And it must be likewise observ’d, that the Crop will be produc’d in Proportion to the Nourishment it receives; for if the most gigantic Luserne plant, which, when pamper’d by the Hoe, has made a Produce more like a Tree than an Herb, remains a few Years without that or some equivalent Culture, it will by little and little cease to produce more than a few poor sickly Stalks, just to shew its Species; and then, if this Culture be repeated, will recover its pristine Strength, and yield as great a Crop as ever; but, if that be longer omitted, will die: The Vastness of its Root avails nothing, unless it has Food in proportion to it. 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.