POULTRY NOTES

Northern Advocate, 22 January 1927, Page 9

POULTRY NOTES

(BY R. J. TERRY.)

LUCERNE. It is surprising the namticr 'of people who have the idea that lucerne is a delicate plan 1 -, difficult to grow, must have specially prepared laul, and that very few soils arc suitable for it. Others think they have to wait a couple of years before getting any retu«- Lucerne will not last long if water is near the roots, which should have to go at least eight feet before

they reach water. If you have failed with one class of lucerne that (loos not mean that you could not make a success with another variety. At one time in Australia I carried out a serj ies of tests with eight varieties of j lucerne, and the difference in their I growths, especially during the winter I months, was really remarkable, as was I ■•he ability of certain varieties to with- ! stand flooding or wet conditions over j an extended period as compared with other varieties. It might be of interest and encouraging to readers who J wish to grow a little patch of lu- ! cerne if I give them one of my ex--1 poricnees.

j Twenty years ago in Tasmania very ' little lucerne was grown, although ! it was freely imported from Victoria ■ and New South Wales. The Minister j of Agriculture was chatting with me I one day re a strip of newly drained i swamp land on which we were exj perimenting, and it had been suggested | that it be put down in lucerne. I did j not agree, the chief reason being that I I thought the ground was not suffi- ) ciently sweet. That started us both j thinking and talking about the pat- ! ches of lucerne then in Tasmania, and we both eventually agreed that the | best and healthiest lucerne could be seen along the railway line, and in I J many cases of the raised portions' !of the line; in other words it • was j

I -growing on railway embankments, j-which would-naturally be well drained | soil. The seed had probably dropped I from the trucks which had conveyed ! sheep from Victoria. Anyway, to setj tie the question and to give an exi treme test, we used a poor bank which ! grew a little worthless grass, about | one sheep to two or three acres. It ■ was deeply ploughed, harrowed and | sown straight away in the springi time. The lucerne came and so did i’wee'ds. It seemed 75 per cent weeds j and 25 per cent lucerne. The neighbouring farmers who always watched the Government man smiled as they leaned on the rail and smoked their ! pipes. Going over the piece of ground 1 I found that even at this stage the | lucerne was difficult to pull up; in 1 fact it could not be pulled up without ! breaking the end of the root (the I land was heavy and contained a little I stone), whereas the weeds could be. ] SoTha'd -a mob'of cattle turned on to ! it to roughly feed it down. Then in--1 structions were given to have it thorI oughly harrowed. Then it had half a ■ ton per acre of air-slacked lime put on ; 1 with a rotary distrubutor. Three days j afterwards there was a good soaking grain. Both the weeds and the lucerne j started to grow, but the percentage j of weeds was less and lucerne more, j When the ’lucerne was about nine in- | ehes high the whole of it was cut and j left ion the-ground. The weather was now getting much warmer. The next I crop started to look-something like lui cerne, and that was again cut when it was a foot high. It was then sum- ; mertinie, and the lucerne was easily • beating the weeds, and so it continued to improve throughout the summer. I The following spring it was topj dressed, -as T recognised the land was j poor. 'That lucerne patch was the talk of the district.

Practically any soil which will grow .clover will :giow lucerne. If a little eommonsense in its treatment is used :and a suitable variety for the district .is .selected, .even the suburbanite with .a section of less than a quarter of ; an : aore may grow some lucerne for his fowls. If he cannot spare a plot for it, it can bo grown as a border to keep the vegetable iand flower beds tidy. Cut it when two thirds of the plants ;arie in bloom. It .may be cut five oa- .six times during the year, but once in .every year it should be allowed to develop seed before being cut.

In many ceases lucerne .could be grown on very poor sandy soil near (he sea, providing the sand was originally shell. M-ellolotiiis fihftidd first 'be sown. Thacs is a plant which is .often mistaken for lucerne. It can be found growing round most wharves, by the roadside, or on broken jpieces of land even in Auckland, but. it is shallow rooted anil an annual. It should be -burnt off about February after it lias seeded. In this way certain classes of poor land can bo cleaned cheaply and -prepared for limwne or a mixture of lucerne and other fo6.der. I have seen a fair 1 {inKmOL't of land classed as poor in tho North Island which would grow lucerne readily and make the farmer, whereas now ho is struggling.