Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/709

 LUCERN LUCERNE T03 on the continent of Europe and in our far southern and western states it is regarded as of great value ; its reputation on the Pacific coast has led agriculturists at the east to ex- periment with it, and it is likely to occupy a more prominent place in our agriculture than it has hitherto held. The experiments of Chan- cellor Livingston near the close of the last century called the attention of farmers to lu- cern as a valuable forage plant, but our agri- culture was not then sufficiently advanced to make its culture profitable; it is only where draining and improved tillage are practised that its value is manifest. The plant has very long roots, which have been known to pene- trate to 12 ft. or more; hence it is quite unsuited to light thin soils with a poor sub- soil. Another obstacle to its introduction is the care demanded by the young plants ; the seed must be sown in drills in well prepared soil, and the plants kept free from weeds until they have become thoroughly estab- lished ; when the roots once get possession of the soil, they continue under favorable con- ditions to produce crops of herbage almost in- definitely. Like clover and other leguminous plants, it draws largely upon the atmosphere for its sustenance, and its wide-spreading roots in their decay enrich the soil with vegetable matter, while they at the same time mechani- cally disintegrate it. After a thorough prepara- tion of the soil the seed is sown in drills from 18 to 30 in. apart; it should be cropped but lightly the first year, if at all ; in its third year it is in full bearing, and may afterward yield from three to five crops each season. The cut- ting should be done as the plant is about to flower, and not be delayed until the stems be- come woody ; it may be cured like clover, but its great value is as a soiling crop to feed in the fresh state to dairy cows and other ani- mals ; the yield in hay per acre is variously estimated at from three to eight tons. In Cali- fornia, where it is generally known as alfalfa, or Chilian clover, it is regarded as the main- stay of the stock raisers, and with irrigation it produces enormous crops. Another Medica- go (M. lupulina), called black medick and non- such, a prostrate yellow-flowered species with black pods, is a common introduced plant in this country, and in England is regarded as a valuable sheep pasturage. The bur clover of California (M. denticulata} is still another in- troduced species ; in California it covers large tracts, and its bur-like pods remain upon the ground during the dry season, and afford a con- centrated food to animals at a time when no green forage is to be obtained. LUCERNE (Ger. Luzerri). I. A central canton of Switzerland, bounded N. by Aargau, N. E. by Zug, E. by Schwytz, S. E. and S. by Unter- walden and Bern, and W. by Bern ; area, 579 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 132,338, of whom all but about 4,000 were Roman Catholics. With re- gard to the language spoken, Lucerne is one of the 14 purely German cantons. The south- ern part of the canton belongs to the basin of the Reuss, and the northern part to that of the Aar. The former river flows through the lake of Lucerne. The other principal sheets of wa- ter are the Sempach and Baldegg (or Heidegg) lakes. The lake of Pilatus, which is associated Lucerne. with this canton by several historians of the middle ages, has been drained. The canton is not mountainous excepting in its S. portion, on 512 VOL. x. 45 the borders of Unterwalden and the Bernese Oberland, where however even the highest peaks of the Pilatus do not attain the limits