Hence it appears, that the most fatal Disease incident to Luserne is starving, and that rarely suffers any of its Plants to arrive at the full Period of their Growth or Age; it prevents their Fertility even in the Prime of their Youth, and kills them before they have liv’d out Half, or perhaps the Tenth Part, of their Days. How long its Life might otherwise be, nobody knows, unless a Plant could be found to die when well fed; for when it is, ’tis so tenacious of Life, that, I am told, beheading will not dispatch it[199].
[199]But I have cut off the Heads of some myself to try, and could not find that any one would sprout again, tho’ St. Foin will; perhaps I tried at the wrong Season.
’Tis therefore necessary, that our Rows be plac’d at such a Distance, as that their Intervals may be wide enough for the Hoe-plough to raise an artificial Pasture, sufficient to sustain the Number of Plants in them.
Whoever shall make Trials of this Husbandry (for that is all I propose to others), I would advise them to begin with Rows that have Intervals of Thirty-three Inches; for, if they begin with much narrower Distances, they may be by that means disappointed of Success: But tho’ they should afterwards find a Way to hoe them at somewhat nearer Distances; yet the Loss of a few Perches of Ground would not be much; neither can they be wholly lost, since the Roots of these Plants may be prov’d to extend much farther horizontally, than from Row to Row at that Distance. And the wider the Intervals are, the more Earth will be till’d in a Perch of Ground; because Six Rows, which will be therein at Thirty-three Inches Distance, will admit the Hoe-plough to till more Earth, than Nine Rows at Twenty-two Inches Distance from each other: And, besides, ’tis not proper, that every time of hoeing, the Plough should come very near to the Plants, unless when Grass comes amongst them; and then they may, in Thirty-three Inch Spaces, be perfectly cleansed in this manner: viz. Plow a good Furrow from each Side of every Row; and then with Harrows, or other Instruments proper for that Purpose, going cross them, you will pull out both Earth and Grass from betwixt the Plants; then, after a convenient Time, plow these Furrows back again to the Rows; this will in a manner transplant the upper Part of the Roots, and bury the Grass, tho’ it be not dead, by lying open to be dry’d by the Sun: Then harrow the Ground to break it more, and to level it, and go once over it with a very light Roller, to the End that the Hay may be raked up the cleaner.
I am aware of the common Prejudice, which is, that People, when they have never seen a Plantation of these Plants in Perfection, are apt to form to themselves the Idea of such small ones as they have been used to see; and thence imagine it impossible that this (tho’ a double) Number should be sufficient to make a Crop. But they might, with equal Reason, imagine the same of Apple-trees at a Year’s Growth, which are less than these at the same Age; and so plant a Thousand Trees in the Room proper for one. The Antients direct the Planting of Seventeen Cytisus Plants in a Perch of Ground; and I do not believe, that ever those Seventeen could yield a Crop equal to Two hundred Twenty-four Luserne-plants; for as many Ounces of Hay as each of these yields, so many Ton of Hay will one Crop of an Acre produce: Thus by weighing the Product of one Plant (supposing them all equal) the Quantity of the Crop may be determin’d, and prov’d greater than Fancy from their Number represents.
| s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|
| April 14. One single unho’d Plant of Luserne had Thirty-one Stalks, which,by Silver-Money, weigh’d green | 23 | 0 |
| 24. The same dried to Hay, weigh’d | 6 | 6 |
| 14. The Stalks of one single ho’d Luserne-plant green, weigh’d | 56 | 0 |
| 24. The same dry’d | 14 | 6 |
| 14. Eighteen Inches in Length of a Row, being five indifferent Plants,weigh’d green one Pound and an half Avoirdupois | ||
| 24. Dry’d to Hay, it weigh’d | 28 | 6 |
| 25. One Foot of an ho’d Row, being One hundred and Sixty Stalks of twoLuserne Plants of Six or Seven Years old, weigh’d Two Pound green | ||
| But the same dry’d, to the 9th of May, weigh’d no more than | 31 | 6 |
| Which last is about Three Tons to an Acre. | ||
This I am certain of, that the least competent Number of Plants will bring the greatest Number of Crops: since I see the Stalks of a single ho’d Plant grow higher in Fifteen Days, than one amongst near Neighbours does in Thirty Days.
The greatest Difference between the Culture of this and St. Foin is, that Luserne Rows should be more grown, before the Plants be made single in them by the Hand-hoe, lest the Fly should destroy some afterwards, and then they might become too thin. For Luserne is sometimes eaten by the Fly, as Turneps are, tho’ St. Foin be never liable to that Misfortune, if sown in a proper Season. Luserne must also be more frequently ho’d[200], in some Proportion to the more frequent Crops it produces.
[200]The Hoe-plough is the Instrument to bring it to Perfection: but then I doubt it must lie still some Years, lest the plow’d Earth injure the Hay that is made upon it; and when it is come to a Turf, and the Luserne wants renewing, the Four coulter’d Plough is the only Instrument that can prepare the Turf to be kill’d, and cure the Luserne; which Plough must be used in the following Manner: Turn its Furrows toward one Row, and from the next; that is, plow round one Row, and that will finish Two Intervals, and so on; and the next Plowing must be towards those Rows, from whence they were turn’d the first time; take care the first Furrows do not lie long enough on the Rows to kill the Plants, which will be much longer in Winter than in Summer. But you may leave every Third or Fourth Interval unhoed for making the Hay on, which will be yet more beneficial, if the Swarths in mowing should fall thereon. This unhoed Interval may be plowed when there is Occasion, and another left in its stead.
I shall not go about to compute the Difference of Expence bestow’d in the Roman Culture and in this; yet it will appear theirs was incomparably more chargeable, and that the Excess of Charge was occasioned by their Error in the Theory of Husbandry.