Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1840-09-03
HYlSCeEEyaae02xS.
From the Carolina Planter.
LUCERNE.
SUMTERyILLE, Aug. y, IS,

SUMTERvlLLE, Aug. II, lSlO.
Dear Friend.-Busiuess and absence
have prevented me from answering your
letter concerning Lucerne. am, howev-
er, in time, if you only desire TO commence
its cultivation this season.
The time for planting is any part
Of the month Of September. think the
best mode Of preparing the ground and
planting, is TO measure a piece of high,
light land, rather sandy, hut Of as much
fertility as may be found on our soils:
broadcast, with about fifteen large four
horse wagon loads ofw ell roIied yard nr sta
Bile manure to the acrc-plough il in as fast
as i, is spread, to avoid evaporation, and
plough as deep as possihIe-eight or ten
inches will be quite shallow enough. Drill
the land very shallow about Is inches a
part, and SOW the seed in the drill about
as thick as you would SOW wheat. When
il comes up you can keep il clean of grass
by hoeing. After sowing il cover it very
lightly, as you do cotton seed, and press
the dirt on the seed with roller or some
other conlrivance, in order to make it come
up. In Nav or June. if the grass does
nol take possession of it, you may cut il
the first lime for hay, and you will get
auolher and perhaps two or three other
cuttings from il during the summer. if the
manure and the land suiI it. 1t will die
on land which is incumbent on wet SUBJ
soil, where the wafer rises within Two feet
Of The top of the ground.
lfrhe object is to feel it to The hogs,
they should be let on it sparingly The first
summer. II may be cut aud fed to hogs
every day If they are kept out Of the patch
where it grows. and will not be injured by
this mode of using it, whilst the hogs are
receiving as much benefit as if they were
allowed to run on The growing crop. This
is called SoiIing, and for this it is invala-
bic. have seen small spot in garden
thus cut five or six times during the sum
mer.
Any one who desires TO keep his hogs
up all the summer may do 50, and have
abundant food from ono acre, well manu-
red and cultivated, for soilng ,y-fve
or thirty hogs, large and small. with little
or no E,od-and This would he infinitely
better for any one than 10 have his hogs
starving on our pnor lands in the summer
and if by chance one of his hogs should
get in a eatable condition, to have him
killed by negroes, who may happen 10 find
him.
You ask ifany particular prced Of hogs
will do better on this grass than another.
am not ware Of any one breed of hogs
thai will do better on i, than another.
A writer in the Farmers Cabinet re-
commends that The Luccrne should he
sowed broad cas,-but should he afraid
of the weeds and grass overrunning it the
frs, year and thus dcstroyingit. AIteri' has
once gained the ascendanccy over the
weeds nd grass of other kinds, it will keep
it for generation.
II you plant it in drills you can manure
it as often as you may desire, with such
manure as you may have. Grass sowed
broad cast may be manured by top-dress.
ing with ashes, plaster Of Paris, &c., hut
these are not always 10 be obtained with
out greater expense and trouble than is
attendant on procuring the manure orc!in-
arily made in This District. | would re-
fer you TO vol. 4th Of Farmers Cabinet,
published in Philadelphia, and some late
numbers Of The Columbia Planter, for
much valuable information on this subject.
The value Of an acre Of land successful
ly cultivated in Lucerne, may oe eslima-
ted iu the following manner.
Three thousand weight Of hay may be,
and often has been Obtained rs moderate
harvest at each cutting. -Four cuttings
may be had each summer. More than
four thousand weight has been obtained
at a cutting. Good hay is worth one dollar
per hundred pounds. The result is, that
the entire harvest hay from a single acre