow and thrive from seven to twelve years, when it will begin to wear out, and,in spite of weeding, the grass will get the upper hand of it, It should then be ploughed up, n11 the roots carefully collected and laid in a heap with dung and limo to rot, and a course of regular tillage should succeed. The same laud should not be sown with lucern again in less than ten or twelve years, after a regular course of cropping and manuring.
Cattle thrive upon lucern. Horses also work well upon it. Cows give plenty of good milk when fed with it. In spring it is apt to purge cattle, which, with a little attention, is not unhealthy for them. If it is given to them in too great quantities, or moist with dew, they run the rink of being hoven. These inconveniences are avoided by giving it sparingly at first, and always keeping it twenty-four hours after it is cut, during which time it undergoes an incipient fermentation, and the juice is partially evaporated ; instead of being less nutritive in this state, it is rather more so.
An acre of good Itieern will keep four or five horses from May to October, when cut just as the flower opens. If it should get too forward, and there be more than the horses can consume, it should be made into hay; but this is not the most profitable way of using it, and the plant, being very succulent, takes a long time in drying. The rain also is very injurious to it in a half-dry state ; for the stem is readily soaked with moisture, which is slow in evaporating. The produce in hay, when well made, is very considerable, being often double the weight of a good crop of clover hay.
Many authors recommend drilling the seed of lucern in wide rows, and hoeing the intervals after each cutting. This is the best way with a small patch in a garden, and when only a little is cut every day; but in n field of some extent, the lucern, when once• well established and preserved free from weeds by hand.weeding the first year, will keep all weeds down afterwards, and the heavy harrows with sharp tines, used immediately after mowing, will pull up all the grass which may spring up. No farmer ought to neglect having a few acres in lucern on his best land.