FARM NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 7239, 21 August 1902, Page 4

FARM NOTES.

(Specially compiled for Iho Waiuauapa Daily I'imks.)

Grasses and Forage.

Plants Useful in New Zealand.

I lmvo received morp than ono lottor, Of lute, specially asking mo for any roUublo information concerning lucerne, in which a good many farmers are now taking considerable interest. IVom a paper by the lftto Mr T. MacKay, I extract the following, winch contains a I largo amount of plainly-put and useful I information about lucorno, which I think I will bo generally appreciated. v f Lucerne is a species of uiodick, ono of [ tho moat valuable of tho leguminous { plants cultivutcd for Iho supply of food to cattle. This particular species was brought from Media to Greeco in tho tinio of Darius, about (ivo hundred years beforo Christ, and its culiivation also oxtended among tho ltomana, and through them to the South of Franco, whero it has over sinco continued to bo a iavoui'ito forago-pltint. It is not very largely cultivated in J3ritain, although in some places very successfully, chiefly in tho South of England;' but tho climate of Scotland is not too cold for it, and the dilYorent results obtained by farmers who have tried it soom to dopend chiefly on the dilToronco of soil and management. It is largely cultivated in soino parts of North and South. America, in Peru and Chili, and grows wild in tho utmost luxuriance in tho pampas of Buenos Ayrcs, whoro it is called alfalfa, which is simply the common lucerne slightly modified by climate, and may bo regarded as a variety. It is grown also in Australia, particularly in Victoria and Now South Wales. Its tap-roots penetrate in mellow soils to great depths, having been found in snndy soils thirteen feet in length, and in the driest and most sultry weather, when every blado of grass droops for want of moisture, lucerne holds up its stem, fresh and green as in the genial spring. The cultivation of lucerne is somewhat more diilicult than that of clover for tho first year, requiring a soil thoroughly mellowed, and prepared by clean and careful tillage. It suffers and languishes in compact clay-soils, and does not ilourish in light soils lying over an impermeable subsoil, which prevents the water from running off. It will never succeed well on thin soils. But in a pcnneablo subsoil, consisting of loam, or sand, or gravel, its roots can penetrate to great depths, and imbibe their moisture and nutriment in layers of soil far below tho average of other plants. In this respect it differs materially from clover. For lucerne a suitable subsoil is of the utmost consequence. For the shortlived red clover a suitable surface-soil is more important. A want of care and deep tillage, especially a neglect to break through and loosen up tho hard pan wherever it exists, will inevitably lead to failure with lucerne. But when the so 1 is suitablo it will produce good and very profitable crops for from live to ten or twelve-years; and, notwithstanding tic largo quantity of succulent and nutritious forago it produces, ita effect is to ameliorate and improve the soil rather than to exhaust it. This apparent anomaly is explained by the fact that all leguminous, broad-leaved plants derive a large proportion of their nutritive materials partly from the atmosphere in the shiipe of carbon, and partly through the medium of their long roots bringing up nitrogen near tho surface from a considerable depth ; and that a vast quantity of roots arc left to decay in the soil when it is at last broken up, varying, of course, with the length of time the plant continues in tho soil, while the luxuriant foliage serves to shade the soil, and thus to increase its fertility. Much of this rich foliage is scattered and left to decay, as is the case with all similar plants at tho time of harvesting; and the growth of tho after-math is also usually very considerable. Tho fact that it actually increases the fertility of the soil for other plants has been proved, and may bo regarded as fully established. A soil which would bear only a medium crop of wheat at first, produced a greatly increased quantity after being laid down to lucerne a few years, till its roots enriched the soil. Lucerne should not follow immediately after having been grown a few years on tho same soil, and then broken up ; but after tho land on which it has been grown has been cultivated with some other crop, or laid down to the natural grasses a length of time equal to that during which it had previously remained in lucerne, it can sately bo sown again with it. The seed of lucerne, when fresh and good, is yellow, glossy, and hairy. If the seeds are white it is an indication that they arc not ripe. If they are brown it may bo inferred that they have been subjected to too strong a heat to separate them from their husks. In either of these cases it is not safe to purchase or to rely on them. The same might be said of clover, and it is desirable to try them by a simple method, which will bo indicated hereafter in treating of tho selection of seed. As the seeds of lucerne arc larger than cloverseed, and the plant tillers less, it is necessary to sow a. larger quantity per acre. Lucerne is not a winter fodder; it is a summer and autumn fodder. It should be cut as soon as it begins to flower, or even earlier. If cut much earlier it is apt to bo too watery and less nutritious, and cures with greater difficulty; if later, it becomes coarse and hard, wilh woody fibre, and is less relished by cattle. It may bo cut and fed green, and is an exceedingly valuable plant for soiling cattle, or it may be cut and cured and used like clover hay; but in either case it must bo cut before blossoming. In cultivating lucerne in New Zealand it should bo sown in September and October, in drills varying from twelve to eighteen inches apart, or broadcast, with from 101b to 151b of seed per acre according to tho manner of sowing, whether in drills or broadcast. Whero the soil is suitable a mixed cultivation of lucerne and prairie-grass would produce, perhaps, ono of the best economic combinations, both in quantity and quality, of cattlefodder for green-feeding that could be grown. By a study of their respective merits as valuablo forage-plants, this proposition will not be difficult to understand. In that investigation it will be observed that they aro both deep-rooted and drought-resisting plants, but that lucerne is much the deeper-rooted of tho two, and that therein lies tho main factor of the success of such a combination. This being so, lucerne would necessarily find its nutriment in a lower and diffo .er.t stratification of soil than tho prairie-grass. They would thus not interfere, so to speak, with each other, as they would derive their respective supplies of sustenance from separate sources, although growing side by side. To grow them successfully in this manner, however, the lucerne should have the precedence of the prairie-grass by six or sever months, the lucerne being sown in September or October, and the prairie-grnss in tho

following March or April, according to cii cumstances. It would by this arrangement send its roots down much in advance of the latter, and they would therefore bo free of the detrimental com. petition with each other for plant-food in early stages of their growth, which would naturally urise if they were sown contemporaneously. The course, therefore, to pursue is to first sow the lucerne n spring, using 101b to 121b of seed to the acre, in drills eighteen inches apart, so as to leave room for n one-horse plough or cultivator to work between the rows of plants and keep them free from weeds ; mid in the following autumn tlio pniirjograss should be sown broadcast between the drills at the rate of iJOlb to the acre. Except in New South "Wales very little lucerne seed is harvested in Australia. Most of the seed sold in Australia is grown in Holland, some is grown in i'rancc, and Spain could spare a good quantity. The yield in Holland is said to range from five to eight bushels per iicie. The threshing is usually done by flail. It can bo done by machine just as clover is =ouietimcs threshed in.England, although the flail is still preferred l>y sonic growers of the crop.