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iSw^-- <j W .<<-• ’ JB An Illustrated Sixteen-Page (11 by 15 inches) Monthly, Representing the Interests of Farmers, Patrons of Husbandry, the Direct Trade Union, the State Agricultural Society, Department of Agriculture, Horticulturists, Seedsmen, Nurserymen, Stock Raisers, Dairymen, Fanciers, Apiarists, Home Resources, etc. Established 1866. THE FARM. For the Rural Southerner. LUCERN. Ah the culture of this most valuable of all forage plants is now attracting considerable at tention among our people, perhaps it will inter est your many readers to become still more ac. quainted with the nature, culture, habits and history of the plant. Lucern-Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa) is a legu minous plant of the genus Medicago, and has been known and cultivated from lime immemo rial. We are told it was brought from Medica to Greece, in the time of Darius, about five hun dred years before Christ, and its cultivation afterwards extended among the Romans, and through them to the south of' France, where it has ever since continued to he a favorite forage plant—hence it is often called French clover. Lucern does not endure as severe a climate as Red clover; it requires greater heat and sun light. It is, therefore, suited to-the climate of the South. It is superior to Red clover in some respects : being a very hardy perennial, it con tinues long in the soil. If all our young hoy farmers, at their first opportunity, say next Sep tember, would plant a Lucern patch, or field, and should live to be a hundred years old. it would then be luxuriant, affording an abundant and nutritious forage crop. Its yield of green fodder continues later in the season than clover, and is equally relished by cattle both green and <iry. At least one square in every garden should l»e devoted to its culture, ami from one to fifty acres should he planted by every farmer in the land. It does not impoverish the soil. It sends down its lap roots in mellow soils to enormous depths having been found in sandy soils thir teen feet in depth. Its cultivation is more difficult than that of clover for the first year, as it requires a soil thoroughly mellowed and prepared by clean and careful tillage; and the want of pro|>er atten tion on this point accounts for the partial fail ures by some who have attempted its culture. If the same amount of labor that is bestowed upon the tillage of one acre in cotton was to be given to an acre in Lucern. the latter would pay tenfold greater profit. It will not succeed well in thin soils (neither will any other valuable plant), but in a permea ble subsoil consisting of loam, or sand, or gravel, it wi 1 prove a grand success Good crops can be obtained from it for ten or twelve vears at r ■ W \ ■■ IS' v HON. JOHN H. JAME2L least. It should l>e cut ae soon as it begins to flower when wanted for feel ; but if a see*! crop is the object, let it stand until the seed begin to harden. It would be profitable to save the seed, as they now retail in this market at about f>s cents per pound, or S3O to S4O per bushel. It would astonish the natives to know how many cattle could be kept on one acre of this crop. As fivu as cut down it sprouts up again rapidly " hen in the midst of drouths, when every blade of grass wilts for moisture, Lucern holds up its stem tresh and green. Who would not plant it The best months for planting it are Septeml»er, October, February and March. Select your land, plow it up as deep as possible with a one- ATLANTA, GEORGIA, MA\, 1875. horse turn-plow, followed in same furrow with a one or two-horse subsoil, breaking eighteen inches deep if possible, level over and harrow smoothly, lay off rows eighteen inches apart with full tongue, running in bottom with subsoil, apply in drill 2t)o or BDO pounds ammoniated superphosphate per acre, cover this over by running furrow each side, then levtd the l>ed down, then open with very narrow scooter or garden plow, and drill ten to twelve pounds of seed per acre, and cover as turnips, cultivate well, keeping out all grass and weeds, and you will l>e pleased. M. W. Johnson. I’. S. Lucern an I Alfalfa are one and the same. Atlanta, (ia., At rd, 1875. Terms, SI.OO a Year. A Plea for Agricultural Journals. W. G. McAdoo, the accomplished literary editor of the Milledgeville Union and Recorder thus truthfully and forcibly expresses himself as to the value of agricultural journals: Well-conducted agricultural journals are of high importance to the planter. Agriculture is by far the most important of all the branches of productive industry; and its field is so wide that ample scope exists for continued and indef inite improvements. Science and ingenuity are developing new successes continually in practical agriculture; and the planter now-a-days, to succeed best, must exert practical skill, and keep pace also with all new discoveries in agriculture all over the world. He must take a good agri cultural journal and test theory in the crucible of practice, at times. This is preceded by a well-drawn pen sketch, in which he places before the “mind’s eye ” the broad plantation with its thousands of acres of vigorous maize and corn ; the elegant white cottage with roses and hollyhocks in front, and with the proprietor in his ample piazza (his eyes shaded by the ample brim of a Panama hat, and his mouth bearing the inevitable tobacco-pipe), reading the latest ami best agricultural journal, which, on inspection, proves to be the Rural Southerner and Plantation, on which our writer bestows the distinguished honor of placing it in the hands of this lordly Southern planter This is well enough ; for we think that the planter could not have made a better choice in seeking information on agriculture. But «hould he continue to draw his knowledge from this source, he will find that the time for thousand-acre plantations has forever passel away, and that “the inevitable tobacco-pipe’ adds nothing to his dignity or his health. From the Rural Southerner he will learn that smal farms and high culture are the only things that will pay under the present order of things. A Premium Clover Crop. Mr. John R. Winters, to whom was awarded the premium of the Georgia Agricultural Society for the best crop ofclover, tells how it was grown as follows : The land upon which it was grown (a small fraction over an acre) was prepared by very deep fall ploughing, and sowing wheat in November. Clover seed sown when there was snow on the ground in February, with a dressing of bone dust and ashes at the same time. About the first of April gave a dressing of mixed ferti lizer. Harvested in June nineteen bushels of wheat to the acre. Cut in July following a light crop of hay, and pastured until frost, which I think a bad plan. The next season (in June) I cut six thousand five hundred and seventy-five pounds, actually weighed after being thoroughly dried ; and the above statement in regard to the manner of cultvation, etc., is correct to the best of my knowledge. Rural Carolinian.