LUCERNE HAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20110, 31 March 1928, Page 24 (Supplement)

LUCERNE HAY

AMERICAN RESULTS. When lucerne is carelessly handled in hay-making, there may be considerable loss in weight, and still more in actual feeding value. In a bulletin of the Colorado Experimental Station, it is stated that in average lucerne from 50 to 60 per cent, of the crop consists of stems, the balance being leaves. The increase in clover and the benefit to the grasses make it possible to carry more «tock. This results in more droppings, and when it is considered that a dairy cow will in one season produce droppings which are equivalent to 3 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, plus 2 cwt of superphosphate, and 2 cwt. of sulphate of potash, and lhe value of the droppings represents from £5 to £6 per acre, it will be realized what a valuable top-dresser is the cow. Increase in carrying capacity, therefore, means more droppings, which in turn benefit the pasture.

Lucerne has won new honours in tests on the University of Illinois soil fields at Dixon and Mount Morris by showing its superiority over red clover rs a soil-building crop. Maize in a clover rotation on untreated land on the Dixon field made 48 bushels to tilt acre. Where lucerne had been grown instead of clover in the rotation the yield of maize was 57 bushels, an increase of 9 bushels. At Mount Morris maize following clover on untreated land made 51 bushels to the acre, whilemaize following lucerne made 63 bushels, 17 bushels increase. Those figures are the average of six years’ tests. In these experiments alfalfa was grown in the rotation in the same way as clover, being left for only one year following the year when it was sown. The use of lucerne as a rotation crop is comparatively new. These tests show that it can profitably be used to take the place of clover from a soil building standpoint as well as because of its increased yield of better hav.