Copyright N°

COPYRIGHT DEPOSET:

SIX-YEAR-OLD ALFALFA PLANT GROWN IN COLORADO

ALFALFA

Lucerne, Spanish Trefoil, Chilian Clover,
Brazilian Clover, French Clover, Medic,

Purple Medic (Medicago sativa)

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
ON ITS PRODUCTION, QUAL-
ITIES, WORTH AND USES, ES-
PECIALLY IN THE UNITED
STATES AND CANADA :

BY

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FE’ De GOBURN

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Secretary Kansas Department of Agricultire

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PE eItMCLObyy i or oes ee a Oa
History < ued CORT anges OM So ae Ee Ay a re ace or ea
Description 2
Varieties .. Bit RE hae ur ua
Length of Life and Habits , Bae i
Climate and Soil Best Adapted to Alfalfa . . 16
Seed-bed: Its Preparation; Time and Method of
Senne Ma. i ie Sas At MANS fy ee ek Thue) ZO
SReeremicnt and Use. se Se
Harvesting, and Yields ee irr) Gis ican Oa ae Meee ge
ere EMG eer gy sh we a. ee eR O
Alfalfa in Rotation : eee 70
Turkestan Alfalfa—A New Hardy Variety Ro caeceeny ie:
Paraica Culture and Insect Life. 2 «2 ow) 97
Disking and Harrowing Si yikGsr gf Piaeke mR Maar SEE ECE TEC) 5)
Hnemies and Friends of Alfalfa. . . . -. 92
Miltaliain the Different States . . . . . 102
Bee IG eX |p 5 a a A we eh ee, TB

ILLUSTRATIONS

six-year-old Alfalfa Plant . . . rontispsece
PAGE

Alfalfa Stem and Leaves, Seeds, and Seed Pods 3

Alfalfa Seedling. =. . 2 ee
Roots of Alfalfa, One to Three Years’ Growth SEED)
Roots of Alfalfa, Four Years Old. >.) ee
Roots of Alfalfa, Five Years Old: .> 92) Saaueae
Roots of Alfalfa, Five Months from Seeding . . 15
Alfalfa for Soiling “.° <>. *7)) 2) ees
Feed-box for Using Alfalfa . .° | >) -aRaIGE
Wagon for Handling Alfalfaand Corn. . . 57
Steers Eating Alfalfa and Corn-meai Mixed . . 59
Roots of Alfalfa, Disked and Not Disked (Three
Figures). 2-1).
Dodder Plant and Flower... . 4 2 -) ene
Alfalfa Seeds . +. . . (30
Dodder Seeds .. . \°))\) a) 9 2]Ue eee
Red Clover Seeds) = 5 © 7005p een

White Clover Seeds. 5

INTRODUCTORY

Ir 1s safe to say that in America the increase of
interest in alfalfa has been equaled by that in no other
agricultural product during the past ten years, and of
no other has there within the same period been such a
ratio of increase in acreage.

This statement, however, is chiefly applicable to the
region west and southwest of the Missouri River, as in
the states farther east—and especially where clover is
a reliable crop—alfalfa is yet but little known or grown,
although reports of its great worth and yields in the
semi-arid country are rapidly attracting attention to its
possibilities in a vast territory where red clover has
occupied undisputed the premier position both for
forage and for soil renovation.

The best illustration of quickly appreciating alfalfa
is afforded in Kansas, where the increase in area sown
has been from 34,384 acres in 1891 to 276,008 acres in
1900, or more than 800 per cent. The enlarged and,
in fact, new horizon which a proper utilization of
alfalfa, along with some other plants of like recent
introduction, opens up to farm and animal husbandry
on millions of acres of our domain, before of uncertain
utility, is difficult of conception. That its adaptability

vil

vill INTRODUCTORY

for profitably supplementing, if not superceding, in the
near future other established forage crops, heretofore
regarded as staple if not indispensable in many por-
tions of North America, may be demonstrated by intel-
ligent experiment and by cultivating variations in its
habit to suit given localities and conditions is entirely
probable.

Those who have known it longest and best are the
ones everywhere who esteem it most highly; in fact,
very few who have once raised or used it as a feed are
satisfied to be without it, and as a rule they contem-
plate an enlarged acreage and increased use. ‘The
marvelous fact connected with this plant so old in
agriculture is that it comes, as it does, to so many at
the beginning of the twentieth century as an agricul-
tural revelation. To concisely give a wider knowledge
of its worth and ways, to encourage its more extended
propagation, and be helpful as to the best methods for
its growth, care, and use, are the objects of this

volume.
F, D. COBUEE
Topeka, Kansas

ALFALFA

(Medicago sativa)

HISTORY

ALFALFA, or lucerne, has been cultivated since civ-
ilization, and was familiar to the Egyptians, Medes,
and Persians. It is said to have grown spontaneously
in the high dry regions of southern and central Asia,
and is mentioned iti connection with Persia, Asia
Minor, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, and Cashmere. At
the time of the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, about
450 B.C., alfalfa became known in that country, and
preceding the Christian era was prominent in Roman
agriculture. The Romans esteemed it highly as for-
age for the horses of their armies, and its cultivation
has been maintained in Italy to the present time.
From Italy it was introduced into Spain and southern

' France, and was carried to Mexico during the Spanish

invasion. When the Spaniard turned his attention to
the lands of the Incas, alfalfa found its way to the
western coast of South America, where, escaped from
cultivation, it is said to be yet found growing wild over
large areas. ‘There, in the semi-arid regions of the
Andes, it no doubt received a great strengthening of
its already strong tendency to survive in a scorching
sun upon a parched earth. From Chili it reached
California in 1854, and there, mainly under irrigation,
flourishes to-day as perhaps in no other place in the
world. It rapidly spread eastward, and is now grown
largely throughout the humid as well as the arid and
I

2 ALFALFA

semi-arid regions of the western states and territories,
while gradually finding favor farther east.

Eastward from the Pacific coast was not, however,
the only route of introduction of alfalfa into America.
It was early known in Germany and other northern
countries of Europe, but never became so popular
there as farther south. As early as 1820, years before
it reached California, it was grown in New York, but
seems to have been little appreciated.

It is interesting to know that such old-time agri-
cultural authorities as Columella and Jethro Tull were

‘familiar with alfalfa. French lucerne was introduced
into England as early as 1650, but seems to have been
much neglected for many years. In 1765 a farmer in
Kent had fourteen acres. It is stated that at that time
alfalfa was recognized as increasing the milk of kine,
but an authority who knew it well asserted that cattle
‘‘were apt to grow tired of it and are subject to be
blown by it.’’ ‘These statements are interesting from
the fact that so many consider alfalfa a new plant.

DESCRIPTION

Alfalfa is an upright, branching, smooth, perennial
plant, growing one to three feet high. Its leaves are
three-parted, each part being broadest above the middle,
rounded in outline, and slightly toothed near the apex.
The three parts are nearly equal in size, but the size of
the leaves varies much on different parts of the plants
and on different plants under different conditions.
Each part of the full-grown leaf is usually about one
inch long and three to four times as long as wide. The
purple or violet pea-like flowers, instead of being in a
head, as in red clover, are in long, loose clusters or

— “alo a?
ae tor

DESCRIPTION a

racemes. ‘The racemes are scattered over the plant, as
seen in Fig. 2, instead of being borne, as in red clover,
on the upper branches. The ripe pods are spirally
twisted through two or three complete curves, and

FIG. 2-—-ALFALFA

a, b. Seed pods. c. Seed

each pod contains several seeds. The seeds are kidney-
shaped and average about one-twelfth of an inch long
by half as thick. They are about one-half larger than
red clover seeds, and are of a yellowish-brown or rather
of a bright egg-yellow color, instead of a reddish or

4 ALFALFA

mustard yellow. The ends of the seeds are slightly
compressed where they are crowded together in a pod.
When growing, the field has a dark green color, turn-
ing to purple or violet as the bloom appears, and as the ©
pods ripen this is succeeded by a light to dark brown.

BOTANICAL, POSITION

Alfalfa, or lucerne, is known botanically as Wedicago
sativa, one of the many species of plants belonging to
the important order Leguminose. ‘The order Legu-
-minosze, or legumes, includes such plants as peas,
beans, clovers, and vetch. ‘They are distinguished
mainly by the manner in which the seed is borne,
usually in a pod-like receptacle which splits in halves
when ripe. Of late years this order of plants has
assumed a position of much interest and importance, in
so far as it has been demonstrated that, in association
with bacterial organisms, the plants belonging to it have
the power of utilizing the nitrogen of the air, which is
the most important element of plant-food, and the one
most easily depleted in the soil and most expensive to
replace. The atmospheric nitrogen is not available
to plant use except through the aid of the bacterial
organism inhabiting the nodules on the roots of the
plants which belong to this order, called legumes.
The only exception to this is a very few plants of
other orders of no agricultural importance.

VARIETIES

Besides the cultivated form there are two which by
some are considered as varieties of alfalfa, while others
regard them as distinct species. They are the inter-
mediate lucerne (Medicago media), and the yellow, or

VARIETIES 5

sand lucerne (Medicago falcata). Neither of them
have much agricultural value, though the yellow is
sometimes recommended for planting in very light and
sandy calcareous soils. It is more easily killed by
excess of water, but is said to endure cold. It is
probably less valuable than any other species of clover
asaforage plant. Alfalfa seed is sometimes adulterated
with the seeds of one or the other of the less valuable
forms. ‘These plants, however, are so rarely cultivated
in the United States that there is little danger of such
adulteration being practiced.

The western alfalfa grows taller than the eastern
lucerne, and is said to withstand drouth and freezing
better. This is probably because it has been so long
subject to the peculiar soil and climatic conditions of
the arid regions of Chili, California, and Colorado,
and become well acclimated. Alfalfa in the West is
rarely destroyed by winter freezing, although the

_ temperature in certain regions in which it is largely

grown is as low in winter as in the Eastern and New
England states. In this latter section the plants fre-
quently fail to survive the second season on account
of the freezing of the roots.

During the past few years the United States
Department of Agriculture has been introducing an
alfalfa found on the elevated table-lands of Asia. The
botanical difference is expressed by Russian authorities
as Medicago sativa Turkestanica. It is supposed, com-
ing from the region it does, to be more hardy than
our common alfalfa, and in a measure is gratifying its
promoters. It will be further mentioned under the
separate heading of ‘‘ Turkestan Alfalfa.’’

6 ALFALFA

LENGTH OF LIFE

Alfalfa is a perennial, and the length of time it
will continue to thrive, under favorable conditions, is
a matter of conjecture. ‘There are fields that are in
good condition after more than twenty-five years of
constant cropping. Others are reported to be so after
very much longer periods. It requires three, and
under unfavorable conditions even four, years for
alfalfa to reach its prime, and after seven to ten years
a decline may generally, yet by no means always, be
expected, though if properly cared for there is no
good reason why this should beso. Like any other
crop, it demands proper treatment for best results, and
when this treatment is not given it suffers, and ceases
to yield as it would under better conditions.

HABITS OF GROWTH

Alfalfa is a deep and gross feeder. The root sys-
tem in its development is most interesting for its great
power of penetrating, under at all favorable conditions,
to the very bowels of the earth. The young plant
consists of a number of low branches springing from a
central simple basal stalk at the crown of the root.
These branches ascend directly above ground in a
clump. As the plants become older certain of the
more robust stems elongate just beneath the surface of
the ground and become new branch-producing stalks,
as seen in the frontispiece. In this way one stalk, or
rhizome, becomes two or many headed. The plant
represented in this plate grew in Colorado, in a rich
loose soil, with a heavy clay subsoil, and an abundant
supply of water, the water-level ranging from four to
eight feet from the surface at different seasons of the

ew

‘sa youl ©

FIG. 3—ALFALFA SEEDLING SIX WEEKS OLD

8 ALFALFA

year. The diameter of the top was eighteen inches,
and the number of stems 360. ‘The picture shows
how these crowns gather soil around them, for the
length of the underground stem is seen to be several
inches, and this represents the accumulation of nearly
this much material about the plant. This is one of
the largest plants yet found. ‘The specimen as photo-
graphed was probably six years old. The root system
at first consists of a simple tap-root with numerous
small lateral branches. ‘The main root often divides
a few inches or a greater distance below the crown,
and such divisions occur several times as the root
extends downward (Fig. 3), but the main parts of
the root grow downward rather than laterally, as seen
in Fig. 4.

As the crown becomes broader from the extension
of the lateral branches, new roots are sent down from
these stems, until after several years as many roots
may be found descending from what was originally a
single stalk. These lateral branches often become
mutilated, accidentally by the trampling of animals or
intentionally by use of the disk-harrow, and a portion
of a stem is made entirely dependent upon the root
descending from it, and becomes an apparently inde-
pendent plant. This fact makes the disk-cutter an
important means of greatly increasing the number of
plants in a field. When the stems which grow above
ground are cut or grazed off closely they die down to
the underground stem, or crown, and new branches
are produced from new buds. ‘This method of growth
explains why alfalfa is so often injured by continuous
close grazing. The stems of most other foliage plants,
when cut or grazed off, branch out from lateral buds

FIG. 4—ALFALFA ROOTS OF ONE TO THREE YEARS’ GROWTH
AT NEBRASKA EXPERIMENT STATION

IO ALFALFA

above ground, and new branches soon replace the old
ones, while with alfalfa the new growth comes directly
from the crown. If every young stem is closely grazed
as soon as it appears the vitality of the root is im-
paired and the plant dies. Moderate grazing does not
injure the plants, and cutting when about one-fourth
or one-third of the blossoms have opened seems to be
the most favorable time. ‘The plant at this stage has
not so exhausted its strength as when more fully
matured, and more readily sends out a vigorous suc-
-ceeding growth than if cutearlier. Alfalfa is invigor-
ated by cutting at the proper time—a most important
fact to be considered during the first year of growth.

PENETRATING POWER OF ALFALFA ROOTS

To those not acquainted with this plant the facts
will seem incredible. The penetrating power of the
alfalfa root is equaled only by that of the desert sage-
brush of the western plains. Under favorable condi-
tions of soil and climate the roots will have penetrated
to a depth of five feet in six months. Many instances
are on record of roots having been dug up or otherwise
exposed, some of which showed a length and penetra-
tion of thirty-eight feet, while even the greater depths
of fifty and sixty-six feet, and more, are recorded.
Many times the failure to secure a stand of alfalfa is
attributed to a hard subsurface soil; this is not the
fault if there be enough moisture in the soil to support
the young plant until it once establishes its root
system.

At the Kansas Agricultural College a trench was
dug through an alfalfa field for laying a water-pipe.
It was late in the fall, following a favorable season,

——

FIG. 5—-ROOTS OF FOUR-YEAR-OLD ALFALFA PLANTS AT

KANSAS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

i2 ALFALFA

and the alfalfa had yielded three crops. In the greater
portion of this trench it was necessary after removing
a spade’s depth from the top to use a pick to loosen
the soil, which was so hard that the men ordinarily
did not at one blow drive the picks into it more than
two inches; yet, notwithstanding the hardness of this
clay soil, alfalfa roots had penetrated the depth of the
ditch, five and one-half feet in the deepest place, where
the roots appeared little smaller in diameter than they
were a foot below the surface (Figs. 5 and 6).

When the alfalfa is once established, if there is
sufficient moisture to maintain the plant, it sends its
roots in quest of permanent moisture, and is only pre-
vented from reaching it by stone itself. The roots
have a strong and well-developed power of passing
around obstacles such as stones and boulders, and no
crevice is so small as to escape them in their downward
journeyings. Fig. 7 shows the development of alfalfa
roots in five months from seeding at the Kansas State
Agricultural College. The seeds were sown May rst,
and the photograph made October 1st of the same
year. ‘The growth shown was on high upland, seventy
feet to water, in a very old field never fertilized in any
way so far as known. ‘The surface soil is black to
a depth of about twelve inches; below this and con-
tinuing as deep as excavated is a very stiff, hard, red
clay, full of small whitish stones. The top twelve
inches of the soil within the period of growth had been
wet by late rains, but the succeeding two and one-half
feet was so very hard and dry that it could not be
spaded at all. At five feet below the surface the soil
was moist, and the five and one-half feet of root which
penetrated the soil five feet—six inches being taken

FIG, 6—ROOTS OF FIVE-YEAR-OLD ALFALFA PLANTS AT
KANSAS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

14 ALFALFA

up in its zigzags—reached moist soil. ‘The shortest
plant is from what is known as a ‘‘gumbo’’ spot, yet
in spite of the extremely hard subsoil it pushed its root
downward thirty inches in the five months. The sea-
son was most unfavorable for seeding to alfalfa or any
other crop. ‘These plants were treated as nearly as
possible according to the methods suggested in this
volume; they were cut with a mowing-machine three
times during the season.

Mr. Charles W. Irish, chief of ‘‘ Irrigation Inquiry,
U.S. Department of Agriculture,’’ in an article on
-“* Alfalfa and Where to Grow It,’’ makes the following
interesting observation: ‘‘ The writer had an opportu-
nity to observe the great depth to which alfalfa roots
will penetrate in search of moisture, while making a
survey of a mining tunnel in Nevada a few years
since. ‘The tunnel was driven into a rock known to
miners as ‘rotten porphyry.’ It was much shattered
and seamed, and through the crevices in the rock in
the roof of the tunnel water came out drop by drop;
through the same crevices came also roots of plants;
these were found to be alfalfa roots, which came down
from an old field of the plant over the tunnel through
a depth of soil and rock of 129 feet.’’

This unusual penetrating power is of the greatest
agricultural importance. The alfalfa thereby not only
obtains its food from far below the root-range of ordi-
nary crops, thus leaving the surface store for shallower
feeders, but when these deep-boring roots die and
decay they leave not only their cwn fertilizing proper-
ties but innumerable openings for air and moisture and
humus from the surface to penetrate. This, at first
thought, might not appear of much importance, but in

)

EDING

IVE MONTHS FROM SE

FIG. 7—ALFALFA ROOTS IN F

KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

AT

16 ALFALFA

a well-set alfalfa field five years old, five feet below the
surface, there would be from ten to thirty roots to each
square foot, averaging an eighth of an inch in diam-
eter, reaching directly from the surface. With this
fact known, the value of alfalfa as both a subsoiler and
fertilizer is more easily appreciated.

CLIMATE AND SOIL

Alfalfa likes a warm climate with a moderate rain-
fall and a deep alluvial soil of calcareous origin. It
has more than the usual variability in adapting itself
to the changes in environment, and this affords an
argument in favor of ‘‘ home-grown seed,’’ or using
seed from a locality similar to that in which it is desired
the future crop be grown. Without detracting from
this statement, it may be said there are certain limits
which determine the largest prosperity for alfalfa.
The limit for rainfall—underground soakage and irri-
gation not considered—is between fourteen and forty
inches. The plant does not grow to be a valuable
crop in regions with a less annual rainfall than four-
teen inches, unless there is evident underground soak-
age, or it can be irrigated; and in regions receiving
over forty inches of rainfall it does not appear to
thrive well. The mean between the extremes men-
tioned, twenty-five to thirty inches, gives best results.
Alfalfa may be said to respond to irrigation as does no
other crop. It requires a sufficient supply of moisture
at a certain time in its growth to enable it to be most
prosperous, and the intelligent irrigator is abundantly
rewarded for his painstaking in proper watering.

Alfalfa succeeds in a variety of soils, but reaches
its greatest perfection on the deep alluvial sandy loams

ae

CLIMATE AND SOIL 17

of river and creek valleys, or ‘‘bottoms.’’ It prefers
a light to a heavy soil, but in many localities is grown
on the heavy black gumbo flats, and seems to do fully
as well or better. than on lighter sandy soils. Lime is
the favorite mineral element of alfalfa, and iron is very
detrimental to it, hence localities with ‘‘hard’’ water
are more favorable than those with ‘‘ soft’’ water; iron
is seldom present in sufficient quantities to be harmful,
although it is useless to attempt to grow alfalfa upon
land known to contain iron in abundance.

A soil of decaying limestone or calcareous origin is
ideal, as it will abound in alfalfa’s favorite element,
lime, and contain, besides, potash, magnesia, phos-
phoric acid, and sulphur. It thrives exceedingly well
on soil of almost entirely sand, providing the water-
table is in reach of its root and the underflow contains
mineral elements sufficient to supply abundance of
food. It thrives closer to the edge of alkali sinks of
the plains than ordinary plants, in a measure accounted
for by its being a gross feeder upon some of the iden-
tical mineral elements composing the alkali.

Alfalfa will not grow on swampy land. It is a
common remark that it will not stand wet feet; that
should be qualified, but the land must have good
drainage. Water must never stand on the surface of
the field for forty-eight hours, and free water must not
be present in the soil continuously too near the surface.
It has been reported that alfalfa has succeeded where
the underflow was within eighteen inches to two feet of
the surface, but it came no higher. It does no harm:
to have the lower roots reach permanent water, as
_ when they do they go no deeper, and remain healthy.
While alfalfa roots deeply it is not essential that

18 ALFALFA

the soil be of great depth, providing it is sufficiently
moist and contains plenty of plant-food. The land
need not be the richest, but it isa mistake to expect
much from alfalfa on land too thin. It will respond
on thin land remarkably well, but not to the best
advantage; it is not, however, too broad a statement
to say that alfalfa will do well on any well-drained soil
that will profitably grow wheat orcorn. It also fol-
lows in drier sections that land which will thriftily
grow artificially planted trees will produce alfalfa. It
has been seeded successfully upon newly broken wild
_prairie sod, but it is best to grow several crops of some-
thing else before attempting alfalfa.

In trans-Missouri prairie regions ground cultivated
three to five years or longer from first breaking is pref-
erable. There are several reasons for this. It is
difficult to get the new land in the proper condition for
a seed-bed. ‘The grass roots hold the soil loose and it
dries out more readily on the surface, which is often
disastrous. New ground always responds with ordi-
nary crops more satisfactorily and the available plant-
food in the immediate surface can be taken up by
shallow-growing crops and the soil be no less suited to
alfalfa.

The depth to the water-table does not determine
whether a tract of land will be suitable for alfalfa. If
it is known that the soil is moist from the surface, ora
reasonable depth below the surface, down to the water-
level, alfalfa will succeed, providing there be no layer
of rock intervening, though the water be ten to forty
feet down. But if there be a stratum of dry sand
between the surface and the water-level, as is the case
in many places along the rivers on the dry plains,

—— > =

PLENTY OF FOOD FOR ALFALFA ime)

alfalfa will be a failure because it can get no benefit
from the water below.

Alfalfa seems to reach its limit of altitude at 8,000
feet, and flourishes from this down to sea-level in
varying degree. It will not endure standing or an
excess of water as long as corn or wheat will, and it is
more readily affected by cold and wet together than
ordinary crops. Such conditions obtain in New Eng-
land, and render the crop more hazardous there than
in any other section of the United States. The late
fall rains, followed by wet snows and freezing rains
together, sometimes leave the surface of the land
covered for months with ice. ‘This destroys alfalfa,
and many times the ordinary grasses.

PLENTY OF FOOD FOR ALFALFA

The alfalfa plant, being a nitrogen gatherer directly
from the air by means of the tubercles on its roots, we
need in considering its food requirements to take into
account only the mineral elements. Prof. William P.
Headden, of the Colorado Experiment Station, who
made careful chemical analyses of the plant and the
soil upon which it grows, for the purpose of determin-
ing its food requirements and the store available for
such needs, found that the first 111% feet of Colorado
soil contains enough phosphoric acid for 1,700 crops
of 4% tons each; enough potash for 954 crops; enough
lime for 8,500 crops; enough magnesium for 1,000
crops; and enough sulphur for 600 crops. It will be
seen by this that the supply is practically inexhaust-
ible, since alfalfa ten years old may and often does
extend its root explorations to double or treble this
depth, :

20 ALFALFA

THE SEED-BED AND ITS PREPARATION

There are two dominant factors always to deter-
mine the preparation of any seed-bed. The first is the
character of the seed to be sown, as fine seeds, like
those of alfalfa, require a much more carefully pre-
pared bed than would peas or beans. The second
factor is the character of the soil; some soils can be
brought to a certain desired point of preparation much
more easily than others. The point can be seen by
comparing a fine sandy loam and a stiff heavy gumbo.
. Under irrigation, or where rain is scarce, a deep seed-
bed is needed in which to hold a store of moisture dur-
ing the early life of the plant. A deep seed-bed other
than for the use just stated is not essential; from the
fact that the alfalfa root system is not confined to nor
dependent upon so shallow a layer of surface soil as it
is practicable to loosen up. Subsoiling or double
plowing—following one plow with another in the same
furrow—is very excellent as an aid to moisture-storage
and conservation in regions where not abundant, but
the alfalfa roots quite readily take hold of a hard soil,
and hence the deep seed-bed is not always so much of
a necessity as for some other crops.

The soil must be made so fine that the particles
can come in immediate contact with the seed, and it
must be so firmed, by rolling or otherwise, that there
will be the minimum danger of drying out before the
tender plants have established themselves. These two
conditions must not be neglected. The plowed land
must not be simply smoothed off on top and made
fine, but it must also be so compacted that capillarity
will not be interfered with before coming within about
two inches of the surface. At this point, two inches,

.
7
.

THE SEED-BED AND ITS PREPARATION 21

or less if possible, capillarity should be arrested by
loose soil. This allows the moisture to come from
below, but arrests it at a point where the seed has
been placed for germination. If some implement like
a subsurface packer is not at hand to settle the plowed
land, it would be best to grow a crop of cow-peas,
beans, rape, potatoes, or cabbage, such as would leave
the land in fine condition, and then give it only sur-
face cultivation before seeding to alfalfa. If the land
should need fertilizing (and alfalfa needs plenty of
easily available plant-food to start it vigorously), cow-
peas, beans, or vetch would be the preferable crops to
grow previously, as they leave an added store of nitro-
gen easily in reach.

In regions where the soil may be blown badly by
the spring winds, it is found advisable on the land in-
tended for alfalfa to grow some sowed crop that will
leave a quite heavy stubble. The alfalfa seed should
be sown or, better, drilled in, with slight disturbance
of the stubble, which keeps the soil from being blown
about, and at the same time protects the young plants
by holding the moisture near the surface, as evapora-
tion will be much less rapid than if the soil was not so
protected. On the high sage-brush lands of Nevada
alfalfa is seeded successfully, but the land is not
plowed. Many failures there are attributed to plowing
the ground, failures being few where the land is mere-
ly harrowed and rolled after the brush is removed.

On irrigable lands the ground should first be deeply
plowed or subsoiled to form a reservoir for moisture,

-as very young alfalfa cannot be advantageously ir-

rigated. After plowing, water should be turned on
and the soil thoroughly saturated to the depth of a foot

22 ALFALFA

or eighteen inches. After the water has sufficiently
soaked in so that the soil can be properly worked, two
inches of the surface should be thoroughly loosened
by harrowing or otherwise, to provide a mulch for
protecting the moisture.

TIME OF SEEDING

The seed should be sown at such a time as to give
the young plants the longest and most favorable season
in which to grow, so they may be better able to with-
stand any unfavorable conditions that follow. The
alfalfa plant is one of the very weakest during its early
life; it is not capable of maintaining itself among a
growth of even the least vigorous weeds at the
beginning. Cold rains in early spring are detrimental,
and slight frost is death to the very young plant,
which is in striking contrast with its effects upon the
older and well-established growth.

Spring sowing should not be done until the season
is well advanced and there is no danger of a cold, wet
period, or of frosts. ‘The land to be seeded in the
spring should not be plowed unless proper implements
are at hand for thoroughly settling the ground again,
but should be cultivated shallow at frequent intervals,
and especially as soon as suitable after every rain.
When the proper time, as indicated, comes for seed-
ing, should the ground be too dry or in any way
unsuitable, the seed had better be saved. If the
spring conditions do not become satisfactory, some such
quick-maturing crop as millet, or, better, early peas
or beans, may be grown on the land and removed in
time for fall sowing. The lighter the crop grown on
land before fall seeding the better, as there is then

TIME OF SEEDING 22

more likelihood of there being a large store of moisture
in the soil. It is even advisable to summer-fallow.
This cleans the ground of weeds and puts it in the best
possible tilth.

Fall seeding is advisable where grass and weeds are
likely to badly choke the young plants, a probability
in nearly all sections where the rainfall is quite heavy.
Fall seeding should be done after the rains have come
and the ground is in good condition. If this time does
not come early enough, so there is yet a growing
season sufficient for the alfalfa to make good growth
of six to eight inches before cold weather, the seeding
had better be deferred. Severe winters are likely to be
disastrous to young, late-sown alfalfa, and for this
reason fall seeding is not as advisable for northern as
for more southern sections.

The question of time of seeding is a very broad
one, yet it is a fact that there is not a month in the
year when there have not been successful seedings of
alfalfa in the United States. Even in Kansas and Colo-
rado the range of time of seeding is nearly as great.
The would-be grower must count the difficulties most
liable to thwart his efforts, and use his own judgment
as applied to his individual case. To recapitulate, if
the soil is in condition in the spring, and there is not
liable to be too long a dry period during the summer,
when a few weeds only would be likely to materially
injure the young plants, and especially if the winters
are severe, spring sowing would be preferable. But if
the weeds are sure to be rampant, and there is a suffi-
ciently long growing period after the ground has been
brought into proper condition by late summer or early
fall rains to enable the alfalfa to get large enough to

24 ALFALFA

withstand the winter, fall seeding may do best. ‘There
are, however, localities in which it would make no
difference at what time the seeding was done, as before
the alfalfa was well started the sower would wish the
seeding had been done at some other time.

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF SEED

The quantity of seed to sow on an acre is a ques-
tion of no little importance, but growers differ widely
in their opinions. The limit is from twelve to thirty
pounds, owing somewhat to the method of seeding.
The favorite quantity is twenty pounds to the acre.
If the seed were universally good, and the ground
always well prepared, this would be grossly extrava-
gant. Professor Headden has made some interesting
observations upon the ‘‘stand’’ of alfalfa in a number
of meadows. A field of alfalfa six months old was
found to contain 653,400 plants per acre ; another field
ten years old was found to contain 526,793 plants per
acre; another contained 139,392 plants to the acre.
All of these three fields yielded practically the same
quantity of hay per acre—a little over four tons.
Another field twelve years old was found to contain
only 70,283 plants per acre, and yet yielded over three
tons of hay per acre. ‘The stands in these different
fields were respectively fifteen, twelve, three, and less
than two plants per square foot. A pound of alfalfa
seed contains about 210,000 seeds. If ninety per cent
of them germinated, twenty pounds per acre would give
3,780,000 plants, or eighty-eight per square foot. After
nine-tenths of the young plants perished from crowd-
ing or accident there would yet be an ample stand.
From these facts one can readily find reasons for differ-

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF SEED 25

ence of opinion among good farmers as to the quantity
of seed to sow. As low as eight to ten pounds per
acre have frequently been used with satisfaction.

The quality of the seed is another most important
factor. Good germinable seed should always be used.
The percentage of germinability should be ascertained
by a test before sowing. ‘This is easily obtained as
follows : Count out 100 seeds and place between two
pieces of muslin. Invert a small dish in a larger vessel
and pour water around it. Place the muslin with
seeds on inverted dish. Let one end of the muslin
hang down into the water. Saturate muslin and seed
before putting them into the germinator, and set the
whole in a warm place. The sprouted seeds should
be counted and discarded at intervals of two or three

days until all have germinated that will do so. The

number germinated will give the per cent. of germina-
bility. This ought not to be less than seventy-five
per cent.

Farmers are often cautioned against buying old
alfalfa seed. Moderate age is no drawback. Seed six
years old has been known to show a germinability of
ninety-three per cent., and a German experimenter
kept alfalfa seed bottled up in nitrogen gas for seven-
teen years, and at the end of this time it showed a ger-
minability of fifty-six per cent.

A statement from one of the eastern experiment
stations, made a few years ago, that alfalfa seed more
than one year old will not germinate has been largely
copied by the agricultural press. This statement is
wholly erroneous, and should be corrected. The qual-
ity depends upon how it is harvested and handled.
Good, plump, well-ripened seed will keep ten years

26

without great deterioration.

ALFALFA

Shrunken seed will show

a lower percentage of germinability at any time.

TABLE SHOWING GERMINABILITY OF ALFALFA SEED.
Tests made by PROF. GEo. I,. CLOTHIER.

DESCRIPTION,

Sample No.

Years

Source.

By whom
contributed.

Percentage
germinated.

Fairly plump, color
1 yellowish brown.

Fairly plump, size of
seeds uneven, color
- yellowish brown to
almost black.

Ls ]

3 Plump, color greenish
yellow to brown.

Plump, color greenish

4 yellow to brown.
5 Plump, color brownish
yellow to brown.
Some shriveled, color
F brownish yellow to
black; probably
stack-burned.
Many shriveled seeds,
7 | colorgreenish yellow
to brownish yellow.
8 Badly shriveled, color
brown to black.
9 Plump, color yellow-

ish brown.

10 Plump, color yellow-
ish to reddish brown.

Seeds rather uneven in

hk size, color greenish

yellow to brownish
yellow.

Seeds uneven in size,

1g*| Some shriveled, color

greenish yellow to
brown.

Seeds uneven in size,

1g*| Some shriveled, color

greenish yellow to
brown.

At least
five.

At least
five.

Two.

One.

Five

or more.

Crop of
1897.

Bought
in 1897.

Crop of
1896.

Bought
in 1891.

Bought
in 1891.

Crop of
1899.

Crop of
1899.

Crop of
1899.

Buenos
Ayres.

Commer-
cial.

Commer-
cial.

Kansas.

Kansas.

Kansas (?)

Kansas,
Unknown.

Unknown.

Commer-
cial.

Commer-
cial.

Commer-
cial.

Dr. Otto
Lugger.

Dr. Otto
Lugger.

Northrup,
King & Co.

Northrup,
King & Co.

H. H.
Clothier.

A. F. Thayer

Thomas
Walker.

A. E. True.

Allen
Phillips.

Minnesota
University.

F. Barteldes
& Co.

F. Barteldes
& Co.

31

76

76

F. Barteldes| ,
& Co. 63

Remarks.

Average of two
tests.

A number of
seeds that will
probably ger-
minate yet.

A number of
seeds that will
probably ger-
minate yet.

Some good-
looking seeds
that will prob-
ably germi-
nate yet.

* Nos. 11, 12, and 13 were only kept in the tester seven days,

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF SHED P49 |

The following Tests were made by PRor. WM. P. HEADDEN,
in Colorado.

S ¥ Per-
5 a DESCRIPTION. NEES | Sen aes
old. germi
Ag nated
1 | Prime seed . 2 96
2 | Prime seed . Pe 92
5 | Prime seed . 3 98
Griperrme seed... ns ss 6 93
7 | Screenings, first quality . 1 66
8 | Screenings, first quality . 2 55
9 | Screenings, first quality . 3 79
10 | Screenings, second quality . Q 38
11 | Screenings, third quality . 1 38

The foregoing tables illustrate the germinability of
seed of different ages and qualities. The variations
shown by Clothier are largely due to quality of seed
at the time of thrashing and not to age. ‘There need
be no hesitation in sowing seed that shows a germina-
bility of only forty per cent., but such seed should be
purchased at a price correspondingly low, and the
ordinary quantity per acre doubled. Buyers should
insist upon a guarantee of a certain percentage of ger-
minability, and beware of seed that has a reddish-
brown or black color. This has probably been injured
in the stack by heating. Alfalfa that has molded,
heated, or ‘‘stack-burned,’’ should never be thrashed
for seed.

F. Barteldes & Co., seedsmen, of Lawrence, Kansas,
give the following rules to be observed in selecting
and determining the quality and purity of the seed,
aside from actual tests of vitality by germination:

‘“Tn the first place, the best new seed is uniformly
of bright golden-yellow color. From various causes,
however, which do not affect its vitality, new seed is
more or less discolored. Seed kept after the first year
grows darker in color, and its vitality decreases,

28 ALFALFA

though to what extent we are unable to say with cer-
tainty. As to how to determine if seed has been
‘stack-burned ’ we are also unable to give information
that would be reliable, but are of the opinion that it
would be much darker in color with evidence of mold
appearing on the seeds. All we can do is to test such
seeds as do not show absolute worthlessness. Next,
it is of the first importance to see that the seed is pure,
and free from foreign seeds. The most common of
these, and hardest to detect by the uninformed, are
Bokhara (or ‘sweet’) clover and dodder. The former
closely resembles alfalfa seed in size and color, but can
easily be detected by its odor. ‘The latter is of the
same color, but round and much smaller, and can be
removed in cleaning.”’

METHOD OF SEEDING

The alfalfa seed being very small contains but little
plant-food, and no more can be obtained until the
young plant has unfolded its first leaves in the sun-
light and its roots have taken hold of the soil. If
planted too deep it will not have strength sufficient to
push through the soil above it, and if planted too shal-
low germination may begin, but the soil dries out
around the seed and the plant dies. Hence, whatever
method is used, the object must be to place the seed in
the most advantageous position possible for its best
growth.

The two general methods of seeding are broadcast
and in drills; broadcasting generally requires five to
ten pounds more seed per acre. The relative merits of
the two methods are determined somewhat by the con-
dition of the soil with respect to moisture. If thor-

' METHOD OF SEEDING 29

oughly moist there is no benefit derived from having
the seed covered to any considerable depth. The land
should be well smoothed before sowing and lightly
harrowed afterward. If the soil is inclined to be light
it is an excellent practice to roll, after harrowing the
seed in, and then harrow very lightly again. The
surface should never be left as smooth and hard as a
roller leaves it, as on most soils a crust may form
which the young plant cannot push through. It
should always be left loose on top after sowing.

In using the drill the seed should be put just into
the moist soil, and the depth of the drill regulated
accordingly. If there is over two inches of dry, loose
soil on top it will be putting the seed too deep to go be-
low this. Alfalfa seed properly should not at most be
covered more than oneinch. Insome very light soils one
and one-half inches may give success, but the rule is,
plant as shallow as possible to insure getting the seed
in soil sufficiently moist to cause vigorous germination.
For soils that are light and rather inclined to be dry
using a drill with press wheels is much preferable.
The wheels press the soil about the seed, which greatly
facilitates germination. Few grain-drills are built to
handle satisfactorily as small seeds as those of alfalfa,
but this is overcome by mixing the seed with equal
parts, by measure, of coarse corn-meal or some other
substance that will feed out evenly. By knowing the
length of the field and measuring the mixture for a few
rounds the proper adjustment of the drill can be ob-
tained. ‘The practice of drilling half of the seed one
way and then cross-drilling with the other half has
merits, as there is less liability to bare spots where the
drill may have failed to work, and the seed may be

30 ALFALFA

more evenly distributed. In many places where it has
been found impossible to secure a stand by the ordi-
nary methods on account of weeds, the seed is planted
in drill-rows wide enough apart for cultivation by
horse-power. This is practiced in the Southern states
and considered best.

In England and some European countries the
method is employed of growing the alfalfa plants
in a nursery until eighteen inches high and then
transplanting. This destroys the tap-root, it being
necessarily cut off ten to twelve inches below the
crown. ‘The plants are not difficult to transplant, and
are set in rows six inches apart with two feet be-
tween the rows, and cultivated.

NO NURSE-CROP

Alfalfa cannot be guaged by red clover in any
respect. The question of a nurse-crop has sufficiently
passed the experimental stage to say that alfalfa should
be planted alone. There have been satisfactory results
from seeding with oats or barley, but the success was
in spite of, and not because of, the nurse-crop. The
young alfalfa after attaining some hight is aided by
frequent clippings and needs the sunlight, neither of
which is permissible if the nurse-crop is present. The
greatest disadvantage of the nurse-crop is that in many
cases it takes from the soil the moisture needed by the
young alfalfa at some time during the season. A
light nurse-crop may be advantageous on a light soil
that blows about badly, but it is preferable to have as
protection only the stubble from a previously grown
crop. Alfalfa demands, at a risk of failure, exclusive
possession of a soil or seed-bed, and that in the best

TREATMENT OF THE YOUNG ALFALFA eu

possible condition. It is very exact in its require-
ments, and for neglect of these while young it refuses
to respond when older.

TREATMENT OF THE YOUNG ALFALFA

The first few months of its life is the critical period.
After acquiring several pairs of leaves it will endure a
great deal of hot weather, but will not withstand wet
to the same degree. The irrigator can control the
water, while all the non-irrigator can do is to so
manage as to avoid as much as possible unfavorable
conditions. Should a heavy rain settle the soil to-
gether and form a crust, a light harrow should be
used to break it. Even if considerable of the seed
has sprouted the harrowing will be more a benefit
than harm. A crust over the alfalfa seed is death to
the young plants—they break their necks trying to
get through—so there is nothing to lose by harrowing
and everything to gain.

Alfalfa is invigorated by cutting at frequent inter-
vals, the cutting tending to prevent the production of
seed. Bearing seed is an exhausting process to any
plant. It is asserted that a seed-crop taken from an
old field of alfalfa is as exhausting as three earlier
cuttings of hay. ‘The sickle-bar should be set so as
not to cut too close to the ground. It isa mistake to
mow the young alfalfa field only for getting rid of the
weeds—a secondary consideration; it should be mowed
at such frequent intervals that there will not be enough
of the clippings to smother the plants when left on the
field for mulch. In a growthful season once every
two weeks may not be too often, and the other limit
may be determined somewhat by the rapidity of the

32 ALFALFA

growth, but not exceed a month. Getting an alfalfa
stand successfully through the first year is the greatest
difficulty; the second year frequently brings perils, but
a discouraging field should not be abandoned too soon.
Often what appears to be a very poor stand will sur-
prisingly thicken up; the disk-harrow is an invaluable
implement to aid this. After alfalfa is well started it
is very hardy, and is ordinarily quite equal to the
crowding of weeds and grasses.

ALFALFA FOR PASTURE

Alfalfa can be and is grazed by all kinds of stock,
except possibly such ruminants as cattle and sheep.
Many have pastured it for years without the slightest
loss therefrom, but it cannot be said that there is no
danger in pasturing sheep and cattle on alfalfa alone.
Experience in this seems to vary so much that it is
impossible to give any rule universally applicable,
except that an occasional loss may be expected. There
is no danger in pasturing hogs and horses on alfalfa,
the liability to bloat being wholly confined to rumi-
nants. Danger seems to be quite if not wholly miti-
gated by sowing half the quantity of seed of some
perennial grass withit. Kentucky blue-grass, meadow
fescue, orchard grass, timothy, or Bromus inermts
are all suitable more or less for their respective sec-
tions. Bromus tnermis promises to be a favorite for
the purpose, especially in the drier regions, as it has
practically the same reputation for hardiness as has
alfalfa.

Alfalfa pastures are very enduring when judi-
ciously treated. Alfalfa will not stand pasturing the
first year; it should be but very moderately pastured

ALFALFA FOR SOILING 24

the second, and never closely. It is very desirable to
mow pastures occasionally to keep them fresh, and to
prevent the exhaustive process of seeding by many of
the plants. Alfalfa should never be pastured so late
in the fall that there will be no protection left for the
crowns during winter; stock should not be allowed in
the pastures when there is a slight thaw, with frozen
soil below, as much harm may be done to the crowns.
Hogs will root out patches occasionally if not given
sufficient range; ringing or slitting the nose is some-
times done to prevent this. Ten young hogs per acre
will not damage alfalfa, and should make 1,000 pounds
of gain in a season, under ordinary conditions, with-
out grain. However, alfalfa is better adapted to the
making of hay, or for soiling, than for grazing, with
perhaps the exception of pasture for hogs. It is
doubtful whether as large returns can otherwise be
secured from land, with as little outlay, as by pastur-
ing alfalfa with young hogs.

ALFALFA FOR SOILING

There is no other plant that can take the place of
alfalfa for mowing and feeding greenin summer. It
comes early in the spring, stays late in the fall, and if
properly handled and the season favorable it can be
cut every day, and for feeding value is not equaled.
It is relished by every class of farm animals. For
dairy purposes it is par excellence. The quantity of
feed a few acres will furnish when rightly managed is
almost incredible. Ten mature cows, giving milk,
have been fed the entire summer on the alfalfa from
four square rods less than two acres. A cutting was
made once each day, and the cows fed from it twice

34 ALFALFA

daily, without other feed. The growth was not pam-
pered, nor were the conditions more favorable than is
common on average Kansas river ‘‘bottom’’ land.
There will be a little irregularity in the first cutting—
the first of it being a little immature, the last some-
what too ripe—but later there need be no difficulty; it
can be cut at exactly the proper stage. It is perhaps
best at any time to let the hay slightly wilt before feed-
ing, but this is not important. When the hay is used
very green, and is of rank growth, especially when wet
from showers or heavy dew, there are occasional cases
of bloat among cows eating it, but such cases are so
infrequent that they need not be greatly feared. An
alfalfa field grown for soiling at the Minnesota Uni-
versity Experiment Farm is shown in Fig. 8.

HARVESTING

A correct understanding of the best methods, and
experience in applying them, in handling alfalfa hay
is important in determining the greatest satisfaction
with the crop. Dissatisfaction, or an improper esti-
mate of the value of the hay, comes more from inju-
dicious harvesting than any other cause. The art of
handling this crop is peculiar in itself, and can only be
fully learned by experience. Experience teaches that
for the best results it should be cut for hay when the
first one-fourth or one-fifth of the blossoms have ap-
peared. If a great deal is to be cared for, cutting
should begin earlier, so as to be completed before the
last is too ripe.

All classes of animals prefer the early cut, but the
late cut is better for work-horses, being less washy,
and not so liable to unduly or unfavorably excite the

WUVA LNXWIMAIXA ALISYAAINN VLOSANNIW LY ONITIOS YOL NMOUSD VATVATVY—8 “OIA

36 ALFALFA

digestive and urinary organs, as does the early cut hay
used too freely. Hogs and milch cows respond most
favorably to the early cut hay.

Curing is attended with more or less difficulty in
regions of much humidity. It is very important that
the hay be stacked or stored without being rained on,
or even left spread in a heavy dew. Itsvalueas a feed
is largely due to the fact that it is easily digested.
The food elements are not securely held, hence they
wash out very readily. The damage by rain depends
upon the time the hay has lain also, but it is safe to
say that a rain of one-half to one inch will damage the
hay from twenty-five to fifty per cent. The loss does
not all come from washing, but the leaves, which are
the most valuable part, after being wet shatter from the
stems easily and are lost. No moreof the crop should
be mowed at once than can be handled in one day,
and this should be raked into windrows as soon as
wilted. If the crop is very heavy it should be gone
over with a tedder three or four hours after cutting, so
that the curing will be uniform.

Alfalfa when subjected to extreme drouth tends
to protect itself by shedding its leaves, and if not
properly handled this occurs in curing. The hay
should be put in the windrow before the leaves are
brittle, and it may be left in this condition until ready
to stack or put in the mow. It may be advisable
to cock and let thoroughly cure, especially in sections
where the climate is more or less damp. ‘The cock
should be high and narrow, and should be opened out
to dry if necessary. In the Central and Western states,
except in very wet seasons, which are not frequent,
the alfalfa is cut and raked the same day and put into

ae

HARVESTING 37

- stacks the next. ‘The side-delivery rakes, loaders, or

buckrakes, and hay-forks, or stackers, are used, so there
is very little hand-hauling. When cured disturb as
little as possible, as there is always a loss of leaves
from handling. The haycan be put into stacks or mows
when the stems are quite tough, or flexible, with little
danger of damage; if the precaution is taken to sprinkle
salt on the hay at the rate of ten to fifteen pounds tothe
ton it can be safely stacked while quite damp. Air-
slacked lime at the same rate also lessens danger of
‘“burning’’ in the stack. It will be found that alfalfa
hay can be stacked much damper than is commonly
supposed, and one of the secrets of handling is to never
let it get thoroughly dry until stacked. The leaves
are of more value than an equal weight of wheat bran.
If the hay gets too dry and the leaves shatter badly in
raking, it is advisable to leave it and rake early in the
morning when the dew is on.

Sheds for hay are good investments, but when the
hay must be stacked in the open, the stack should be
made narrow at the bottom and run straight up, or,
better, bulge somewhat, until of a convenient hight to
begin topping it out. Stack-covers of lumber make a
great saving; tarpaulins or long slough-grass can be
used advantageously, or in case none of these are to be
had, the stacks can be topped with the green hay two
feet in depth. This packs down and forms a much
better protection than the cured hay, and, being on top,
cures and becomes good hay itself.

Occasionally a season is so wet as to make stacking
or storing in barns impossible, especially the first cut-
ting. ‘This may be in a measure overcome by stacking
with alternate layers of dry straw. The straw is made

38 ALFALFA

- more palatable thereby also. It is always advisable
to have air spaces under the stacks or mows if the
floors are tight. This may be accomplished by putting
down poles, brush, or the like, on which to start the
foundation. Ventilators may be put in the mows,
built rack-fashion, two feet square from the floor up.
A barrel set, the hay built around it, and the barrel
raised from time to time, as the mow fills, forms a very
effective ventilator.

While there are many opinions as to what extent
hay is damaged by discolorations in the stacks, or
whether at all, the strongest demand is always for the
brightest colored and most perfectly cured. It is
hardly too broad a statement, however, to say that
alfalfa cannot be damaged in the stack to such an
extent that cattle will not eat it.

There is always some difference in the quality of
the hay from different cuttings. The first cutting is
generally coarser, and is best fed to stock cattle and
horses. The second and later cuttings are good for
all stock.

COMPARISON OF YIELDS

Prof. C. lL. Ingersoll, of the Nebraska Experiment
Station at Lincoln, planted clovers, including alfalfa,
and several of the tame grasses. The alfalfa, he says,
in spite of a dry spring, grew finely, and in the fall, .
during the prolonged and dry period, it was the only
green plant in the whole list. No fertilizers were used;
the ground was simply plowed, harrowed until very
smooth, and after sowing was all lightly harrowed and
smoothed with a plank drag. During the first season
the plats were mowed once, and the weeds and surplus

4 oe,

=.

COMPARISON OF YIELDS 39

grass raked off. ‘The following table shows the yield
of each variety the next year:

Plat Lit, ) Niteld
LVo. VARIETY GROWN. los. per acre.
MEME CLOVEI: «ofc. cre aa) a ees wi 473 2,305
PeeMicninimlotn Clover 2). 18 so. ss AFR 2,375
eeeeestice clover —20 < Ylee be te es ATS 2,065
Pee leita (first eit). oe SA sels. . 816 4,080
Pee -STAGS) hes Rk bey eh eT ay BPS 2,875
peomenard SrASS: oc os ee ws 478 2,390
MMOL Y STASS 6 a! Sal fa ws, 560 2,800
BeSCU-tOp STASS’ 2 6 oe ee es AZO 2,350
MEreAdGW TeESCHEM -. 5 re er B75 1,875
co all:meadow oat grass’... 2 . . 600 3,000
EDMAN Tie CLASS oll Shy t's lard ote ajuwid Sau. | paid aces
12 Timothy, blue-grass, orchard grass 203 1,015

Professor Ingersoll calls attention to the great differ-
ence in the yield of forage (cured hay) per acre in
the last column, varying from 1,015 pounds to 4,080,
the latter being for alfalfa, while the former was the
plat of mixed grasses. He further says:

‘“In justice to Plat 12 we will say that this was

located too near a row of well-grown cottonwood trees,

and thus, to some extent, robbed of plant-food and
moisture. But the comparison does not end here. The
alfalfa plat kept on growing by means of its deep roots,
and when in blossom was cut twice more. ‘The other
plats made no aftergrowth worth mentioning. The
alfalfa crop then stood as follows for the second year :

fay, lbs.
Pee EMCEE ro ses iT a tate ees oe eB TG
PISCE CUERIMGs cs 1. ee ans ee en kas ce BOK
Third cutting. . Gee be tor ahha ania) whys FAD.
Fourth pouning (eguimiated) Bee Whoo le Obs. FOO

2,544

40 ALFALFA

‘“This, being for one-fifth of an acre, givesas the total
production per acre 12,720 pounds, or, approximately,
six and one-half tons of good, dry forage. What
plant do we grow that, without special care, will give
greater or even an equal return of good, palatable
forage ?”’ |

SCIENTIFIC FEEDING

Before going into the details of questions arising
out of the practice of feeding alfalfa, it seems best to
discuss the fundamental principles which govern the
estimation of the feeding value of any feedstuff. Not-
withstanding the facts that much good work has been
done and is being done in the scientific feeding of
domestic animals, and that the published results of the
experiments are accessible, yet those who comprehend
or use well-balanced rations in every-day practice are
_ not nearly so numerous as is desirable. No farmer
can learn to feed alfalfa in the most economical way
until he understands the compounding of a balanced
ration. Ali foodstuffs for either man or beast are
made up of three classes of substances—namely,
protein or proteids, fats, and carbohydrates. The
animal’s digestive and assimilative organs are so con-
structed that it can not use these three classes of sub-
stances interchangeably; in other words, an animal fed
wholly upon any one of these three substances would
gradually starve to death. When mixed in the pro-
portions needed to supply the vital organs of the body
with material and energy, these substances become the
source of animal life. The protein goes to build up
the brain, nerves, muscles, and other tissues in which
the life force is active. Without protein there would
be no life.

FEEDING ALFALFA HAY 41

Protein contains nitrogen, while the carbohydrates
and fats have none of this important,element. The
white of an egg is almost pure protein; the gluten of
the wheat flour and the lean meat are eaten by man to
supply his body with protein. The green leaves of
plants and their tender growing shoots are gorged
with large quantities of protein; this is true of alfalfa
in a superlative degree. The carbohydrates are such
substances as starch, sugar, and vegetable fiber. The
fats and carbohydrates supply heat to the body and
build up fatty tissues. Protein may be broken down
in such a way by digestion that it will liberate heat and
go to help build up the fat, but the carbohydrates and
fats can not build up muscle or nerve tissue. From
the foregoing facts it is evident that protein is the most
important substance in a feedstuff.

To balance a ration for domestic animals is to so
adjust the quantity of digestible proteids, fats, and
carbohydrates therein contained that the animal econ-
omy may use all of these substances without any waste.
The balanced ration means an economical ration, which
allows the digestive organs of the animal to work at
their highest efficiency. An unbalanced ration is one in
which either one of the three classes of food substances
isin excess. When fed such a ration, the animal re-
taliates upon his owner by inability to digest the excess,
which is worse than wasted; for the feeding of any class
of substances in excess adds to the labor of the digestive
organs of the animal, thus reducing their efficiency.

FEEDING ALFALFA HAY

The digestibility of alfalfa is changed less by the
process of curing than that of any other forage plant.

42 ALFALFA

Dry alfalfa hay is in the midst of summer about as
palatable to the dairy cow as the finest Kentucky blue-
grass. ‘The ideal way to feed alfalfa is as hay. ‘This
saves the labor of handling the excessive quantities of
water present in green plants. Fed dry, the danger
from bloat is avoided, and the quality of the feeding
constituents is not reduced by the dryness in the least..
The only way that alfalfa hay is liable to deteriorate in
value is through poor handling or exposure to bad
weather. If fifty per cent. of the leaves are lost in the -
handling, as is frequent, the remainder of the hay will
be composed of a large percentage of indigestible
vegetable fiber. Molding or heating destroys some of
the most valuable nutrients. Properly housed and cured
alfalfa does not deteriorate with age. It possesses
largely the succulent qualities of green grass in June,
keeping the digestive organs open and active; it has a
cooling effect upon the blood, and cannot be surpassed
as a feed for cows during calving time. Fed to dairy
cows, alfalfa maintains the flow of milk equal to June
grass for nearly the whole year. Itcan be chopped as
fine as wheat bran and mixed with corn-meal to form |
a balanced ration. Such a mixture is worth more,
pound for pound, than the original corn-meal. Where
alfalfa grows to perfection is a cow paradise, and
such a land is certain to ‘‘ flow with milk and honey,”’
if man does his part toward such a consummation.

In computing the value of alfalfa hay as a feedstuff
for the balanced rations, 10.6 pounds is taken to repre-
sent the digestible protein in one hundred pounds, as
given in Henry’s ‘‘ Feeds and Feeding.’’ ‘The diges-
tion experiments at the Kansas Experiment Station
show the average digestible protein of prime alfalfa

FEEDING ALFALFA HAY 43

hay to be 12.9 pounds per hundredweight. According
to these latter figures, one acre of alfalfa yielding four
tons of hay would produce 1,033 pounds of digestible
protein, while an acre of corn yielding thirty-six
bushels would produce in the grain only 157 pounds.
Since protein is absolutely essential to the production of
milk we readily see from these figures the comparative
values of corn and alfalfa hay for dairy purposes.

The following table shows the comparative values
of alfalfa hay and other common feeds, calculated upon
the quantities of digestible protein contained in each.
The alfalfa given the second time in the table is
assumed to be equal in feeding value to the average
product well cured, as has been shown by recent
digestion experiments. It is seen that hay of such
quality is equal to or even better than wheat bran,
pound for pound :

COMPARATIVE VALUES OF ALFALFA HAY AND OTHER
FEEDSTUFFS FOR PROTEIN.

Value per ton when prairie
hay ts worth per ton—
—

NAME OF FEEDSTUFF.

\ ie ea
$2.00 $3.00 $4.00

Alfalfa hay (average) . . . $6.05 $9.08 $12.11
Iedeciowver hay —<.. : . ~. 3.88 5.82 Tey
@Orchard-grass hay <<. . 7. 2.74 4,11 5.48
Minieteina yet. 88 etic) sh ies) 257 3.85 5.14
MMOL NY MAY ae segs ah BL05 2.48 3.30
Seueiuim hay... 2-0.) « «.\) 3-37 -. 2.05 2.74
Sorn-todder (stover) . . .‘ 1.14 Boze 2.28
MAP ESEGA Wiles) tw es) Ss ek .QI B37 1.82
Witeat straw. . 6. 5 45 .68 .QI
Siear-Deetsy ios te .62 -94 1.25
Mangel-wurzels. .. . a7) 85 Te 14

Alfalfa hay containing 12.9
per cent. digestible protein 7.36 II.05 14.73
Miiteat pram... .. « “<« + © 7.02 10.53 14.04

44 ALFALFA

For stock-cattle there is no better feed than alfalfa
hay. ‘The minerals contained in it are what the young
animals need to build the bones of their bodies. The
protein builds up their muscles, nerves, and tendons,
giving vitality and strength. A steer grown on alfalfa
balanced with other fodders will be more valuable to
fatten than one fed entirely upon the highly carbona-
ceous grains. Calves will leave their grain to pick up
alfalfa stems and leaves left as refuse in mangers
of dairy cows.

FEEDING VALUE OF ALFALFA HAY

‘‘ The philosophers have been inquiring into the se-
cret of the alfalfa plant, and they have found that the
hay is, in money value, forty-five per cent. better than
clover and sixty per cent. better than timothy,”’ says
The Field and Farm. ‘‘'This carries out our long-ex-
pressed theory that alfalfa is the greatest all-around for-
age plant the world haseverknown. ‘To secure a good
milk ration by the use of timothy hay, protein must be
supplied from some other source, in order to secure a
ration that will give a sufficient amount of that mate-
rial without entailing a loss of carbohydrates and fats ;
clover hay, however, is a fairly good ration in itself,
and it can be economically used without the addition
of any other compounds ; alfalfa hay, on the other
hand, requires the addition of large amounts of both
fat and carbohydrates in order to be ge utilized
as a milk ration.

‘This fact renders alfalfa even more serviceable
than its valuation would indicate, since, in the manage-
ment of farms, either for dairy purposes or for grain,
an excess of carbohydrates is secured, which in the

FEEDING VALUE OF ALFALFA HAY 45

great majority of cases is wasted, either through lack
of proper material from other sources with which to
balance the ration or through ignorance of the real
loss incurred. Under ordinary conditions, 2% pounds
of protein, four-tenths of a pound of fat, and 12%
pounds of carbohydrates can be profitably fed daily to
a milch cow of 1,000 pounds live weight. One ton of
alfalfa hay, containing 35.3 pounds of digestible fat,
280.1 pounds of digestible protein, and 770.7 pounds
of digestible carbohydrates, would furnish sufficient
protein for 112 days, fat for 88 days, and carbo-
hydrates for 61 days.

‘‘’Therefore, in order to feed this amount of alfalfa
economically and profitably, fat sufficient for twenty-
four days and carbohydrates for fifty-one days must be
added from some other source. In securing these fats
and carbohydrates, it is impossible to avoid adding
protein to a slight extent, since all farm products that
are of any value for feeding purposes contain more or
less protein; this addition of protein, however, may
be, and should be, reduced to a minimum by selection
of those materials which contain it in the smallest
quantities. Among these may be mentioned field
cornstalks, green fodder corn, or ensilage, wheat straw,
oat straw, root crops, and so forth. One ton of field
cornstalks, containing seventeen pounds of fat, sixty
pounds of protein, and 1,076.6 pounds of carbohydrates,
would furnish sufficient protein for twenty-four days,
fat for forty days, and carbohydrates for eighty-six
days.

‘““’Two tons of a mixture of equal weights of field
cornstalks and alfalfa would therefore furnish food
sufficient for 136 days without noticeable loss of any

46 ALFALFA

of the digestiblecompounds. In case of corn ensilage,
every ton of which contains six pounds of fat, 24.4
pounds of protein, and 296.6 pounds of carbohydrates,
three tons would furnish sufficient protein for twenty-
eight days, fat for forty-five days, and carbohydrates
for seventy-one days. Four tons of a mixture com-
posed of one ton of alfalfa hay and three tons of ensi-
lage, or green fodder corn, would therefore furnish
food sufficient for 136 days without any appreciable
loss. Alfalfa thus furnishes the farmer a feeding ©
material rich in protein, which can be substituted for
such waste products as wheat bran, cottonseed-meal,
etc., usually bought in order to profitably utilize the
excess of carbohydrates.

‘“There is no way in which more net profit may
be secured from an acre of good alfalfa than by pastur-
ing young hogs upon it. One acre should sustain ten
to fifteen hogs from spring to fall. If they weigh
one hundred pounds each when put on the alfalfa, they
should be able to make another hundred each from it
during the season. ‘Ten hundred pounds at five cents
is fifty dollars, and there is no expense to be deducted.
Six hundred pounds of pork from an acre of corn
would be a good yield, and then the expense of culti-
vating, and harvesting, and feeding would make a big
hole in the net profit. Pork-making from alfalfa is
one good road to success.”’

ALFALFA vS. CORN

Prof. W. W. Cooke, of the Colorado Experiment
Station at Fort Collins, relates this in his Bulletin
No. 26:

‘Throughout the northern half of the Mississippi .

ALFALFA vs, CORN 47

Valley corn is the great crop. It produces more feed-
ing material per acre than anything else that can be
grown. In Colorado it meets a worthy rival in alfalfa.
Both these crops were grown side by side, in acre
plots, on the station farm. ‘The land was in good
condition, and in addition a very heavy application of
stable manure was given to the corn ground, so as to
show it at its best. Colorado is not so well adapted to
corn culture as are Kansas and Nebraska, owing to
cool nights, high altitude, and near presence of the
mountains. But the crop of corn to be described
would compare well with the Eastern and Middle
states, being equivalent to one of their crops of four-
teen tons of green fodder per acre. It is also fully up
to the average of the great corn states of a
Nebraska, and Iowa.

‘The variety was the Golden Beauty, planted May
16th, in hills three feet apart each way, harrowed two
times, cultivated four times, and irrigated once. It
was harvested September 21st, and the entire crop,
ears and stalks, weighed 15,500 pounds per acre. ‘The
analysis showed 35.62 per cent. of dry matter, so that
the crop contained 4,539 pounds of dry matter per
acre,

‘“The alfalfa growing on a neighboring plot was
not fertilized, and was three years from seeding. It
was irrigated twice and cut three times, yielding at
the first cutting 4,600 pounds of hay per acre; at the
second 3,350 pounds, and at the third 3,250 pounds, a
total of 5.6 tons of hay, containing 10,304 pounds of
dry matter per acre.

‘The alfalfa, therefore, yielded almost twice as
much dry matter per acre as the corn. But this is not

48 ALFALFA

quite a fair comparison, for a pound of dry matter from
the corn crop is more digestible and has a higher feed-
ing value than an equal amount from thealfalfa. The
corn crop contained 3,605 pounds of digestible feeding
material, while the crop of alfalfa contained 5,611
pounds, or alittle more than halfasmuchagain. The
corn crop per acre, in feeding value, was equivalent to
three and one-half tons of alfalfa hay.

‘There is no doubt but that it costs much more to
grow and harvest the corn than the alfalfa. More-
over, while the corn crop rapidly exhausts the soil,
the alfalfa sends its roots deep into the soil, and gathers
stores of plant-food from the air, so that it seems, for
the present at least, to benefit rather than deplete the
land.

“It is evident that in the irrigated portions of
Colorado alfalfa is more profitable than corn.

YIELD PER ACRE OF CORN AND ALFALFA.

Total. Digestible.

-SScSeSe Se SSS

FEEDING VALUES. Corn. Alfalfa. Corn. Alfalfa.
Dry matter! 9... lbs:53530) 1 ro,g04 3,605 5,611
Albuminoids' 95) -e-: 405 1,602 296 1,198
Starch, Sugar, etch \ sg; 203nnen oz 2,186 3, Era4
Fiber 3) 0 4s) 2 f°" ayaze) 2800) a1, OGommresmae
Bats oe tees 84 246 63 IoI
AS. (oe So 315 829° a... cee

“The leaves of alfalfa hay fall off very readily
from the stems. A little pounding was sufficient to
separate a quantity of hay into two equal parts, one of
which was mostly leaves with a few short stems, and

ALFALFA FOR DAIRY COWS 49

the other mostly stems. Samples of each gave analyses
as follows for the dry matter:

Leaves. Stems.

OPT IR tafe 8? ib ain bad | wy deed on, DI 3O 7.05
PMCID eI go ct eilUesNiwe eri }a ak tt. «25008 42.47
Beim(ehet EXtKACE) foo... eee eae 9 3 2.95
PmllammMadMOLdS: ss oe ee Se ee ERTS 8.61
Bethan suear, €tG. soos) ish. So A538 38.92
BRO, 32, = 37M.) cay eee LOO.OO 100.00

DIGESTIBLE PORTIONS OF DRY MATTER.

Leaves. Stems.
Pamueemnei oa. ae ee OF! 18.36
ReMi e kt hACl) jos. 2. 2 On Se GBs) Oe es
Palionnimoids! Si. vy Sk ee a 9184 6.46
SinueiestMOar CiC. § lh: a) as PS) ats! 2949 25.30
Total digestible materialintoolbs. . 51.75 e497)
E@minnettatia” 2° 2 fe hs Geeta ws ETAL WEE)

‘“Tt will be seen,’’ says Professor Cooke, ‘‘ that the
two are about equally digestible. Butthey are quite dif-
ferent in the proportion of their digestible parts. The
stems are properly proportioned for horses at moderate
work, while the leaves are well adapted to the needs
of growing calves and yearlings.’’

ALFALFA FOR DAIRY COWS

Alfalfa unquestionably holds first place among the
feeds for the dairy cow. It is a happy combination of
richness and succulence. It has been predicted that
the cow fed on alfalfa will in the near future set the
price of butter for the world. Alfalfa has the two par-
amount qualities to enable it to do this: low cost of
production in localities adapted to it, and the superior
quality of butter produced while feeding it. Prime
alfalfa hay is very palatable, and being easily digested

50 ALFALFA

and of a cooling or laxative tendency has an effect
on the butter fat similar to green pasture. With it the
June conditions, which are most favorable to the pro-
duction of the finest quality and largest quantity, can
more nearly be maintained and at less cost than with
any other single food. When used the problem of the
balanced ration, which is such a mystery to many
dairymen, is solved. ‘The ordinary cow will eat alfalfa
hay and corn, or Kafir-corn chop, in just the proper
proportions to make the balanced ration.

Professor D. H. Otis, of the Kansas Agricultural
College, says: ‘‘ Alfalfa can be used in place of bran
for dairy cows, and is the only single feed that will
make a balanced ration with corn, or Kafir-corn.
While feeding the hay to dairy cows at this station we
have produced butter fat at 11.9 cents per pound.
When we did not have alfalfa and were obliged to bal-
ance up the ration with high-priced concentrates the
butter fat cost us from fifteen to seventeen cents.

‘‘Green alfalfa makes an excellent feed for soiling
cows, or for supplementing short or dry pastures.
During the summer of 1899 ten head of the college
cows were fed green alfalfa for seventy-four days, con-
suming 77,145 pounds. Deducting the cost of grain
fed during the same time, and figuring the butter fat
at creamery prices, and skim-milk at fifteen cents per
one hundred pounds, the green alfalfa brought us $25.26
peracre. During the last half of June and the first half
of July, 1900, the region in which the college is located
was suffering from severe dry weather. During this
period the tame grass pastures dried up completely,
and the wild grass herbage was short and wiry ; the
flies and hot sun were so bad that the cows would not

ALFALFA FOR DAIRY COWS 51

graze more than an hour or two per day, and some days
would not leave the shade of the trees. We commenced
feeding green alfalfa at night, June 21. At that time
twenty-one head were yielding 389.8 pounds of milk
perday. On July 14, after three weeks of the severest
dry weather, the same cows were yielding 390.2 pounds
of milk. Cows in the neighborhood without green
feed fell in milk yield from fifteen to twenty per cent.

‘““The dairy farmer who has a good field of alfalfa
has something equal if not superior toa Klondike gold
maimie.”’

In the following rations, which are figured from
Wolff's standard, it will be seen how the use of alfalfa
for ‘‘roughness’’ lessens the need of expensive con-
centrates. In these the portions are given in pounds,
and each ration is sufficient for a 1,000-pound cow
twenty-four hours, to be given in two or three feeds.
The rations in which alfalfa is not used suffice for
comparison. If the cost is computed from retail prices
the comparison is more striking, and the same holds
in feeding :

Alfalfa, 25; corn, 3%, or Kafir-corn, 4.*
Alfalfa, 20; corn, 7, or Kafir-corn, 8.
Alfalfa, 20; corn, 6, or Kafir-corn, 7; oats, 2.
Alfalfa, 20; corn, 4; Kafir-corn, 4.

fedalia, 20; fodder corn, 15.

Alfalfa, 20; corn fodder, 8; corn, 4.

milealta, 20; millet, 5; corn, 4.

Alfalfa, 20; sorghum hay, 8; corn, 3.
Alfalfa, 20; prairie hay, 5; Kafir-corn, 5.
Alfalfa, 20; mangels, 20; corn, 5%.

* Kafir-corn in these tables means the grain.

52 ALFALFA

Alfalfa, 20; corn ensilage, 15; Kafir-corn, 5.

Alfalfa, 15; corn fodder, 10; corn, 5; soy-bean meal,1™%.

Alfalfa, 15; millet, 5; Kafir-corn, 7; soy-bean meal, 1.

Alfalfa, 15; sorghum hay, 4; Kafir-corn, 8; soy-bean
rate Ie ite

Alfalfa, 15; prairie hay, 5; corn 6; soy-bean meal, 2.

Alfalfa, 15; mangels, 10; corn fodder,5; Kafir-corn, 3;
corn: 2; voran’, 2:

Alfalfa, 10; corn fodder, 15; corn, 4%4; Old Process
linseed-oil meal, 3.
Alfalfa, 10; mangels, 10; corn fodder, 15; Kafir-corn,
3; soy-bean meal, 2; bran, 2. .
Alfalfa, 5; ensilage, 40; corn, 3; oats, 3; cottonseed-
meal, 1; Old Process linseed-oil meal, 2.
Corn fodder, 20; oats, 4; Kafir-corn, 2; soy-bean meal,
3; bran, 2'4; cottonseed-meal, 1.

Corn fodder, 15; millet, 10; corn, 1; Chicago gluten-
MICAL ee cottonseed-meal, De.

Millet, 20; bran, 1; Old Process linseed-oil meal, 2;
cottonseed-meal 3.

Sorghum hay, 25; bran, 1%; Chicago gluten-meal, 2;
cottonseed-meal, 3.

Prairie hay, 20; Kafir-corn, 3; bran, 2; Chicago gluten-
meal, 2; cottonseed-meal, 2.

Timothy, 10; clover, 10; mangels, 10; corn, 3; bran, 3;
cottonseed-meal, 2%.

Orchard grass, 10; clover, 10; corn fodder, 10; Chicago
gluten-meal, 3; bran, 1; Old Process linseed-oil
meal, %.

ALFALFA HAY FOR FATTENING STEERS

Corn and Kafir-corn are both extremely rich in
starch and contain too little protein, the material in

ALFALFA HAY FOR FATTENING STEERS 53

feed necessary for the formation of blood and lean
meat. Alfalfa hay is rich in protein and deficient in
starch. Hither corn or Kafir-corn can be combined with
alfalfa hay in such proportions as to make an ideal
fattening ration.

There are two systems of feeding alfalfa hay. with
corn to fattening steers. In one system the steers are
fed all the corn they will eat, and then given sufficient
alfalfa hay to balance the corn. With this system
steers can be induced to eat large quantities of grain
and make large gains. George M. Hoffman, of Little
River, Kansas, in feeding all the shelled corn and
alfalfa hay that his steers would eat, made a gain of
five pounds per day per steer for forty-seven days. Mr.
Hoffman is one of the extensive cattle-feeders of
Kansas and has been in the business for many years.
With alfalfa hay and corn he does not calculate on a
gain of less than three pounds per steer per day with
choice steers.

Another system in fattening steers with corn and
alfalfa hay is to feed the steers all the hay they will
eat and a limited quantity of corn. This system is
especially valuable when the corn crop is short and
corn is high. Many feeders report that they have
full-fed steers and put them on the market in a well-
finished condition, making average gains with one-
half the usual quantity of corn.

Alfalfa hay is a laxative, and if steers or any other
animals are given all they will eat of it at first serious
scouring immediately follows. Itpaysto get steers on
to a full feed of alfalfa hay gradually, taking ten days
to two weeks. Professor Cottrell says the best way is
to fill the racks with prairie or timothy hay and allow

54 ALFALFA

the steers to eat all they will, beginning with an allow-
ance of two or three pounds of alfalfa hay per day per
animal. ‘‘ Slowly increase the alfalfa, until at the end
of two weeks the steers may be allowed to eat all they
will. The other hay may then be withdrawn. A
limited number of experiments indicate that the best
gains may be secured by feeding the hay and grain
together. To do this the grain-boxes should be made
twice as deep as usual, as seen in Fig. 9. ‘The alfalfa
hay should be placed in the bottom of the boxes, the
corn thrown on it, and then the hay and corn mixed
together. Fed in this way steers seldom get off feed
nor are they troubled with scours, and apparently
better gains are made for food consumed. At the
Kansas Experiment Station, in the winter of 1899-1900,
eighty head of steers, fed corn and alfalfa hay in this
way, made about two pounds gain per day each, on an
average of seventeen pounds of grain per day per
steer.’ <A load of feed of alfalfa and corn, weighed
up and on the way to the feed-lots, is shown in Fig. Io.
This load contains feed for eighty head of steers. In
Fig. 11 are seen steers at the Kansas Experiment
Station eating chopped alfalfa and corn-meal mixed.
These steers made a gain of 2.52 pounds per day for
116 days, requiring only 1,100 pounds of feed for each
roo pounds of increase.

ALFALFA FOR SWINE

The hog is much more of a grass animal by nature
than it has, in many cases, any chance to be under
domestication. The successful feeder, however, recog-
nizes the fact that the most profitable gains can be
made on good pasture with a small allowance of grain

NOILVLS LNAWIYAdXA SVSNVA

LY

‘HOnOUL UO ‘xod-aTAAI—6

“OI

56 ALFALFA

to finish for the market. Clover is a great favorite
for hog pastures, but those who have tried both clover
and alfalfa find the alfalfa superior. It stands pas-
turing better than clover, and isa better feed. Alfalfa
affords an ideal hog pasture, and if judiciously treated
and good hogs are raised there is no part of the farm
that will give the satisfaction that the alfalfa pasture
does. Pigs weighing thirty to sixty pounds, ten to
fifteen head per acre, put on alfalfa pasture in the
spring should ordinarily make a gain of one hundred
pounds each, but too severe pasturing will destroy the
plants. This number will not keep the pasture all
eaten down, and it should be mowed occasionally,
about the same as for hay. The growth will be fresh
after the mowing, and to keep the pasture fresh cut
only part of itata time. ‘This will tend to give rest,
as well as to make better feed. Hogs may be left to
subsist exclusively on the green alfalfa, but better
results are obtained by feeding with it a small quantity
of grain. Exceedingly large returns are obtained
from the small quantities fed; the alfalfa being green
and bulky needs the grain to balance its effect. The
pasturage not only affords a cheap growth, but the
bulky character expands the digestive tract of the
hog, thus enabling it to utilize a large quantity of
feed when the finishing period comes, which is a
very important consideration. Excellent results may
also be obtained by cutting the alfalfa and feeding
it green to the hogs, but pasturing is more satis-
factory.

The worth of alfalfa for hogs is not confined to its
use when green, as the dry hay is very valuable. The
Kansas Experiment Station fed fattening hogs grain

NOILYLS LNAWINAIXA SVSNVM HHL LY NXOO ANV VATVATY 40 GVYOT, Y—OI °SI4

roy

58 ALFALFA

and dry alfalfa hay just thrown in the pen in forksful
as compared with grain alone, and secured 868 pounds
of pork per ton of alfalfa hay. The hogs fed grain
and alfalfa hay made a gain in nine weeks of 90.9
pounds per head, and the hogs fed grain alone for the
same time gained 52.4 pounds per head. A bushel of
grain and 7.83 pounds of alfalfa hay produced 10.88
pounds of gain, while a bushel of grain alone produced
only 7.48 pounds of gain. Pigs at the experiment
station pastured through the summer on alfalfa, after
deducting the probable gain due to a small allowance
of corn, made a gain of 776 pounds of pork for each
acre of pasture. ‘These facts indicate that the most
profitable production of pork is possible only when
alfalfa is used as a part of the swine ration. It is not
impossible that in the near future the hog that eats
alfalfa will regulate the price of pork.

Alfalfa may be pastured lightly with hogs the
second year after sowing, but it is best to wait until
the third year. Under no consideration is it safe to
the alfalfa to pasture it the first year. After the
plants have obtained root-hold, as they will by the
third year, the hogs cannot pull them up, and if given
plenty of range and a little grain they will not root to
any extent. The alfalfa should be disked and harrowed
at least every spring to keep the field smooth. If
grass is troublesome, disking any time during the
summer will be beneficial.

Alfalfa hay for hogs should be specially cut and
cured for this purpose. The hay should contain as
large proportion of leaves and as small stems as pos-
sible, as hogs do not eat the coarser parts. The last
cutting is generally the best for hogs, and should be

qdax

IN TVa

:

W-Nadoo

GQNY VaAlVATY

GuddOHO ONILVA SXAAL

Se E IE

“O14

60 ALFALFA

cut just as the first bloom appears; the stems will then
be less woody, and the hogs will like it better. The
best care should be taken in curing this hay. The
leaves are especially valuable, and should be retained as
far as possible. The hay should be stacked or shedded
near where the hogs are to be fed during the
winter.

The best device for feeding is a flat trough three
feet wide and six inches deep, and long enough to
accommodate the number of hogs. Throw the alfalfa
in this, and the hogs will do the rest; some of the
larger stems may be rejected and can be thrown out.
The trough saves the leaves which may fall off and
will be picked up later. Grinding the hay to a meal
and feeding in various ways has been tried, but feed-
ing the whole hay gives the best results.

Alfalfa hay is especially valuable for brood-sows
and young pigs. Corn contains too much fat-produc-
ing and not enough blood, bone, and muscle-forming
material for these classes of hogs; alfalfa contains this
growth-producing material in abundance, and is cool-
ing and laxative—the two important qualities in the
feed of the brood-sows, especially just previous to far-
rowing. ‘There is always more or less complaint com-
ing from the strictly corn-growing districts concerning
the poor ‘‘luck’’ sows are having with their pigs,
but this is not common where alfalfa is made a part of
their feed. ‘The reason for the trouble is that a strictly
corn diet does not furnish the material for the pigs in
the fetal stage. They are starved on corn. Good
alfalfa is the cheapest and best preventive of most hog
diseases, as it keeps the animals in thrifty condition
and thereby less susceptible to disease.

ALFALFA FOR HORSES 61

ALFALFA FOR HORSES

Alfalfa is extensively used for horses, both as hay
and pasture. The hay alone is too rich a feed for
mature horses, and as a consequence there is a great
deal of complaint attending its use, especially when
the change is first made to alfalfa. ‘The horse that has
its feed changed from prairie, timothy, or any other
hay, to alfalfa, unless the change is very gradual,
becomes the victim of a number of derangements. ‘The
rich hay stimulates nearly every physical process, the
most noticeable being the urinary and perspiratory
glands. The blood may become thickened, and various
disorders andcomplications appear. Itisnot the alfalfa
but the feeding thatis at fault. Thealfalfa had better
be fed to other stock than work-horses, and this is
especially true of driving or road horses, although
there are many that never have had any other forage.
These live and work hard to a good old age, but it
takes time to get the digestive apparatus accustomed
to so strong afeed. ‘The change must be very gradual,
and should be accompanied by a decrease in grain.
The older the horses are and the more accustomed they
have been to a regular and different diet the more diffi-
cult it will be tochange. For horses alfalfa hay should
be somewhat further advanced at cutting than for other
stock. The ripest hay can be fed them to best advan-
tage. For colts or growing horses, where size and
strength are sought, alfalfa hay or pasture is especially
adapted, as it will produce a strong and vigorous
growth. It is especially important that horses receiv-
ing alfalfa hay be given plenty of exercise. On the H.
D. Watson 2,500-acre alfalfa ranch, near Kearney,

62 ALFALFA

Nebraska, a number of teams were worked for a month
in hot weather at draining a swamp, and fed nothing
for the entire time but alfalfa hay, with very little loss
of flesh. Horses, if not given sufficient range, will
gnaw growing alfalfa so close as to kill it out.

ALFALFA FOR SHEEP

Alfalfa holds the same place in the estimation of
of sheep-growers who have used it as among cattle and
hog raisers. Itis, however, used for sheep almost exclu-
_ sively as hay, as the sheep is extremely susceptible to
bloat from eating green alfalfa. Sheep-growers who
have alfalfa hay can put lambs on the market in less
‘time and at less cost than with any other forage.
J. E. Wing, of Ohio, prefers it to red clover, and says
it is almost pitiable to watch the sheep when a change
‘is made even from alfalfa to clover. They will bleat

and behave in such a way as to indicate that they con-
sider themselves victims of a very unkind trick.
Alfalfa also increases the wool yield. Asa rule it is
wise to keep sheep away from growing alfalfa.

ALFALFA FOR POULTRY

Alfalfa is becoming very popular as a poultry food,
both green and as hay, also as silage, giving variety
and succulence, which are always acceptable. The
alfalfa is rich in nitrogen, which is necessary for the
production of the albumen in eggs and essential to the
growth of young fowls. All classes of poultry relish
the tender green alfalfa, especially if they are kept in
small yards. Alfalfa for winter feed should be the last
cutting, which is generally largely leaves with small

ALFALFA AS A HONEY PLANT 63

stems. The hay should be chopped up in some way.
Using a heavy half-barrel with the bottom resting on
a solid base and chopping with a sharp spade is a very
practical method. Mix from a fourth toa half their
bulk with corn-meal or bran, pour hot water over the
mass and cover to keep in the steam, and let stand six
to ten hours before feeding. The bran is rich in lime,
and aids in the production of the egg-shell and the
bone of young birds. If bran is used the mixture
_has a laxative tendency, and perhaps cannot be fed
every day. The careful poultry-grower finds in alfalfa
a helpful friend.

ALFALFA AS A HONEY PLANT

Alfalfa is the greatest honey plant known to modern
agriculture. It is superior to white clover, sweet
clover, or buckwheat, and under favorable conditions
gives a honey flow from June till October. The
farmers in the alfalfa-growing districts are only begin-
ning to appreciate their opportunities for honey pro-
duction. ‘There were 57,722 stands of bees in Kansas
in 1899. ‘The average honey product per stand was
given as a little over thirteen pounds for the whole
state. Eighteen Eastern counties, where alfalfa is
scarcely known, produced only 7.6 pounds of honey per
stand. These eighteen counties contained about
thirty-eight per cent. of the bees of the state, 21,918
stands, and produced only twenty-two per cent.
of the honey. ‘The following table illustrates the
value of alfalfa in honey production. ‘The counties
selected are the leading honey-producing counties of
the state:

64 ALFALFA

HONEY PRODUCTION IN KANSAS ALFALFA COUNTIES COMPARED
WITH COUNTIES WHERE LITTLE ALFALFA IS GROWN.

Av. No. Total Vo. acres

COUNTY. pounds yieldin in
Date. per hive. pounds. alfalfa.
E507) WOuGlaSt.] Gas ghee oe ee 15,112 396
1898 Douglas $i. "2,2 alee 20,714 604
1999 Douglas .- 0 See5e 5,576 592
ESO7s e NM Vase be fhe) he. een Bee ee: 13,665 Ei, 725
TSS) LEtHOeY | me- ae pe teyen < BO 50,535 11,795
ESOQ, puiWReya.6 a cee a! mre O 20,825 11,541
1897 Leavenworth .°. . 122 11,888 66
1608. Leavenworth yo. 1 ails 19,588 349
1809) ueavenworth 77). a AS 4,014 218
1897 Washington. . . . 30% “Pez ie/ 7) 763
1898 Washington ._. . . 212 50,389 1,139
1899 Washington. . . . 233% 54,531 2,072

Dr. E. C. Franklin and Mr. J. C. Swayze, @reseme
Kansas State University, have made chemical and
physical tests of alfalfa honey in comparison with five
other common sorts, and alfalfa leads the list in every
desirable quality.

In favorable seasons one hundred pounds per hive
is no uncommon yield of honey in alfalfa regions.
Excessively dry, hot weather, or cool, wet weather, are
conditions detrimental to a good yield of honey. Many
other flowers do not secrete nectar after being polli-
nated, but the alfalfa blossom continues to secrete its
nectar until beginning to wither.

MAKING A BALANCED RATION

In Press Bulletin No. 12, from the Kansas Experi-
ment Station, the following is given to illustrate some-
what how a balanced ration would differ from others

MAKING A BALANCED RATION 65

into which consideration of a proper balance had not
entered:

‘“Many feeders have asked us to explain what a
balanced ration is. There are three important groups
of substances in feeds—protein, carbohydrates, and
fat. Protein includes all materials in feeds which con-
tain nitrogen. It enters into the composition of milk,
blood, muscle, hair, and the brain and nerves, and is
necessary in the formation of these, and no other sub-
stance can take its place. Protein is also used in the
body in producing heat, energy, and fat. Carbohy-
drates include the fiber of feeds, the sugars, starch,
and gums, and furnish heat, energy, and fat to the
body. ‘The fats in the food produce heat, energy, and
fat in the body. Carbohydrates and fat can take each
other’s places, one pound of fat being worth 2.2
pounds of carbohydrates for production of heat in the
body.

‘“Hxtended investigations have shown that to ob-
tain the best results feed should be given which will
furnish these materials in the following proportions:
Dairy cow—protein, 2% pounds; carbohydrates, 12%
pounds ; fat, 4% pound. Fattening steer—protein, 2%
to 3 pounds; carbohydrates, 15 pounds; fat, % to 34
pound. Growing cattle—protein, 4 pounds ; carbohy-
drates, 13% pounds; fat, 2 pounds; for a young
animal, gradually decreasing the proportion of protein
until at the age of two years the proportions are similar
to those for the fattening steer, but less in quantity.
A pig two to three months old needs feeds containing
seven and one-half pounds of protein to each thirty
pounds of carbohydrates and fat, while a year-old pig
needs seven and one-half pounds of protein to each

66 ALFALFA

forty-eight pounds of carbohydrates and fat. Feeds
containing a greater proportion of protein than
called for by these standards can be fed, because pro-
tein can take the place of the other materials. Carbo-
hydrates and fat cannot take the place of protein,
however, and no matter in how large quantities they
may be fed, if protein is lacking the growth or gain
will be reduced.

‘“The weak point in feeding is that the average
rations are greatly deficient in protein, and have too
much carbohydrates and fat. Every feeder knows
that good pasture produces rapid growth, good gains,
and abundant milk yields. It furnishes nutriment in
the proportion of three pounds of protein, twelve
pounds of carbohydrates, and one-half pound of fat.
The proportions in some of our feeds, in pounds per
1oo pounds of feed, are as follows:

Protein. Carbohydrates. Feat.

Copii 6 sie ee Lea 66.7 1.6
Kanr-Copimes 20.) + ss eee. ae Cw hui 2-7
Prairie Naya te ett a5 41.8 Ta
Corn: fodder’ +: (2°10 4 ase eo sane 0.6
Sorghum hay 2a. to.) tho eet 40.6 bo

‘Tt will be seen that none of these feeds contain a
sufficient proportion of protein to secure best results,
and all combinations of these feeds will have the same
defect.

‘‘Some feeds have too great a proportion of protein
to be fed alone, as shown below, the figures indicating
pounds per 100 pounds of feed:

MAKING A BALANCED RATION 67

Protein. Carbohydrates. Fat.
Paawanday . -s . . . TO.6 Bree: 1.4
Giaten-Meals ss . +. ~31o1 43-9 4.8
Kinseed-oil meal. /. . 28.8 32.8 el
Cottonseed-meal . . . 37.0 16.5 12.6
Soy-beail «2 5 -s .. »/ 39.6 eS 14.4

““ Making a balanced ration is combining the feeds
deficient in protein with those having an excess of it,
to make a ration which will contain the right propor-
tions for the animal fed.

‘“A balanced ration will produce much better re-
sults than the ordinary ration, which is too high in
carbohydrates. A cow gave five pounds of butter per
week on an ordinary ration, and twelve to fourteen
pounds on a balanced ration. Two pounds per day
is a good gain for steers on the usual fattening ration.
Increasing the protein by substituting four pounds of
linseed-oil meal for an equal quantity of corn in the
regular ration, a feeder made three to four pounds
gain per steer per day. . Fattening pigs made a gain
of nine and one-half pounds per bushel of Kafir-corn
eaten. When one-fifth of the Kafir-corn was taken
out and soy-bean meal substituted for it, increasing
the protein, a gain of Parieen OREO Ss was made for
each bushel of grain eaten.’

By referring to the following tables the ration may
be computed for any class of animals. ‘The feeding
standards are the result of careful investigation, and
show the proportions in which the different feed prin-
ciples should be fed for the best results. The digest-
ible nutrients of a number of the common feeds given
in the table on page 68 makes the computation easy,
and by studying them the feeder can easily select the
feeds best adapted to his particular use:

68 ALFALFA

FEED STUFFS. DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS

Digestible Nutrients. .
Pounds per 100 lbs. feed.| Calo- | Nutri-
rics in tive

FEED. ae oie eae
aT bDo- atio.
Ere hy- Fat. | pound 1
tein. | drates
CONCENTRATES :
Barley : 8.9 64.8 1.6 1438 that
Broom-corn seed . 7.4 48.3 2.9 1158 7.4
Corn 7.8 66.7 4.3 1567 9.7
Corn-and-cob meal 6.5 56.3 2.9 1290 ds?i
Cow-pea . : 18.3 54 2 ileal 1395 3.1
Cottonseed-meal : 37.0 16.5 12.6 1526 1.2
Flaxseed : 20.6 len 29.0 1925 4.0
Chicago gluten- “meal 31.1 43.9 4.8 1598 eee
Kafir-corn seed 7.8 57.1 2.0 1321 8.1
Linseed-oil meal (old process) 28.8 32.8 (oll 1445 ise
Linseed-oil meal (new proccss) 27.9 36.4 2.70 1310 1.5
Millet seed . 8.9 45.0 3.2 1038 5.9
Oats : 9.3 48.3 4.2 1249 6.2
INGE 9.1 69.7 1.4 1525 8.0
Sorghum ‘seed . 7.0 GIDE |[2 saad! 1230 8.4
Soy-bean meal 29.6 22.3 14.4 1573 1.8
Wheat 10.2 69.2 ave 1549 7.2
Wheat bran 12.3 37.1 2.6 1029 3.5
Wheat middlings . 12.8 Bae 3.4 1371 4.8
Wheat shorts 12.2 50.0 3.8 1317 4.8
GREEN ROUGHAGE:
Alfalfa é 3.9 Be a5} 330 3.5
Corn silage (well eared) 1.3 14.0 nt 314 11.9
Fodder corn (with ears) 1.0 11.6 4 251 12.5
Pasture grasses Cae 2.5 10.2 5 207 4.5
Sorghum fodder . . 6 12.2 4 255 21.8
Soy-bean . 29.6 22.3 14.4 157 1.8
Dry ROUGHAGE:
Alfalfa hay . 10.6 37.3 1.4 948 3-8
Corn fodder ‘(husked) 2.0 33.2 6 680 17.3
Cow-pea hay 10.8 38.6 iil 955 3.8
Fodder corn (planted thickly,
with ears) 2.9 33.4 1.2 718 14.4
Millet hay 4.5 Dilter 1.4 1104 12.2
Oat hay 4.3 46.4 iets) 1106 11.6
Oat straw 1.6 41.6 Sif 833 27.0
Orchard-grass hay 4.8 42.0 1.4 930 9.4
Prarie hay 3.5 41.8 1.4 902 12.8
Red-clover hay 6.8 35.4 SC 857 5.8
Sorghum hay . 2.4 40.6 1.2 850 18.0
Soy-bean hay 10.8 38.7 125 972 3.9
Timothy hay 2.9 43.7 1.4 926 16.2
Wheat straw 8 37.9 a 741 48.8
Roots AND TUBERS:
Mangels . esa opes eae 0 Saft 129 5.9
Sivan beets: aaue-enenn nl a-tene inl 10.2 1 214 9.5
Turnips . : 8 6.5 1 140 8.4
MILK:
Whole milk Su ce neem setae 3.2 5.0 3.6 304 4.1
Skeimicnmaiiliky V5) Cope Ba een es 3.9 4.5 ait 160 1.2
Buttermilk a 4.0 4.1 ft 155 ileal
Whey. 8 4.7 3 104 6.7

MAKING A BALANCED RATION

FEEDING STANDARDS FOR FARM ANIMALS
(WOLFF)
(Per Day per 1000 lbs.,

ANIMALS.

Milch cows .
Horses lightly worked ‘
“moderately worked .
‘“ heavily worked ;
Fattening steers, ee period :
2

ce Lay 3d 66
Fattening swine, 1st period

ing iad 9d oe

ae ac 38d ce

Growing Cattle: (Av. live wt.

(Age in Mos.) per head. )
2- 3 165 Ibs.
B- 6 330
6-12 Bp) SY
12-18 770“
18-24 940 ‘
Growing Pigs:
2-3 Sp) SS
3- 5 ii). ee
5- 6 137 <*
6- 8 TST is
8-12 20D) ae

Live Weight.)

Nutritive (Digestible)

OO — OF WWW WH HW

MILCH COWS.
(Lehmann’s Standard.)

When yielding Sa
11.0 lbs. milk . :
16.6 lbs. milk
22.0 lbs. milk
27.5 lbs. milk

* U19}01g

=2S Ores “Bor

RPenwowps
ora ho) & a>) Io 2

wow Pos
OT 09 © OF

ul9}01g

Substances.
GA
tad o +
a )
2 —
a 5
a .
2 B
12.5 | 0.40) 29,588
9.5 | 0.40) 22,148
10.4 | 0.60} 25,038
12.5 | 0.80 30, 904.
15.0 | 0.50} 34,660
14.8 | 0.70) 36,062
14.8 | 0.60 35,082
(es) 60,450
24.0 52,080
17.5 37,572
13.8 | 2.0 | 41,548
13.5 | 1.0 | 35 282
ais) || Oa) || seers
13.0 | 0.4 | 29,588
12.0 | 0.3 26,562
ese TH
30.0 69,750
25.0 55,800
Qan 52,080
20.4 44,262
16.2 34,782
a a aa
on : i)
[e) —_
=e QO
4 =
: 5.
if :
10. | 0.3 | 22,842
11. | 0.4 | 25,868
13. | 0.5 | 380,940
13. | 0.8 | 33,694

69

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oonr COMOANDooO,

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ocooocost

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aoocouce

He OT Od OD
anon

70 ALFALFA

ALFALFA IN ROTATION

Because alfalfa does not produce a crop generally
the first year, and is not at its prime until three years
old, it does not appear so well adapted to rotation as
-some other crops. This is largely because a rotation
lasting four or five years does not conform to general
experience.

Where alfalfa is allowed to succeed itself year after
year, a large proportion of the benefit which might be
derived from its power to enrich the soil is lost.
Alfalfa itself has little use for the atmospheric nitrogen
which it stores in the soil, nor for the surplus of ash
elements which it draws from the subsoil, for it can
draw more from the same sources as they are needed.
Unless alfalfa is soon followed by crops that need and
can make use of the fertility which it has rendered
available, this fertility is in a considerable measure
wasted. The only method of growing alfalfa so that
the most benefit may be derived from it is to make it
part of arotation. A non-leguminous crop following a
few seasons’ growth of alfalfa will make use of the fer-
tility gathered, to the marked profit of the planter.

In Colorado, where alfalfa is grown extensively
and as well understood as in any other state, it is
common practice of the best farmers to grow it in rota-
tion with other crops. They make it a rule to allow
their alfalfa plantings to stand four or five years only,
and it may be observed that as a usual thing the farm-
ers who grow alfalfa on the same lands without a
change are of the same general class as those who crop
their land to wheat successively for a long period of
years. ‘Those who have tried it are thoroughly con-
vinced by experience that it pays much better to break

5 ALFALFA IN ROTATION a1

up the alfalfa fields every few years. One of the most
extensive and successful growers in Araphoe County
was asked: ‘‘Can you afford to plow up your alfalfa
fields after getting the crops of but three seasons from
them? Does not the heavy expense of reseeding, in-
volving the almost total loss of the use of the land for
a year, make it necessary that you should allow it to
remain in alfalfa longer, to make it profitable ?”’

The reply was: ‘‘ We certainly cannot allow alfalfa
to stand much longer than three seasons. We must
have land on which to sow oats and plant corn and po-
tatoes, and we have found that there is no other half so
good as alfalfa sod. It seems almost too bad to plow
alfalfa under so soon after it has cost us a year’s time
to get it established, but it really is the best thing that
wecando. We lost perhaps $10 an acre through not
having any returns from the land during the season
the alfalfa is sown, but the same amount expended in
manuring would not benefit succeeding crops nearly so
much as growing them on the inverted alfalfa sod, so
we feel justified in turning under the alfalfa and seed-
ing other fields.’’

There is not a crop that will not make good and
profitable use of the fertility stored by the alfalfa, pro-
viding itis properly managed. It would not be wis-
dom to turn under alfalfa in September and October
and sow at once to wheat, for the ground would be so
loose as to dry out rapidly and render the outcome of
the crop very problematic, but alfalfa may be turned
under in July, after the first crop has been cut, and the
land sown to fall wheat at the proper season with a good
chance for success. Some of the farmers around

_ Greeley prefer a three-crop rotation—alfalfa, potatoes,

72 ALFALFA

and grain, allowing for each of these occupying one-
third of the farm every year; that is to say, the place
is given over to these three crops, but they are
alternated each year.

The following summary from a bulletin on ‘‘ Alfalfa
as a Fertilizer,’’ by the Wyoming Experiment Station, =.
is suggestive if not conclusive:

‘The most important fertilizer, for the arid or
semi-arid region, is nitrogen.

‘‘Some plants, of which alfalfa is one, have the
power to fix in the soil the free nitrogen of the air.
They do this by means of micro-organisms which form
bunches or nodules on the roots.

‘‘’Therefore, growing alfalfa on the land increases
the quantity of nitrogen in the soil and practically
solves the fertilizer problem for the West.

‘* Alfalfa also improves the soil tilth by shading
the ground and adding humus by decay of its large,
deep-growing roots.

‘‘ Growing alfalfa destroys weeds.

‘The value of alfalfa harvested from one-half
acre of land for five years at Laramie was about $50
more than the cost cf producing it.

“The value of potatoes and grain from an adjoin-
ing half-acre for five years was about $44 more than
the cost of producing at local prices.

‘‘When alfalfa land was plowed and planted to
wheat it produced $8 to $12 more value in wheat per
acre than the land which had grown potatoes and
grain before.

‘‘When alfalfa land was plowed and planted to
oats, it produced $16 worth of grain more than land
which had grown potatoes and grain before.

TURKESTAN ALFALFA—A HARDY NEW VARIETY 73

‘“When alfalfa land was plowed and planted to
potatoes it had $16 worth more of potatoes per acre
than was obtained from land which had grown potatoes
and grain before.

‘“ By growing alfalfa, the above increase of yield
and values were produced with absolutely no cost for
fertilizing the land.’’

TURKESTAN ALFALFA—A HARDY NEW VARIETY

Within a year or two interest has sprung up in
what is claimed asa peculiarly hardy or cold and dry
weather-resisting variety of alfalfa from Asia, and
known as ‘‘ Turkestan.’’ Prof. N. E. Hansen, of the
South Dakota Experiment Station, who was sent to
Asia by the United States Department of Agriculture
to investigate this plant, writes of it in March, 1900,
thus:

‘““The usually severe winter of 1898-99 killed off
probably half of the alfalfa in Nebraska, Colorado,
Wyoming, and many fields in the central prairie
states to the eastward were badly damaged, but the
Turkestan alfalfa grown in the states mentioned was
not affected. At the Wyoming Experiment Station a
plat of Turkestan alfalfa was exposed for two weeks
without injury to a daily temperature of thirty-five
degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest point reached being
forty-five degrees. In California it was subjected
without damage to a drouth which seriously injured
ordinary alfalfa.

‘‘ At the experiment station at Brookings, S. D.,
with a minimum temperature last winter of forty
degrees below zero, with the ground bare, the common

74 ALFALFA

alfalfa was killed, while this variety from the heart of
Asia came through unharmed.

‘“One of the main instructions.of Secretary Wilson
in sending the writer on his trip in 1897-98, of nearly
ten months, was to secure, if possible, a hardy drouth-
resisting, leguminous forage-plant from the elevated
table-lands of Asia. Upon reaching Russia the goy-
ernment agricultural authorities at Moscow and St.
Petersburg told me of this plant. It is distinct from
common alfalfa, which has come to us largely from
Spain. Botanically the difference is expressed by
Russian authorities in naming Turkestan alfalfa J/edz-
cago sativa Turkestanica, while common alfalfa is called
Medicago sativa.

‘“ Prince Massalaski, of the Department of Agricul-
‘ture at St. Petersburg, writes: ‘Luzerne clover (edz-
cago sativa, var. Turkestanica) is the chief forage in
use throughout Central Asia, and to the settled popu-
lation of Turkestan is of the highest importance,
since during the summer it forms the chief, and in the
winter, prepared in the shape of hay, the only fodder
for cattle. It is of all the greater importance because
within the region populated by settled inhabitants
there are no meadows. Soft herbs and other grasses
that grow up in the early spring in certain parts of the
steppes are quickly dried up by the hot sun, and give
place to coarse prickly stubble, or in any case to less
nutritious grasses, that are in general unfitted for
sheep, camels, or steppe cattle, and still less fitted for
horses or the cattle of those who are settled in the oases,
and are thus closely confined to the foreland or rivers,
and in most cases are far removed from -the steppes.’

‘“ Massalaski describes the native methods of culti-

TURKESTAN ALFALFA—A HARDY NEW VARIETY 75

vation, and continues: ‘’The native lucerne would seem
to be a cattle fodder that cannot be replaced in coun-
tries so dry and so hot as Turkestan and the Trans-
caspian province. Parallel experiments that have been
made in the Merv Oases, in the Transcaspian province,
in growing French lucerne, under widely different
conditions of water supply, have shown that the native
lucerne, particularly where there is a lack of water, is
vastly superior to the French in the crop it yields, and
that it is able to grow satisfactorily with a minimum
supply of water—a supply so small that the European
(common) lucerne would perish from drouth. ‘This
peculiarity of the native lucerne is to be explained by
its peculiar formation. It possesses a very large root
system, and its leaves are covered with thick down;
this, in connection with a deep-cut orifice on the leaf,
enables the plant, on the one hand, to imbibe the
moisture from the deeper layers of the soil, and on the
other hand to exhale it in very small quantity.’

‘‘ Along the Volga River, at the dry-region experi-
ment stations of Eastern Kuropean Russia, I found this
plant doing well, and when I got to the desert and semi-
desert regions of Turcomania, Bokara, and the Semi-
retchinsk provinces of Russian Turkestan, all east of
the Caspian Sea, I made a careful study of the plant.
Here were camels by the thousand, and clouds of dust
often so thick that a wet sponge was found to be
essential for relative comfort and breathing. I was so
pleased with what I had seen of this plant that I did
not stop until fully 18,000 pounds of seed was secured,
chiefly from the cotton-growing sections among the
Sarts or native Mohammedans.

‘The main reason for making the overland journey

76 ALFALFA

of over 2,000 miles (1,300 by wagon, 700 by sleigh)
from Tashkent, the capital of Russian Turkestan, to
Omsk, in Siberia, via Kuldja, in Western China, was
to trace this plant to its northern limits, which we
found to be near Kopal, in Siberia (latitude 45° 10’,
longitude 79° 10’ east of Greenwich). Kuldja, in
Sungaria, Western China, is in latitude 53° 50’, longi-
tude 81° 20’ east, and. was the farthest point
reached in my journey (about half-way around the
globe). Seed was secured from eight different sources,
but of course only smal! lots could be obtained from
the places visited in the overland journey. The
interesting and to me the most surprising fact is that
the alfalfa which proved so hardy at Brookings, S. D.,
was from the cotton section of Turkestan. So that the
_ plant stands cold as well as drouth. This indicates
that in this plant we have an alfalfa that will be hardy
to our northern borders, and probably north into
Canada.”’

MCPALEA CULTURE AND INSECT
LIFE

ProF. S. J. HUNTER, Entomologist in the Kansas
State University, who spent three seasons in the alfalfa
fields of western Kansas, making a close study of
insects in relation to alfalfa, states his observations
and conclusions succinétly to the State Board of Agri-
culture as follows:

“The peculiar adaptation of the Arkansas valley
to the luxuriant growth of the alfalfa plant has caused
the conversion of large areas of that fertile region into
alfalfa meadows. Wherever we find the natural food-
plants of a region so largely supplanted by one form
we find there changed conditions and interesting prob-
lems, both from the agricultural and the biological
standpoint.

‘‘In 1897 letters bearing upon these changed con-
ditions were received, and it seemed highly important
that these inquiries should be fully answered. Accord-
ingly, in the fall of 1897 Edwards and Ford counties
were visited, and a careful study of the conditions
existing there at that season noted. With the encour-
agement of the farmers of the region, it was decided to
begin the following spring a careful study of the rela-
tions existing between alfalfa and insect life. These
investigations continued throughout that season, and
were resumed again this year. The subject-matter of
this paper, then, is based upon the practical results of
the three seasons’ study in this region, together with
a survey of territory to be named later.

77

78 ALFALFA

THE NATIVE GRASSHOPPER

‘The fall visit of 1897 revealed the fact that, as
had been brought forth by correspondence, there was
a species of grasshopper there which at times became
of some local economic importance, curtailing the yield
of the alfalfa around the borders of the field, sometimes
taking an entire field, and frequently being present in
numbers sufficient to prevent the formation of seed,
yet not in numbers great enough to destroy the forage.
It was noticed that these insects deposited their eggs
late in the fall, about 100 in a pod, an inch below the
surface of the alfalfa meadow. Here these eggs winter.
The insects which come from these eggs in the spring
are natives of the soil, and appear only upon cultivated
lands under given conditions—viz., an undisturbed
land for the safe retention of their eggs during the
winter, and an early spring food-plant for the nourish-
ment of the young upon their appearance. Wherever
these conditions exist this species of grasshopper may
be expected to appear in numbers proportionate to the
area of the ground furnishing such conditions.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST

‘‘Tt may be well at this time, in view of the fact
that there is an erroneous idea prevalent that Kansas
alone is subject to grasshoppers, to speak of the states
comparatively. Since whatever unfavorable comment
Kansas may have received has been caused by the
presence of the Rocky Mountain locust, I have thought
well to present a comparative historical table showing
the number of annual visits of grasshoppers to the
various states in the Union within the period of 1851

DESTROY THE EGGS 79

to 1878, the latter being the last year that Kansas was
seriously affected by these insects:

NUMBER OF ANNUAL VISITATIONS OF THE ROCKY MOUN-
TAIN LOCUST DURING THE PERIOD 1851-1878—
TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS.

Wey ore 5, as ss 2 HO Wromimey °.) 5) ).. To
WMigmesota . .:° 3 ~r8 Missouri 8
Miomtana. 6. (a) ie 18 Idaho : 5
Wak@tas. 6 ko 5. SEY Indian Territory 5
meas. rer io Ne te) OES Nevada 4
NORA sk Me Se ek ny BS Washington . 4
PES ASS whos, 5 14 Oregon. 4
Nebraska ..5. ~. = 13 New Mexico . 3
Solorado-. os. 12 Arkansas . 2

‘* Kansas is the seventh in the list, and since that
date some other states, notably Virginia and Minne-
sota, have suffered severely from the presence of grass-
hoppers. Kansas, then, noted for many of its agri-
cultural products, cannot by any means be said to
stand first in the production of these insects.

DESTROY THE EGGS

‘‘’The grasshopper referred to is not the famous mi-
gratory Rocky Mountain locust, but an insect which
lives and dies near its birthplace. Since these insects
hibernate in the egg stage, endeavor was made to sup-
ply the ‘‘ ounce of prevention.’’ How, then, to destroy
these eggs and yet maintain the integrity of the alfalfa
plant became the first problem ; for, you see, for every
grasshopper egg destroyed, not only the subsequent
damage caused by the insect after hatching is removed,
but the possibility of each of these same insects repro-
ducing another one hundred of its kind is also set

80 ALFALFA

aside. It is frequently supposed that all grasshoppers
withdraw to the roadways and places free from trash
to deposit their eggs. It is not so with this species,
since they lay their eggs right in the alfalfa field, and
not infrequently dig the hole right down through the
roots of a bunch of grass.

‘<A study of the alfalfa plant itself became necessary
before further procedure. It was found that it secured
its water-supply through roots extending some twelve
to fourteen feet beneath the surface, and that the
crown could be split in several parts and yet the life
of the plant go on unimpaired. In the spring of 1898
it was recommended, therefore, to the farmers inter-
ested, that they disk their alfalfa meadows as early in
the spring as the ground became tillable after the
frost, thus breaking up these egg-pods and exposing
them to be destroyed by birds, other insects, and cli-
matic influences. This disking many of the farmers
feared would destroy the alfalfa itself. One hundred
and sixty acres of alfalfa which had been sown two
years previously on sod were given for a test. The
disk-harrow was run over it in March, and the ground
was cross-harrowed witha slant-tooth leveling-harrow.
When the work was done the field presented much the
appearance of a wheat-field ready for the seed.

‘‘On the 1st of July, 1898, with tent and full
laboratory equipments, the writer established a field-
station near this experimental quarter-section in
order to study the effects of disking upon this alfalfa,
and also to observe further the habits of the grasshop-
per. While suitable quarters could have been secured
at farmhouses, it was found more practicable to live right
in the meadow, since certain observations upon the

THE ALFALFA BENEFITED SI

habits of inseéts required the observer’s presence in the
early morning and the late evening. And, further, it
was found that with the field-station located in this
way it was more readily accessible to the farmers
in the vicinity. ‘These farmers made frequent visits
to our camp, always with inquiries, and with an evi-
dent desire to profit by the investigations under way.

THE ALFALFA BENEFITED

“On the 23d of July the first crop of alfalfa upon
this experimental quarter-section was cut, and photo-
graphs taken, both of the standing forage and of the
hay in swath and windrow. The average hight of
the stalks was twenty-nine inches, stalks of extreme
length being found thirty-three inches. The yield of
this first crop was one and one-fourth tons per acre.
The grasshoppers had not appeared. Not only had
they disappeared, but the native grasses which threat-
ened to reclaim the land were likewise eliminated.
Two quarter-sections of alfalfa land not far removed
from this spot were rendered practically worthless by
the presence of large numbers of grasshoppers through-
out the growing season.

‘The results thus far, to say the least, were grati-
fying. ‘The practical benefits derived from this cul-
ture, however, were more emphatically expressed upon
the appearance of the second crop, which matured,
indisturbed by grasshoppers, some ten days earlier
than adjoining meadows, and bearing stalks of extreme
length of thirty-two inches; average length, twenty-
eight inches. The average yield of this crop was one
ton per acre. At the close of this season of 1898 I
thought it well to have a statement of the comparative

82 ALFALFA

yields from Superintendent Smart, under whose direc-
tion this land was disked, and who likewise harvested
a large acreage that season. His statementI will give
verbatim: ‘In regard to the yield of alfalfa on our
lands, I will say that the first crop raised on land that
was disked was about one and one-fourth tons per acre,
and the second crop one ton per acre. We have
harvested on our other lands in Edwards and Ford
counties, the past year, about 2,500 acres, and the
average yield for the first crop was three-fourths ton
per acre, and the second crop one-half ton.’

‘‘ Krom this statement it will be readily seen that the
disking added one-half ton per acre to each crop. In
other words, 160 tons, or eight additional twenty-ton
ricks of alfalfa hay, were cut from and stacked upon
that quarter-section of Kansas land in the one season
because of this cultivation with harrows.

‘‘While the second crop was growing that season I
left the field-station in Edwards County and made a
cursory survey of the alfalfa-growing districts of
Edwards, Ford, Finney, Hamilton, Greeley, Wallace,
Logan, Thomas, Sherman, Decatur, and Norton coun-
ties, and nowhere under any conditions did I observe
such a fine quality of alfalfa as grew that season upon
this experimental quarter-section.

CONFIRMED BY FURTHER EXPERIMENTS

‘‘ One season’s study not being sufficient to thor-
oughly satisfy us, this method of culture was resumed,
and 800 acres were disked in a like manner this spring,
giving equally satisfactory results. The yield was not
quite so great, owing to the fact that these lands were
closely pastured until about the 1st of May, after which

EFFECT OF DISKING ON ROOTS AND STEMS 83

the crop was allowed to grow for hay. ‘The strong,
vigorous growth of the plant, however, was noticeable;
likewise the almost total absence of grasshoppers and
native grasses were points noted by the farmers as they
drove over the meadows under experimentation. The
160 acres disked in 1898 were left uncultivated last
spring, and the beneficial effects of the previous sea-
son’s culture appeared again last season, since in both
the first and second crops there was a material increase
in the yield over that on adjoining lands. In fact, my
observations now go to show that in the territory under
discussion, where alfalfa is sown upon sod, if this
method of culture is not carried on, the native grasses
will crowd out the alfalfa and reclaim the soil, where-
as, on the contrary, if this method of culture is vigor-
ously prosecuted, a strong, hearty, productive forage
plant is the result.

‘Plans had been made to conduct experiments upon
this method of culture in other parts of the state. In
every case the continued wet weather kept the soil in
a condition untillable until the alfalfa had grown several
inches. Mr. John H. Silsby, of Le Roy, Coffey County,
however, by way of experiment, disked five acres
when the alfalfa was six inches high, resulting in a
noticeable increase in the yield.

EFFECT OF DISKING ON ROOTS AND STEMS

‘Getting down to the foundation of the matter, ten
roots were dug this season just as they grew in the
drill-row in an average place in three fields—and here
it might be said that all alfalfa under experimentation »
was sowed in 1896 upon newly broken sod in the same
vicinity, so the conditions of all were as nearly as

84 ALFALFA

possible alike. Ten roots, five of which are shown in
Figs. 12, 13, 14, were taken from each of three fields,
and a comparative study made of them is best illus-

trated in tabular form:
———Figures——\
12. Bae 14.
Average thickness of tap-root, inches . 9-16 8-16 5-16

Average number of root branches to each

tap=root zy 25 are fe ede 5A) Bek eee
Average number of stalks to each branch 7 7 4
Average number of forage-raising stalks

to each tap-root.. (2935 2 2 6 37 O eer

KILLS THE CUTWORMS, TOO

‘‘TIn our field-camp in the summer of 1899 another
proposition came before us—viz., the presence of cut-
worms in the alfalfa. It is known to many who raised
alfalfa that season that there was a little, dark-green,
striped worm which did considerable damage in some
alfalfa fields. ‘This worm likewise spends the winter
in chrysalis form, beneath the surface of the ground,
and the disk-harrow will destroy it if applied in the
early spring, after the frost has left the ground.

ALFALFA HONEY

“Tn the conduct of these investigations the study
of alfalfa as a honey plant and the action of bees
thereon have come in for a share of our attention.
Apiaries existing under various conditions in the
alfalfa region have been visited, and correspondence
carried on with leading apiarists from all parts of the
state.

‘The alfalfa blossom is so constructed that it is
impossible for it to fertilize itself; the pollen cannot
fall upon the point of fertilization, but must be carried

FIG. I3—SOWED IN 1896; DISKED IN 1899

FIG. I4—SOWED IN 1896; NOT DISKED

86 ALFALFA

to that point by some agency. From the shape and
size of the alfalfa blossom, it is not probable that cross-
fertilization could be safely accomplished by means of
currents of air.

‘‘Tt becomes evident, then, that outside agencies
must be called upon, and the plant must provide for
these agencies. The agents, in this case, we find to be’
insects, and the reward offered by the plant for favors
rendered is a sweet drop of nectar; that is, the flower,
in an enticing way, places a tempting sip of nectar in
such a position that when the insect has favored the
flower with a few grains of pollen unconsciously
brought from an adjoining blossom, and just as uncon-
sciously left, the coveted sip may be enjoyed. It is
evident, however, that the first flower visited will not
be cross-fertilized.

‘‘A hundred seed pods were gathered from a field
twenty-five miles away from any other known colony
of bees and another hundred pods from a field less than
one-half mile from a large apiary. The pods of these
two groups were counted, and it was found that the
pods taken near by the bees averaged two-thirds
greater number of seeds, and showed seed larger,
plumper, and more uniform in size. And while the
bees were conducting this valuable seed-making work
they were likewise garnering a quality of honey which,
submitted to all known chemical tests, has proven
itself equal if not superior to any other.

‘‘Tt has been my observation, further, that alfalfa
will yield the greatest quantity of honey under circum-
stances which tend to give the plant the most vigorous
growth. If the plant is upon upland, dry weather
will affect the secretion of nectar before it will in a

ALFALFA HONEY 87

valley, such as the Arkansas, where the roots of the
plants extend to the water. During a dry period bees
will fly over other fields in bloom to a field which is
irrigated and is beginning to bloom.

“The greatest activity in apiculture in this state is
to be found in the alfalfa regions. In the alfalfa-grow-
ing portions of the state the average yield per hive in
1898 exceeded sixty pounds, while in portions of the
state where alfalfa was not a prominent factor in honey
production the bees did well to procure a livelihood for
themselves without furnishing a surplus for their
owners. Some hives situated in the alfalfa region were
able to yield that season a surplus of 200 pounds of
comb honey.

‘The conclusion of the three years’ study of the
alfalfa regions of Kansas, then, briefly stated, are that
the highest returns from the alfalfa meadow are to be
secured by an early spring cultivation of roots with
the disk-harrow and a summer visitation of the blossoms
by the honey-bee.’’

DISKING AND HARROWING

Pror. J. G. HANEY, of the Kansas Agricultural

College, writing of the use of the disk and harrow on>
alfalfa, says: ‘‘ It is demonstrated beyond a doubt that —

alfalfa must have some cultivation to secure its best
development. Statements of what it is possible to do
for this plant with the disk or other harrow can scarcely
be credited without demonstration. But cultivation
with these will make alfalfa succeed in many places
where it is now pronounced a failure, and will increase
the yields and permanency.

‘“After the first season’s growth the alfalfa has
rooted so deeply that it will withstand a surprising
amount of surface disturbance. A thorough harrow-
ing with a sharp harrow the spring after seeding, and
after each cutting, especially if the surface soil is dry
and crusted, will do a surprising amount of good.
The harrow will not only destroy much grass and
many weeds, but it loosens the surface, makes an
earth mulch, and enables the new buds, which produce
the new stems and usually come from below the sur-
face, to push out more rapidly and with greater vigor.

‘‘ After the Alfalfa is two or three years old the
disk-harrow can be used, and the alfalfa should be
disked at least each spring just as it starts. Disk
both ways with the disks set nearly straight and
weighted, and then harrow down smooth. The disk
destroys all surface-rooted plants, but does not injure

88

DISKING AND HARROWING 89

the deep, sturdy rooting alfalfa. The cutting and
splitting of the crowns invigorates the growth and
thickens the stand. If crab-grass and foxtail, or any
other grasses, tend to spring up after the cuttings, as
they will, especially during a dry time, disking and
harrowing after cutting will keep the noxious growths
back, and enable the alfalfa to make a quicker and
more vigorous growth helpful to an increase in yield
and in the number of cuttings.’’

Prof. H. M. Cottrell, of the agricultural experiment
station, Manhattan, Kan., writes: ‘‘Our first experi-_
ence in disking alfalfa was in 1898. A field had been
seeded to alfalfa in the dry year of 1894 and a poor
stand resulted. In 1897 this alfalfa was heavily pas-
tured by hogs. ‘The hogs were taken off early in the
fall and a heavy growth of crab-grass came up. ‘The
crab-grass was so thick and the stand of alfalfa so thin
that it was not worth keeping.

‘“Tate in March, 1898, this field was harrowed with
a disk-harrow, the disks sharp and set at as great an
angle as possible. It was immediately cross-disked
with the disks set the same way. ‘The ground was
thoroughly pulverized and the alfalfa apparently
destroyed. It soon started, branched out thickly, and
we made three good cuttings from the field that summer.

‘‘In 1900 we went a step further in disking alfalfa.
The season was very dry at Manhattan, the rainfall in
June being 1.19 inches, in July 4.51 inches, and in
August 2.84 inches. Two fields of alfalfa, two years
old, were disked.

‘One field was disked March 28th, the first cutting
for hay made May gist, disked June 6th, the second
cutting for hay made June 25th, disked June 27th, the

90 ALFALFA

third cutting of alfalfa made August 13th, and the alfalfa
disked for the fourth time August 20th. The last cut-
ting of alfalfa was made September 13th. This shows
four diskings and four cuttings of alfalfa on upland in
a dry year.

‘‘ Another field of alfalfa was disked and cross-
disked March 27th. The first cutting of hay was
made June 4th, and the second disking June 6th.
Through July and the early part of August the alfalfa
was cut from day to day and fed green to dairy cows
to help out dried-up pastures. August 20th the field
was disked, and October 3d the last cutting of alfalfa
made.

‘The alfalfa in both fields made fine late fall
growth and went into the winter in good condition.

‘The stand of alfalfa on both fields disked in 1900
was good. A harrow with sharp sixteen-inch disks
was used, the disks being set at a slight angle, just
sufficient to turn the soil over, and the harrow was
weighted to make the disks split the alfalfa crowns to
a depth or two inches. The disking split the alfalfa
crowns, and this made them throw out many new
shoots. The disking made an earth-mulch over the
field and prevented the evaporation of water, so rapid
in a dry time from an alfalfa field just after being
cut. ‘The disks were set so that they barely turned
the soil over, and, running at a depth of two inches,
they turned the roots of the crab-grass and weeds up
to the sun, which killed them. These disked fields
were clean and free from crab-grass in the fall.

‘We have not disked one-year-old alfalfa. From
these experiments we feel safe in recommending disking
all alfalfa of two years or more standing. Make the

oe

DISKING AND HARROWING gI

first disking early in the spring, and then disk immedi-
ately after each cutting. If the stand of alfalfa is fair
to good, set the disks as we did in the experiments
made in 1900. If the stand is poor and the growth of
crab-grass thick, set the disks to cut deeply. Disking
is of as much value to alfalfa as cultivation is to corn.’’.

ENEMIES AND FRIENDS OF
ALFALFA

GOPHERS AND PRAIRIE-DOGS

THE commonest enemies of alfalfa in the Central
West are animals and insects. The animals liable to
ruin a good stand of alfalfa are gophers and prairie-
dogs. ‘The cheapest means of getting rid of them is
poison. ‘Take potatoes, peel, and soak them overnight
in strong poisonous solutions such as strychnine,
arsenic, or corrosive sublimate; drop these potatoes
into the holes of burrowing animals. Cover over each
hole so treated with a board or a chip, to keep the
runway open, and put some earth on top of this. Corn
soaked in a solution of lard and strychnine may be
used in the same way. Carbon bisulphide has been
used with success. It is rather dangerous to handle,
as it evaporates very rapidly into an exceedingly poi-
sonous and inflammable gas. If carbon bisulphide is
used, keep it in a closed vessel as it is being applied.
It can best be applied by soaking corn-cobs in the
liquid and dropping these into the burrows. The
corn-cobs should be quickly ‘‘hooked’’ out of the
liquid with a wire and placed in the burrow, which
should immediately be covered with earth, tamped
tight, leaving the runways unobstructed. The gas
suffocates the animals, and the user must be careful
not to get the larger dose himself. Trapping has also
been practiced. Where irrigation is available, the
best way is to flood the land sufficiently to drown

Q2

GOPHERS AND PRAIRIE-DOGS 93

animals. Care must be taken to draw off the water
before it has had time to injure the alfalfa plants.

Prof. J. G. Haney gives the following excellent
advice concerning gophers and alfalfa:

‘“ No preventive has been found. Trapping may
be employed against them, but it is tedious and gener-
ally unsatisfactory. Poisoning is perhaps the easiest
and most satisfactory method of destroying gophers,
and, if properly done, they may be almost entirely
exterminated. ‘To poison them, as soon as a fresh
mound is seen, cut potatoes as they are usually cut
for seed; then, with a pocket-knife or old case-knife,
slit the pieces and drop a crystal of strychnine not
larger than a wheat grain in the slit, so it will lodge
near the middle of the potato. The potato being
moist, the strychnine will soon be dissolved and carried
all through it, and it should be used at once. Take a
spade and a wagon-rod and proceed at once to the
‘gopher patch.’ With the rod poke into the ground
around the fresh hill until the run is located and open
with the spade, drop in a potato, cover up, and pro-
ceed to the next hill. Gophers are very fond of
potatoes. One dose usually kills; if too much strych-
nine is used, or the potatoes are not used as soon as
prepared, the poison is not so effective. If the field is
gone over once a week, the old hills leveled down, and
the new ones given a potato, the gopher’s work will
soon be very much lessened. Now and then one will
be too smart for the potato and will keep at work.
Try to trap him.”’

In Bulletin No. 5, Division of Ornithology and
Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture,
is given the following recipe, which reputable persons

94 ALFALFA

who have followed its directions claim is thoroughly
effective :

‘“Put a stick of phosphorus in a five-gallon can
with a little cold water; next, pour in hot water, not
quite boiling, until the can is half full, and stir with a
stick. When the phosphorus is melted, add, while
the water is stirred constantly, two pounds of sugar,
and immediately after the sugar is dissolved thicken
to a stiff batter with corn-meal and flour—half and
half; now add wheat, and stir until stiff. While
adding the wheat add also fifteen to twenty drops of
oil of rhodium. ‘The wheat will soak up all the water
in the mass, and it will become quite hard. Keep in
a cool place. Small pieces may be chipped off as
needed. Gophers may get too little strychnine to kill
them, but no matter how small a piece of phosphorous
they get it will finally prove fatal. Dig down to an
open hole, drop in a small piece, put in a clod to keep
the hole from filling, and cover over with loose dirt, to
exclude the light.”’

It is said that using one-fifth the quantity of each
ingredient mentioned in this recipe will give as much
of the mixture as is likely to be needed at any one
time, and the smaller quantity lessens the chances of
poisoning animals other than gophers. Phosphorous
is one of the deadliest of poisons.

GRASSHOPPERS

The insects that have been most injurious to alfalfa
are the various species of grasshoppers. When abun-
dant, they are liable to destroy fall-sown alfalfa. In
western Kansas they sometimes destroy the crop intend-
ed for seed. Professor Hunter, of Kansas, has shown

-DODDER 95

_ that the most effective defense against grasshoppers is

the disk-harrow. If the alfalfa fields are disked in the
late fall or the early spring the grasshopper eggs
are destroyed by being disturbed and exposed to the
elements and birds. The disking for this particular
purpose should be done when the alfalfa plants are
dormant. The grasshoppers that do the greatest harm
are not migratory, but breed and pass their existence
chiefly in the local alfalfa field. Army-worms have
been destructive in a few localities. These and other
insect pests which pupate in the ground late in autumn,
according to Professor Hunter, are also destroyed by
disking.

Poultry in large numbers on the farm are of great
service in keeping down the increase of noxious insects.
Some farmers have done well by keeping turkeys to
free their alfalfa fields from grasshoppers. ‘Turkeys
are raised and sometimes rented to farmers to be herded
in the alfalfa fields when the ’hoppers are bad, and
are found very efficient.

DODDER

The worst parasitic enemy of alfalfa is the dodder
or love vine (Fig. 15). Prof. F. H. Hillman’s de-
scription of the weed is: ‘‘ The plant is a parasite,
incapable of producing its own food, and thus depends
for maintenance upon the food elaborated by some
other plant. This particular species of dodder,
Cuscuta epithymum, confines its preference in the
main, if not wholly, to the alfalfa plant, which
it infests throughout America and Europe. State-
ments of this species infesting clovers have been
seen by the writer, but his own observations in

96 ALFALFA

badly infested fields of mixed alfalfa and red clover
have failed to show the infestation of clover by
this species of dodder. This particular dodder pro-
duces a mass of smooth, reddish-yellow, wiry stems,
which encircle the alfalfa stems, where the latter are

FIG. I5—DODDER (A) PLANT AND (B) FLOWER

pierced by small suckers from the stems of the dodder.
These serve to draw the nourishment from the alfalfa,
resulting in a short, sickly growth. The alfalfa usu-
ally survives, but produces only half a crop or less.
With the advance of summer, globular clusters of
flowers the size of a pea, light-colored and tinged with
purple, are produced along the leafless stems of the
dodder. Each flower develops from one to four seeds,

Ra.

DODDER af Oy

and, as many flowers are produced, the seed produc-
tion is enormous.

‘“’The seeds are minute, light colored, often tinged
with green or purple, globular or irregularly rounded,
the surface very finely roughened (Fig. 16). ‘Their
form and appearance should permit their easy detection
among alfalfa seeds, which are larger (Fig. 17).

‘“The development of the plant is peculiar. The
seeds germinate in the ground, the young stems swing-

FIG. I16--DODDER SEEDS

A, showing a group of seeds, their
comparative form and relative

size, enlarged. B,a groupshow- FIG. I7—ALFALFA SEEDS
ing the natural size. C,the em-

bryo removed from the seed, A, a group showing the side view.
showing the form it commonly B, the edge view, with scar. O,
assumes. D,a section of a seed, a group of natural size. D, the
showing the manner in which embryo.

the embryo lies imbedded in the

endosperm.

ing from side to side until a stem of the alfalfa is
found, about which they at once twine; the roots then
die. If no such stem is found the young dodder plant
perishes, owing to its inability to take nourishment
from soil-food. The plant is an annual, starting anew
from the seed each year.’’

Fig. 18 shows a group of red clover seeds. A, side
view. 8, edge view, presenting the scar. C, seeds of
natural size. Fig. 19 shows white clover seeds. 4,
showing the side-view forms. J, edge view, with scar,

98 ALFALFA

C, a group of natural size. 0, the embryo. These
illustrations were prepared with reference to showing
the likeness of some of these seeds to those of dodder.

When a field is once thoroughly seeded to dodder,
the only remedy is to plow up the alfalfa and cultivate
the land a few years to other crops. There are
numerous other species of dodder besides the one
referred to, but few of them attack alfalfa. If a small
patch is discovered, scatter dry straw or hay over the

FIG. I8S—RED CLOVER SEEDS FIG. I9--WHITE CLOVER SEEDS

patch and burn off. The straw scattered thinly destroys
the dodder, but will not injure the alfalfa. Burnina
wind, and there is less danger of destroying the alfalfa.

BACTERIA

The alfalfa plant has one parasitic friend that is of
the greatest importance to agriculture—namely, the
species of bacteria which inhabits the tubercles on the
roots of the plants. These microscopic organisms
dwell in harmony or symbiosis upon the roots. The
bacteria take nitrogen from the air and feed the alfalfa
plant, which, in its turn, sends some elaborated food
down into the nodules for the maintenance cf the bac-
teria. The activities of the millions of bacteria, which
live in symbiosis with every healthy alfalfa plant,
enable the alfalfa to add marvelous stores of nitrogen

A GOOD ALFALFA SHED 99

to the soil at the same time that large quantities are
being removed inthe hay crops. ‘These bacteria cannot
do good work unless the soil is porous and well
erated. The judicious farmer in preparing his soil
for alfalfa will provide an open, porous subsoil, in
order that the bacteria may have access to large quan-
tities of air from which to draw that most important
element of plant-food, nitrogen.

ALFALFA-ROOT ROT

This is a fungus disease which attacks the alfalfa,
and from a bulletin of the Texas Experiment Station
it appears the same as the cotton-root rot. It is not
widely spread and little injury is reported from it.
The fungus succumbs to any treatment that destroys
ordinary plants, such as salt or kerosene; but the appli-
cation of these over any extended area would not be
practicable. Rotation is practiced in cotton regions to
avoid this, and is the only alternative with alfalfa.

A GOOD ALFALFA SHED

‘“We do not believe a stack was ever built in the
United States that did not waste from twelve to twenty
per cent. of the hay, and in many cases from twenty-
five to thirty,’’ says the editor of the Jowa Homestead.
“While all this loss is not avoided by sheds, for noth-
ing short of a barn will prevent some exposure, the
greater per cent. of the loss will be avoided by the
construction of sheds. We have found 26 x 4o and
sixteen feet high to be a very convenient size. We
have used 6 x 6 and 8 x 8 for the posts, and prefer the

bot ©.

100 ALFALFA

former size. ‘Thirteen feet is suficient width apart for
the posts, and, for a shed of the size mentioned but
ten posts will be required. Where pine is used, it is
better to get the posts sixteen feet long and bolt them
to oak posts set in the ground three or four feet, so
that the oak posts, when rotted, can be replaced with
new without damage to the shed. ‘These posts can be
tied together by four cross-timbers, but the one at the
end which the hay goes in should be at least two feet
below the top of the posts, so as to allow the horse-
fork full of hay full swing in passing in.

‘« Sixteen-foot boards will roof each side of this
shed. ‘They can be battened if necessary, but if the
lumber be reasonably dry it will not shrink enough to
cause any considerable leaking. It is astonishing how
little.water flows into these sheds when the roofs are
unbattened. We prefer, however, to batten. The
horse-fork can be used, the track being suspended
from the roof, as in a barn, and the inconvenience of
the two inside cross-pieces in a barn of the above size
can be avoided by putting the hay in in sections, and
taking care not to let quantities of it lie across the cross-
pieces. A shed of this kind can be braced without cross-
pieces, but not without more or less waste of space.

‘‘ Additional expense can be added to this shed
profitably. For example, feeding-sheds can be at-
tached on three sides, preferably the north, west, and
south. ‘These should be sixteen feet wide, eight feet
high at the rear, and with a good slope to the roof,
and in this case the main shed should be boarded down
to the roof of the feeding-shed. A structure of this
kind, with sheds around it, will give 2,200 square feet
of shed-room, or the floor space of a barn 40 x 55 feet.

A GOOD ALFALFA SHED Iol

This can be divided into different sections, and the
stock fed directly out of the mow into the mangers,
thus housing a large number of animals in one place
with all the hay under one roof. A crib for corn or
a bin for oats can be easily constructed in this shed, so
as to have the feed all together.- One of the advan-
tages of this shed is the protection it affords against
the winter blast, and still another, the fact that if
abundance of straw is hauled in for bedding the ma-
nure can be kept through the winter, and through the
summer if need be, under cover without loss. It is
very easy, if a farmer wishes to invest still more money,
to make a barn on this general idea, having a large
bay in the center, and cattle-stalls and sheds all around
it. In fact, with the exception of the octagonal barn,
this plan will give more accommodation than any other
plan of barn with which we are acquainted.”’

If hay is well cured before it is put in the mow
there is not much need of making special provisions for
ventilators. But if the hay season is a rainy one, the
grass is often taken from the field before it is thorough-
ly cured. This, when it is put into large barns, is apt
to heat and be much injured. In order to prevent
this, ventilators can be constructed in different ways.

An upright ventilator made of four twelve-inch
boards set in the middle of the mow floor is good, but
in using a hay-fork this is often in the way and in-
convenient. These twelve-inch square boxes can be
utilized in another way. Make several the length of
the mow in which they are placed, and in each bore a
number of two-inch auger-holes. Fill in hay to the
depth of six or eight feet, then put in another ven-
tilator, and so on.

ALFALFA IN THE DIPPER
pee tks

It 1s the writer’s conviction that no author, how-
ever well informed, can possess but a fraction of the
knowledge upon a subject widely variant under vary-
ing conditions, possessed by the many whose observa-
tions have been in the different sections and under the
particular conditions which there obtain. With this
in mind, and with a desire to be as definite as possible
with reference to the success or failure, and growth of
alfalfa in the various parts of the United States, effort
has been made to secure for this volume from those
officially or especially observant of such matters, either
direCtors of experiment stations or extensive practical
growers, concise statements of what experience in
their states in alfalfa culture has shown or suggested.
In the following pages are found presented in sub-
stance the observations made by each as to the pro-
duction, probabilities, and prospects of alfalfa in the
regions named:

ARIZONA

Prof. R. H. Forbes, director of the experiment
station at Tucson, in reply to the question, ‘‘ Is alfalfa
a success in your territory ?’’ says: ‘‘ Yes, it does well
upon all soils not too alkaline;’’ but as he speaks
from an irrigator’s experience there is not a great
deal of importance attached to the preparation of the
seed-bed. ‘‘Seeding is done in the spring in the
northern part of the territory. Cutting is done at full
bloom seven or eight times a year if irrigated, giving

I02

ALFALFA IN THE DIFFERENT STATES LOS

a yield of one to one and one-fourth tons per acre per
cutting, of dry hay, which is preserved in stacks.
After being well started it is very enduring and can be
successfully pastured. It isnot affected by the climatic
changes usual elsewhere and grows continuously except
during December and January, the weather being too
cool at this time. Root-rot causes some, but not
serious, loss.’’

ARKANSAS

Prof. R. L. Bennett, director of the experiment
station at Fayetteville, says alfalfa has been sufficiently
tried to prove that it will succeed under proper condi-
tions. ‘‘’ The many failures are due to unsuitable soil
and improper preparation. With a reasonably fertile,
well-drained surface and subsoil, and a well-prepared
seed-bed on soil that has grown a crop of cow-peas the
season previous, there is a reasonable chance for success.
If the soil is extra fertile, sow broadcast; if not so fertile,
plant in eighteen-inch rows with drills, in early fall;
use twenty pounds of seed per acre in drills and more
when broadcasted. If the land is inclined to be foul,
cultivate to encourage alfalfa, and discourage weeds and
grass when planted in drills. Cut when in good bloom.
The number of cuttings and yield depend upon the
fertility. ‘The method of curing is the same as with
red clover and cow-peas. If rains prevail at the time
of cutting, the hay is stored in open frames to cure.
Once established on good soil and properly cared for it
is permanent, but it has not been thoroughly tested in
this state as to its endurance for grazing. Alfalfa
resists drouth and is but little affected by extreme wet
weather, provided, of course, the subsoil drains rapidly.

104 ALFALFA

It resists moderate cold, but is frequently killed down
by sudden changes from warm to very cold weather.
Insects, animals, and plant depredators have not been
of sufficient importance to receive attention. The
bottom-lands are much preferable to the uplands for
alfalfa, because of the greater fertility of their subsoil
and greater water content.’’

CALIFORNIA

Henry Miller, writing of the alfalfa-raising opera-
tions of his firm—Miller & Lux—in San Mateo County,
says in part:

‘“Since 1871 we have gradually increased our acre-
age of alfalfa, until we now have about 20,000 acres.
This is on reclaimed swamp and upland, under a com-
plete system of irrigation, with the exception of a
little light, loamy soil, with water near the surface
and no irrigation. On the latter ground the plant is
short-lived, on account of the gophers. The depth at
which well-water is found varies from ten to forty
feet, and, with irrigation, it is immaterial whether the
soil is naturally moist or dry. ‘The preparation for
seeding consists of deep plowing and cross-plowing, and
the depth of planting is not over two or three inches.
For light, loamy soils, twelve pounds of seed to the
acre is ample, while for hard, rough, new land, from
sixteen to twenty pounds is required. Seeding may
be done here after the cold season and when danger
of heavy frost is past, but in time to take advantage of
the spring rains, which are very essential. During
the first season the weeds should be mowed as they
require it, without regard to returns of alfalfa, and
after they are subdued it is well to let the first year’s

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 105

growth go to seed and allow it to be trampled into the
soil by young stock; but if there is a full stand this is
not necessary. We irrigate from streams, applying
water as soon as the spring opens and every time a
crop is cut, the quantity of water needed depending
on the quality of the soil. Drainage is very necessary,
especially when irrigation is done in warm weather.
After the first irrigation, less water is needed at an
application than at first. Winter-killing seems to be
effectually prevented by watering in the fall. :

“ Alfalfa will attain its best state in three or four
years, and its condition after that will depend upon
its treatment. We put stock on our land generally
after the first and second growth is cut, and the only
rest the land receives is when it is being irrigated.
Land in alfalfa for several years we harrow in the
spring with a heavy harrow or disk-cutter, and take
the opportunity to reseed that which shows lack
of vigor. The more sun and the less shade there is
the better the growth and the more satisfactory the
yield. We find it more difficult to get a stand than to
get rid of it; but, in some instances, where we have
wanted the land for orchard, vegetables, or root crops,
we found several plowings would destroy it. Without
irrigation we have not found the crop very profitable,
but there are a few favored spots in the state where it
can be grown without water; but when we plant we
usually sele¢t such land as can be put under a perfect
system of irrigation before using.

‘Longevity of the plant depends on treatment and
on the nature of the soil. On heavy ‘adobe’ soil it
will not live and thrive as long as on loamy soil, and
on sandy, light soil it will be of short duration with-

106 ALFALFA

out constant and judicious irrigation. After the first
season we make two cuttings a year, and consider two
tons to the acre each time a good yield. For hay we
cut when the first crop is well advanced—say, nearly
in full bloom; the second crop and any later ones are
cut when the bloom first shows; otherwise the lower
leaves will drop off. The first crop is generally pref-
erable for seed, provided butterflies and other insects
have not injured the bloom, as they often do. If the
second crop is used for seed, it should ripen longer
than the first. The crop for seed is mowed, windrowed
as soon as possible, allowed to dry in that state, gath-
ered with a hand-fork, loaded on hay-wagons, and put
in stack as gently as possible. We find a good crop
of seed a rare thing, but use the ordinary thrashing
outfit, and turn out 800 to 1,000 pounds a day; in rare
instances double that quantity, with a cost for thrash-
ing and cleaning of about five cents a pound. ‘The
hay we never put in barns, but stack in small, narrow
ricks, to avoid danger of heating, endeavoring to get
it in the ricks as dry as possible, gathering in the fore-
noon. When we use our own press and men the
cost of baling does not exceed $1 per ton. The
weight of the bale depends on the kind of press used.
An average handy bale weighs about 150 to 175
pounds, and we never have any trouble about the hay
keeping perfectly in bales of that size. Like all rank
growths, alfalfa will produce double under irrigation,
and the quantity will greatly cverbalance any possible
improvement in quality without irrigation, for I have
found little difference in quality between that grown
by irrigation and under natural moisture.”

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 107

COLORADO

Following is the statement of Jacob Downing, of
Denver:

‘“‘T introduced alfalfa into Colorado in 1862, and
have between 500 and 700 acres. It is on upland,
- clay, sandy, and loam soil, with some ‘adobe’ sub-
soil, but mostly sandy loam; it is generally dry to
sand rock, and then it is necessary to drill fifty to
one hundred feet to get water. After deep plowing
and thorough pulverizing, the land should be scraped
thoroughly smooth, as this cannot be done after sow-
ing, and is needed to make the mower work smoothly.
I sow about twenty-five pounds to the acre, drilling
about two inches deep, twelve and one-half pounds each
way. Prefer to sow in the spring, early. After the
plant is eight inches high it may be cut and used for
feed, but is not very good. I have seen near the City
of Mexico fields of alfalfa 300 years old that had
been constantly cropped and never reseeded. It will
last 1,000 years, and possibly forever. I irrigate from
streams, whenever desirable; when there is a great
deal of heat and wind, probably three times in a season.
The water must not be on too long, or the plant will be
killed, and the land should be kept as dry as possible
during the winter, particularly in cold climates, as on
wet soil alfalfa winter-kills. Well-water is better than
the stream, provided it is pumped into a reservoir and
allowed to get warm. Water is brought from the
streams by ditches. Less water will serve the first
year than after the plant is matured. Iam five miles
west of Denver, and 500 feet above the city, in warm
valleys. With plenty of water I can obtain three

108 ALFALFA

cuttings a year. Have raised as much as three and
one-half tons to the acre at one cutting, and my highest
yield of seed per acre has been nine bushels. Hay is
cut when the plant is in bloom and cured until dry to
the touch of the hand. Stacking by hand makes the
best hay, as machinery is likely to pack it in bundles,
causing it to heat and become dusty. Hay in the
stack costs about $1.50 perton. Baling costs $2.00 per
ton; one-hundred-pound bales are well esteemed, but
it is probable that large bales keep better than small
ones, if properly cured. Six bushels of seed is a com-
mon yield, and the cost of thrashing and cleaning is
probably twenty-five cents per bushel. For feeding
horses for slow work, the hay is better than clover or
timothy. For fattening purposes it is the best in the
world, for, while the animal lays on fat, it is never
feverish and always healthy. ‘There is no difficulty in
ridding land of the plant, asa good team and sharp
plow will cut it out without any trouble. I have
plowed fields of alfalfa under and put in oats, obtain-
ing three or four times the usual yield, and have known
of fifty bushels of wheat produced to the acre on
broken alfalfa sod.’’

DELAWARE

Mr. Herman S. Hazal, of Smyrna, says: ‘‘ Alfalfa
has been given sufficient trial in Delaware by a num-
ber of land-owners to prove that it can be grown, and
is profitable for hay. I have two acres seeded, thirty
pounds to the acre, in the spring of 1898, and cut four
times in 1899—May 29, July 12, August 16, Septem-
ber 30—with a total yield of thirteen tons of hay after
three days’ curing. The first cutting gave six anda

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 109

half tons of hay. I have cut it twice already this
season (1900), June 5 getting 11,000 pounds, and
July 9 getting 6,680 pounds, making a total of eight
tons and 1,680 pounds. My groundis partly a side-hill
of ordinary land, and I do not think it would grow
more than forty bushels of corn to the acre. ‘The
alfalfa seems to be very permanent; its greatest plant
enemies are sorrel and white clover; no insect enemies
have been observed. I am of the opinion that it
would be injurious to pasture it in this climate. I cut
it when about half in bloom, and value it very highly
for all kinds of stock. It sells for $9 per ton. Mr.
John P. Hudson, of this town, has been mowing his
field for the past fourteen years, and Mr. Wilbur
Burmite, of Felton, has been mowing a field for
twenty years, and there are many others growing it
with success.”’

GEORGIA

R. J. Redding, director of the experiment station,
writes: ‘‘ Alfalfa is a success in this state, and does
best on well-drained, deep, rich, sandy loam, clean of
weeds. ‘The land should be deeply plowed and well
‘fined before seeding, and it is best to sow in drills
twenty to thirty inches apart, covering the seeds a half
inch deep. Sowing is done in September or October,
or in February or March, and ten pounds of seed per
acre is used. ‘he alfalfa is cultivated shallow three
or four times during the season to keep weeds down.
It is cut for feed when the blooms commence to appear,
and may be mown three to six times a year, yielding
three to five tons of green forage per acre at each cut-
ting, varying with the season. ‘The crop is used to

IIo ALFALFA

soil-feed horses, mules, and cattle, but is rarely made
into hay. Alfalfa is permanent after being well
started, but is liable to become infested with weeds
unless carefully cultivated ; hence sowing in drills is
preferred, permitting of the use of a cultivator and
hoe. It does not stand pasturing well, for it is under-
stood that the crowns are liable to severe injury from
close grazing and tramping. The crop endures drouth
well, but growth is much retarded by it. It is not
affetted injuriously by wet weather or cold, but is
killed down by severe freezes when the foliage is of
recent growth and tender. Itis attacked by dodder
and many insects, although none peculiar to the plant,
and the injury from these is not serious. It is supe-
rior to any of the clovers and equal to vetches, and is
considered the best soiling-plant. It is true, however,
that perhaps the majority of farmers in Georgia are
not even aware that alfalfa is identical with lucerne,
and very many of them would not recognize the plant
at sight. It furnishes an illustration of the prompt-
ness with which Northern and Western farmers take
advantage of a ‘good thing,’ while Southern farmers
have been content to grow cotton and corn, potatoes
and sugar-cane, and pay very little attention to such
valuable plents as lucerne.”’

IDAHO

William Howard, of Blackfoot, Bingham County,
writes: ‘‘’ The two hundred acres of land on which I
have grown alfalfa for six years is upland, with sandy
loam soil, and subsoil the same, with water at a depth
of forty feet, the ground being dry all the way down
in summer and fall. ‘The land to be seeded is first

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES LEE

inclosed with levees, the size of each piece to be gov-
erned by the ‘fall’ to the land. Seed may be sown
here in the spring or summer, fifteen to twenty pounds
to the acre, broadcast, and harrowed in with a light
harrow. We have no weeds here, and, in case of
early seeding, there will be 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of
hay, but no seed, the first year. Weirrigate altogether
from ditches, applying water three or four times a year;
first, as soon as the ground becomes dry in the spring;

.second, just before cutting the first crop; third, just

before cutting the second crop, and sometimes after we
cut the third crop. Less water is needed after the first
year. The plant does not winter-kill here, and is at its
best by the second year, continuing vigorous for at
least fifteen years.

‘“The most essential thing for alfalfa is plenty of
water, and, having that, a gravel foundation is far
better than one of clay for obtaining large results.
There are sometimes two cuttings in a year, and some-
times three, depending on the season, with an average
yield each time of two or threetons. Hay is cut when
it is in bloom, raked as soon as wilted, and allowed to
cure in the cock, then stacked in large stacks with
horse-forks. The first crop is best for seed, as it takes
nearly a whole season to mature good seed; this is cut
and stacked as the hay is, and then thrashed from the
stack. ‘The cost of the hay in the stack is $1.00 a ton;
of baling, $2.50 a ton; and of thrashing and cleaning,
ten bushels out of every one hundred. ‘The price of
hay has ranged from $15.00 a ton down to $3.00, with
an average for six years of about $6.00, while the price
of seed has averaged about $5.00 a bushel. The pre-

ferred bale weighs from 100 to 150 pounds. ‘The

EZ ALFALFA

average yield of seed is about 500 pounds to the
acre. Alfalfa will pasture more animals than will red
clover. Every year we pasture about one hundred
head of hogs on three acres, fenced in two lots.”’

ILLINOIS
A. D. Shamel, assistant at the experiment station,
Urbana, says: ‘‘On the experiment station trial-

grounds alfalfa has been tested for the past four years.
Last winter all the plants that remained from the
previous year’s stand were killed by freezing and thaw-
ingin February. In other cases where trials of from
one-half to five acres were made in different sections
of the state, no good stands have been secured. In
some cases after three years’ growth with constant re-
seeding a fair stand was obtained, but during the late
severe winters all of these fields have been injured, and
in most instances the alfalfa has been killed. Further
trial with the lately introduced varieties will be neces-
sary before a definite statement can be made as to its
success or failure. The chief cause of failure seems to
be the nature of the subsoil. In most instances our
rich prairie loam is underlaid with a hard clay sub-
soil, and in some cases the so-called hard-pan. Alfalfa
roots refuse to penetrate this stratum of soil, and con-
sequently the plant does not obtain a full root develop-
ment, so that during the winter a temperature of a
few degrees below zero kills the plant. Another
factor entering into its introduction is that it requires
at least two, and usually three, years to get a stand
from which acrop can be cut. The farmer loses three
years’ cropping from the land, which he cannot afford.
The medium red clover can be seeded with oats and

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 113

produce a heavy crop the next year. It is also a
leguminous crop as well as is alfalfa; its soil-fertilizing
ability seems as great, and it fills largely the same
place as alfalfa for feeding purposes. So, having other
leguminous plants naturally adapted to the soil and
climate, the Illinois farmer does not attempt to grow
alfalfa. Not only is this true, but alfalfa takes a
longer time than clover to cure, and it is almost im-
possible to get a long enough dry season at harvesting
to cure and properly save the alfalfa hay.”’ |

IOWA

Prof. C. F. Curtiss, of the Iowa station, at Ames,
says: ‘‘I do not think alfalfa has been given sufficient
trial in this state to fully demonstrate its merits or to
determine whether it isa success or failure. We have
been growing it in a small way upon the college farm,
and it has completely winter-killed twice during the
last ten years; but the seasons when it winter-killed
were tinusually severe, and almost equally fatal to red
clover and winter wheat. I do not feel that these
failures ought to condemn the alfalfa by any means,
and am inclined to think it might be grown here as
successfully as in some other localities where it is much
more largely used. There is a strongly established
disposition, however, in our state to rely on the other
clovers, chiefly from the fact that farmers are more
familiar with methods of growing them, and the seed-
ing of the land to clover is a simpler process than is
securing a stand of alfalfa. We expect to make
further investigations.’’

I14 ALFALFA

INDIANA

Prof. W. C. Latta, of the expernment staren
Lafayette, says that alfalfa has as yet been tried only
in a small way in Indiana; not sufficiently to determine
whether it will prove a success or failure. It has
grown well in some cases, but as a rule it has not done
well, owing to the compact nature of the subsoil. ‘‘In
places where it has succeeded I think it may be
attributed largely to the location and character of the
soil that permits the roots to penetrate freely into the
deeper subsoil, containing plenty of underlying mois-
ture. Experience leads us to think that the preparation
of the seed-bed is also very important, as the young
plants are rather feeble the first year and liable to be
choked out by the stronger growths. Wehave usually
sown broadcast, in the spring, fifteen to twenty pounds
to the acre. Weclip at intervals during the first year,
the purpose being to hold the stronger growths in
check and thus give the alfalfa a better chance. Ina
few instances we have cut for hay the second time in a
season, but in the majority of cases our soil becomes
too dry too push upa second crop worth cutting. Our
plots have been almost too small to give reliable data
as to yield; it has been rather light, however, seldom
exceeding one and one-half tons peracre. With our
small yields the curing in the ordinary way, by
means of the hay-tedder, has not been at all difficult.
We have found alfalfa quite permanent when well
started. It comes to its best in about three years, and
has maintained itself in the sward much longer. On
our naturally drained, shallow soil it suffers the most
from dry, hot weather. I do not think alfalfa is

a.

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES II5

damaged by our winters. ‘T’he only enemy we have
observed is dodder, of which we usually get a little
in with the alfalfa seed.

‘““We place a high value upon alfalfa as a feed.
One of our highly successful farmers last spring sowed
a strip of alfalfa in low-lying peat land. I saw the
plants about a month after the seed was sown, and
was surprised to note that they were from four to six
inches high. I am interested to know if alfalfa will do
well in such low-lying soils. Another manager of a
large farm proposes to try alfalfa somewhat extensively
upon his level low-lying land in northwestern Indiana.
Much of it isa peat formation, and the water has not
yet been drained down to a very great depth below. I
think that alfalfa is suited only to limited areas in
Indiana—namely, such soils as are open, have plenty of
moisture in the lower soil, and may be left for a
number of years for haying and grazing. It has no
place in our short rotations, as it is too slow in coming
to its prime.’’ .

KANSAS

The following is furnished by Prof. H. M. Cottrell,
of the State Agricultural College:

‘‘ Alfalfa is grown in every county in the state, and
at least ninety per cent. of our arable land is suitable
for its profitable production. ‘There are only two con-
ditions under which it will not grow: whefe rock is
found within four or five feet of the surface and the
soil is dry down to the rock, or where the soil is not
drained and is wet a considerable part of the year. In
a few of the valleys alfalfa cannot be grown success-
fully because, while all other conditions are favorable,

116 ALFALFA

the streams overflow and the fields are sometimes
covered with water for three or four days in the spring.
Such an overflowing usually causes immediate death
to the alfalfa. These unfavorable conditions are found
on so small an area of land in this state that they are
hardly worth considering, but in individual cases are
quite serious.

‘‘Good corn ground is good ground for alfalfa. A
general rule may be given that it may be grown profit-
ably on any land on which cottonwood trees and corn
successfully grow to maturity. It requires a well-
drained, thoroughly pulverized soil free from weeds,
and the soil should be in good condition with regard
to moisture at the time of seeding. Seeding may be
done successfully at any time in Kansas between April
Ist and September 15th, when these conditions are
found. Much of the land in eastern Kansas has been
tilled for many years and is weedy. ‘The best suc-
cess on this usually comes by previously raising a
corn crop on the land and keeping it thoroughly
cultivated and free from weeds. ‘The following
spring an early maturing crop should be planted, such
as oats or millet. Harvest this early, immediately
plow the ground, and harrow each day the land that
has been plowed that day. Then harrow or cultivate
the entire field once in ten days until the first soaking
rain comes, between August 1st and September 15th.
Then seed to alfalfa. Mature alfalfa gets its nitrogen
from the air, and is one of our most hardy plants in
securing nitrogen. The infant alfalfa plant is one of
the weakest grown and is especially feeble in securing
nitrogen, and without a liberal supply of this cannot
live, The frequent summer tillage advised for pre-

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 117

paring the ground kills the weeds and makes available
the large supply of nitrogen in just the condition de-
sired by the young alfalfa plant. In western Kansas
the land has not been cultivated long and weeds are
not so persistent, but often the moisture is deficient.
Spring seeding succeeds best under these conditions,
because there is then more moisture in the soil.

‘“We prefer to sow with a press-drill, mixing the
seed with an equal part of either bran or coarse corn-
chop (meal), drilling half the seed one way and cross-
drilling with the other half. We sow twenty to thirty
pounds per acre, according to the condition of the
land. If seeded in the spring it should be mowed
three or four times in the summer to keep the weeds
in check, the mower being set high. If seeded in the

fall no treatment is necessary, and the following sum-

mer a good growth may be expected.

‘We cut when, say, one-tenth of the plants have
come into blossom. Early cutting insures heavier
succeeding crops, and the early cut hay has much
more feeding value than that cut when in full bloom
or later. Alfalfa may be cut three to four times per
year in ordinary seasons. We cut and cure so as to
preserve intact on the stems all the leaves possible,
the method depending upon the weather.

‘‘ Alfalfa from one seeding can usually be expected
to endure ten years. In some cases it dies out in
three or four years, and in other instances fields fifteen
to twenty years old are yielding heavy crops. A rea-
sonable amount of pasturing, such as ordinary grasses
will stand, does no injury, but unfortunately in most
cases it is excessively overpastured, and seriously

- injured if not killed. Sheep and horses injure it most.

I18 ALFALFA

‘* Alfalfa is one of the best dry-weather resist-
ers; it stands heat and cold with indifference ; also
heavy and continuous rains, if on well-drained soil,
but in water-soaked land dies from freezing in winter
and root-rot in summer. Grasshoppers, webworms,
cutworms, gophers, and prairie-dogs are its chief ani-
mal enemies. ‘The first two are best destroyed by
turkeys; a turkey to the acre will thoroughly rid the
alfalfa of these pests, and the turkeys will be profitable
besides. Disking in March before the alfalfa has
sprouted destroys a large proportion of the grasshop-
per eggs, and is a check to the cutworms and other
insects. Gophers may be destroyed cheaply and
quickly by putting strychnine in pieces of freshly cut
potatoes and dropping these in the gopher holes. The
chief plant enemies are crab-grass and foxtail. Disk-
ing early in March, and after each cutting, will do
much to overcome these, and at the same time benefit
the alfalfa.

‘“A ton of alfalfa hay properly cured is worth a
ton of wheat bran, and the alfalfa can be raised and
put in the feed-lot on most Kansas farms at a cost not
to exceed $3 per ton. It is necessary, under Kansas
conditions, to the cheapest production of beef, pork,
milk, mutton, and the growth of young stock. With
a good supply of alfalfa any Kansas farmer can com-
bine with it the ordinary feeds grown on his farm, and
have balanced rations for all classes of stock without
purchasing a pound of mill feed. With all its other
good qualities alfalfa is one of the most palatable feeds
offered farm animals, and with the exception of caus-
ing bloat when used green, is one of the safest.’’

W. M. Clark, of Saline County, in the central por-

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 119

tion of the state, reports something of his operations
thus:

‘‘ We began sowing alfalfa eight years ago, and now
have 265 acres, and intend to put in one hundred acres
more next spring. ‘he land is largely ‘bottom’ and
‘second bottom,’ and the sandy loam and ‘ gumbo’
produce well if the plants get a good start. If, after
seed is sown on the ‘ gumbo,’ a rain falls, it is liable to
_ form a crust that prevents the plants coming through.
In digging our wells we find the ground moist, and the
water supply in gravel or sand at a depth of sixteen to
thirty feet. When the ground is thoroughly pulver-
ized we sow thirty pounds to the acre, and harrow;
though if the weather happens to be dry after sowing,
better results are obtained by drilling it in as wheat is
drilled. We have had the best results from seed sown
between the middle of April and the first of May, but
good stands have been secured after seeding the first of
June, and even the last of August and first of Sep-
tember. Much depends on the weather after sowing.
During the first season we mow to keep the weeds
down, and I have known seed sown the first of April
to yield one and one-fourth tons of hay per acre on
‘bottom’ land, but we do not cut for seed the first
year. For hay we cut when in bloom two or three
times, with a yield of about two and one-half tons per
acre the first time, one ton the second, and one and
one-fourth the third, though on some bottom-land there
is not more than one ton per acre for each cutting.
The second crop is usually best for seed, though some-
times the first crop is well filled. As soon as the pods
are about half colored, the crop should be cut with a
binder and dropped off in bunches, not bound. It

120 4 ALFALFA

cures well in from one-half day to two days. ‘The —
yield of seed is two to eight bushels, and the cost for
thrashing and cleaning, with an alfalfa huller, is about
$1.00 per bushel. The ordinary thrashing-machine
will not take out all the seed nor clean it ready for
market. Compared with timothy or clover, for stock
purposes I consider alfalfa hay better, but for driving-
horses timothy is preferable, since it is not so much of
a laxative. Asa pasture cropit is profitable and satis-
factory for horses and cattle, away ahead of clover for
hogs, and better than red clover for cattle. I consider
alfalfa grown without irrigation better than that irri-
gated, as feed, since there is not so much water in it.
That which is ripened and thrashed for seed does not
make quite such good hay as does that cut earlier for
hay alone, but stock will eat it anddo well. In two or
three years after seeding alfalfa attains its best yields.
Like any other feed-plant, it can be pastured down
until killed. Alfalfa is undoubtedly the feed for this
section of the country, while it is a most profitable
crop for seed at such prices as we have been getting.’’

A Jewell County alfalfa-grower tells how a seed
or hay crop may be successfully harvested and saved,
even if but a few inches high, thus: ‘‘ Take a piece of
sheet-iron as long as a sickle-bar and about three feet
wide; attach the front edge to the sickle-bar, and turn
up the back edge slightly; then the man on the mower
carries a rake and shoves off the hay in bunches, in
which it is left until put upon the wagon. Alfalfa
six inches high can be put up in this way at an expense
of less than $1.50 per ton, and makes the very finest
hog, cow, and poultry feed, a ton of it being equal to a
a ton of bran. We suggested this plan to a friend who

Pe erty.
2

a a ee

, IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 121

had a patch of alfalfa heavily seeded but so short he
could not save it. He tried our method, and thrashed
sixteen bushels of seed from one load. Another great

advantage in gathering a seed crop in this way is that

the seed is not shelled and lost in the handling.”’

LOUISIANA

W. C. Stubbs, of the Louisiana station, says:
‘“ Alfalfa has just now quite a boom, a result of ex-
periments made at this station in the last eight or ten
years. We estimate that there are at least 10,000
acres of it now growing in Louisiana. Upon the allu-
vial lands it is a great success; upon the hill lands
they are making it a success by artificial methods.
The first essential is a rich soil, well drained and
brought into a state of high preparation. We sow in
October fifteen to twenty pounds an acre, upon well-
prepared pulverized soil. It is ready for the first
harvest early in March, and upon the alluvial land we
cut from five to eight cropsa year. It is usually cut
when the blooms appear all over the fields. Upon the
hill lands we cut from three to six times. We have
no trouble in getting the stand. It will last usually
from four to six years without diminution, affording
from twenty to thirty crops of excellent hay; after
this it is thought better to plow up and replant than
continue to harvest from a reduced stand. We have
never pastured cattle, horses, or sheep upon alfalfa, but
have used it very satisfactorily with hogs. One of our
large Red River planters reports having raised 3,000
pounds of pork per acre of alfalfa. The weather, if
very dry, of course affects it; but with irrigation, which
we can practice upon the alluvial lands, it is made to

r22 ALFALFA

grow throughout any period of drouth that we may
have. It thrives rather better in the spring and fall or
winter in this climate than in midsummer with its
rains, which usually bring up a large quantity of crab-
grass with it. During the winter we cut it generally
twice, unless we have an unprecedented freeze. It
grows throughout the entire winter, affording two cut-
tings during the winter season. Last year we had sevy-
eral patches that were overrun temporarily with army-
worms, but we soon disposed of them, and since that
time they have caused no trouble. Of late a large
number of cutworms have appeared in the fields in
north Louisiana, and our entomologist, after examina-
tion, reported that parasites had begun to attack the
worms and that the field would soon be clear. His
prediction came true, and we have heard nothing
about them since early spring. I see no reason why
alfalfa cannot be pastured successfully, but we do not
consider it economical to do this, since we can very
quickly cut enough for a large stable for oneday. Its
value is so great that we are selling all the hay that
we can make here at the station (and our neighbors
are doing the same) at $15 per ton baled. In Shreve-
port it is worth $11 to $12 per ton.”’

MAINE

Charles D. Woods, director of the Maine station,
says alfalfa is a failure in Maine, as it will not stand
the severe winters. It was tried repeatedly fifteen to
twenty years ago on all kinds of soil and under all
conditions, and he presumes that it has been tried a
great many times in late years, but, if so, without
success. He says there is no difficulty in making it

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 123

grow the first season. ‘The trouble is that it will not
survive the winter. ‘‘ This is apparently not due to
the severity of the winter, but to smothering with
ice; as in irrigated sections in cold climates a favorite
method of destroying alfalfa when they wish to change
to other crops is to flood in the fall and allow a coat-
ing of ice to form over the tract. These conditions
exist practically everywhere in New England. Each
_year early snows and heavy fall rains leave the ground
saturated and more or less completely covered with
wet snow. ‘These storms almost invariably clear off
cold, and the saturated snow freezes. It is the excep-
tion when the fields are not more or less completely
covered for several weeks with a layer of ice. Some-
times it is severe enough to cause grass to winter-kill.”’

As examples of attempts to grow alfalfa in his
state, he cites two different conditions: one on a fairly
heavy loam and the other ona light sandy soil. In
both cases there was no difficulty in making the plants
grow fairly well during the first summer, leaving a
good covering on the ground for winter protection.
On both the heavy and light soil the plants failed to
survive the winter with the exception of here and
there a single plant.

MARYLAND

Director H. J. Patterson, of the Maryland station,
writes: ‘‘ Alfalfa has not been given a very extensive
trial in this state, yet it has been grown to a sufficient
extent to prove that it can be grown where proper
precautions are taken to obtain a stand. ‘The greatest
difficulty our people encounter in growing alfalfa is to
get it established. Weeds are very numerous and

‘124 ALFALFA

persistent in our state, and it is necessary to give
several years’ preparation to the land before seeding,
or else to keep the alfalfa weeded for about the first
half of the growing season, or until it getsa fair start.
Doing this is expensive.

‘“It has been started with partial success by seed-
ing with some other crop, such as oats, and cutting
about the time the oats headed out, so as not to allow
the oats to take the moisture or smother the alfalfa.
The soil which seems best suited to alfalfa is well-
drained light loam, although we have grown it here on
the station farm in a comparatively stiff clay; even in
such soil the roots penetrated more than two feet.
We generally cut when in full bloom, and the yield has
been from a ton to a ton and a half per acre of the air-
dried hay. One piece we have was seeded in 1893,
cut the first time in 1894, and has been cut from three
to four times every season since. We use it green
and as hay. Incuring we treat it exactly as we do
clover. We regard it as having the greatest value for
us as a soiling crop, as it gives a large quantity of
green feed from a comparatively small area, and is
particularly valuable, as it comes very early and also
gives us a cutting very late in the season.

‘“Tt seems fairly permanent after being well started,
but we have experienced trouble in top-dressing it
with manure which contained orchard-grass seeds, as
these came up and crowded considerable of the alfalfa
out. We have not given alfalfa very much of a test
in the way of pasturing, but used it one season for
ewes with lambs, and it appeared to endure the pastur-
ing very well.

‘“’The only enemy we have had trouble with was

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 125

on one piece seeded in very stiff clay ground that was
quite wet, and while it made a good start and a good
stand, yet, after the first cutting and the second
growth started up flourishingly, two or three days of
hot, sultry weather brought a blight which killed it
off entirely. This only occurred once, about eleven
years ago. I would not consider it quite so good as
red clover, from the fact that the animals do not seem
as fond of it, but other features make it a more desir-
able soiling crop for us.’’

MASSACHUSETTS

Prof. W. P. Brooks, of the station at Amherst,
writes: ‘‘I do not think alfalfa has been tried suffi-
ciently to determine whether it is a success or not.
Though results have been discouraging, we are still
experimenting. The cause of failure is not in all cases
the same, but the following have been observed to
exercise a very injurious effect: First, too much water
in the subsoil, due to injudicions selection of locality.
Second, the severity of our winter and early spring
weather without snow. ‘Third, a rust or blight which
kills most of the leaves early in summer, making the
yield very small and of little value. A soil perfectly
drained, with its water-table well below the surface and
of a medium texture, gives best results. Before seed-
ing the preceding crops must have left the land free
from weeds or weed seeds. The preparation must be
as thorough as for any other small crop. Seeding is
done in early spring, either broadcast or in drills eight
to ten inches apart, using twelve to twenty pounds per
acre. Hand-weeding, whether planted broadcast or in

126 ALFALFA

drills, seems to be in most all cases necessary, as the
plants grow slowly at first, and in our humid climate
with frequent rains would be choked out or greatly
weakened by weeds on almost all soils. When sown in
drills hand-cultivators have been run between the rows.
Cutting is done when in early bloom, and generally not
more than two crops per year, as the blight or rust
above alluded to checks the growth considerably. It
is best cured in cocks and is stored in a barn as other
hay.

‘‘Tt appears to be usually rather short-lived. As
so far grown here it commonly loses its vitality to such
an extent as to become unprofitable after three or four
years. Pasturing has not been tried. Severe cold of
winter and early spring at times when we have no rain-
fall is, I believe, one of the causes which weaken the
plant. On suitable soils the climate is seldom either so
dry or so wet, and never so hot as to injure well-estab-
lished alfalfa. Practically the only enemy of impor-
tance is the parasitic fungus or rust above alluded to.
When this appears it seems to be best to cut the crop
at once. Cutting apparently tends to check its increase,
and the new growth starts promptly. Alfalfa has not
been produced in such quantities as to have established
a place for itself in popular estimation, but is known,
however, to be a valuable fodder.’’

MINNESOTA

W. M. Hays, of the station at St. Anthony Park,
says alfalfa in Minnesota has generally been a failure.
There is one exception, which he notes below. ‘The
cause of failure is inability to withstand the severe

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 127

winters and to start well when first planted in cold,
moist soils, in the springtime. They are finding some
hardy varieties, which it is hoped will prove more suc-
cessful in the future. They have experimented on
heavy, medium, and light soils, and on light soils with
standing water ten feet below the surface. ‘The seed-
bed has been prepared in various ways, generally
planted early in the spring, with nurse-crop, without
nurse-crop, broadcast, and in drills. It has been cul-
tivated, hand-weeded, and even planted with a sort of
listing contrivance. At the experiment station it has
generally lived one or two years, then, with an open
winter, part or nearly all dies out. A suitable stand
to afford a yield has not been secured, with two excep-
tions. ‘The cutting was done when in early blossom,
and two or three light cuttings obtained on those plots
which had best withstood the winters. They have
not tried pasturing alfalfa; it stands the dry, hot sum-
mer, but not wet, cold springs or cold winters. No
plant or insect enemies have as yet been encountered,
and what experience they had in feeding has been sat-
isfactory. It is believed that alfalfa will yet be found
useful in Minnesota, but it must come through finding
hardier varieties.

Prof. Thomas Shaw expresses the opinion that past
failures do not prove conclusively that alfalfa will not
yet be successfully grown in wide areas of Minnesota.
‘“The same want of success followed the first attempt
to grow clover. Certain trials have been made near
Lake Minnetonka, in which it has been ascertained
that alfalfa grown from acclimated seed will succeed
much better than that produced by seed grown far-
ther south, This will mean that alfalfa seed should

128 ALFALFA

be sowed where it can be grown for further sowing.
In this way the plant will become so acclimated that
on suitable soils it may be grown with much regularity
and certainty.’”’

MISSISSIPPI

W. L. Hutchinson, director of the Mississippi sta-
tion, says: ‘‘ Very little alfalfa has been planted in
this state except in this immediate vicinity. Col. W.
B. Montgomery, of Starkville, has about 200 acres,
which is probably much the largest area found on any
one farm in the state. It is planted on second bottom,
with an alluvial soil and plenty of lime. It has suc-
ceeded as well as could be desired. Wherever the
land was thoroughly drained it has done well, at least
for a while, but at present we have no alfalfa on the
station farm, though we had some twenty-five or thirty
acres at one time. I believe about the only thing that
interferes with the crop in this state is that in the
spring our soil gets very wet—saturated, in faét—and
wherever it remains so for a week the alfalfa is killed.
Give us deep, thorough drainage, and I have no doubt
but alfalfa will do well in all parts of the state. We
have a large area of alluvial land between Memphis
and Vicksburg, known as the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta,
where the soils are from five to forty-five feet deep,
and of the very best material, which once was surface
soil somewhere. If this land is properly drained for
alfalfa it probably would be as widely known for its
wonderful productiveness of this crop as it is known
for its cotton production. Outside of this section are
large areas of creek bottom and valley that are similar .
in every respect.’’

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 129

The Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station
Bulletin No. 44 says of alfalfa: ‘‘ We have invari-
ably secured better results from fall than spring seed-
ing. If possible it should be sown in August or Sep-
tember, at the rate of twenty pounds per acre. On
account of the long drouths we have had for the past
few years it has been very difficult to get the land in
the proper condition and the seed sown at the proper
time. In the fall of 1896 we could not seed our land
until October 31 for the above reason, and as a result
of the late planting we got only two cuttings for hay
last summer, when we should have had three heavy
cuttings and one or two lighter ones, but the pasturage
we had from this field compensated in a measure for
the small hay yield. This meadow furnished excel-
lent grazing for the dairy cows during November and
December. Great care should be taken in turning
cattle or sheep on an alfalfa pasture, for the reason
that this plant when young and tender, or if wet from
rains or heavy dews, will bloat them. It does not
bloat horses or hogs, and hogs will keep in good con-
dition on alfalfa pasture with little other feed. When
cattle or sheep are to be put on an alfalfa meadow they
should be well fed and watered, and allowed to remain
on the meadow only a few hours at first. With this
precaution, there will be little danger of bloat.

W. B. Montgomery writes that alfalfa is a success
on their black, deeply drained limestone soil. ‘‘’The
land should be prepared by deep plowing and thorough

_ pulverization. Sow broadcast or in drills, twenty

pounds per acre, in the spring. Use a mower to keep
the weeds back, and in a favorable season a light crop
of hay may be expected the first year. After being

130 ALFALFA

well started four or five crops each year may be had.
Cut when in bloom, rake into windrows when well
wilted, cock the following day and leave until fit to put
in stacks or barn, which will be only a day or so.
Alfalfa is permanent when well started on well-drained
land unless pastured by heavy stock in wet weather.
It may be pastured by light stock except when very
wet. Dry fall seasons make the late cuttings much
lighter than the earlier ones. As a food for all kinds
of stock it is regarded as having no equal.’’

MISSOURI

H. J. Waters, dean of the Missouri station, says:
‘“ Alfalfa has been tried many years in various portions
of this state, and while not fair to say that it will not
succeed in special localities, and quite generally along
the western border, especially in the northwest, it does
not appear from our observations and experience that
it will prove a profitable crop in most portions of Mis-
sourl. We are not yet satisfied as to the exact cause
of this failure; in fact, it may be attributed) fovea
number of causes. On the stiff clay soils the hard-pan
is rather too near the surface to allow alfalfa to root
deeply enough. On one or two occasions we have had
a good stand ruined on such soils by too much rain in
early summer. Tile-draining does not seem to remedy
this, as we have tested it on a piece of the same kind
of land thoroughly drained, with the same results.
Again, the alternate freezing and thawing in early
spring, especially when the soil is saturated with
water, is very injurious. Our people find it difficult
to secure a good stand and to follow any practical plan
that will hold the weeds in check until the alfalfa

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 131

plants have been thoroughly established. This, how-
ever, is not an insurmountable difficulty, and would
not operate if we were sure of a permanent stand, or a
good stand for a number of years after it was once
obtained. But for the farmer to be at considerable
expense and labor to get a stand that is likely to perish
in one or two years, even under the best treatment,
does not appear to be profitable. On the station
grounds we have cut two good crops and one-half crop
per year for two or three years, but have not had what
we could call a good stand to last through any long
period. Asa feed we consider alfalfa lay superior to
red clover. It is asource of deep regret that we do not
succeed better with it, and we intend to continue our
efforts. It is likely that we shall be successful on open
sandy soils, but they are usually our best bottom-lands,
and could be more profitably kept in corn and wheat;
so, for the present at least, such lands will not be
generally available for alfalfa.’’

MONTANA

Prof. S. M. Emery, for many years director of the
Montana Experiment Station, writes: ‘‘ Alfalfa fields
in Yellowstone County have been mown for sixteen
consecutive years. It has been tested in many of the
- counties, and under proper selection of soil has usually
succeeded remarkably well. When not successful it
has usually been where, from irrigation, the water-table
has been forced upward or was too near the surface.
Alfalfa has succeeded best on second bench-lands—that
is, the second rise of land from the ordinary bottom-
lands bordering streams. Irrigated lands are desirable,
especially in the first years of the plant. Lands un-

132 ALFALFA

derlaid with gravel subsoil are good for alfalfa. Slopes
on which the winter snows lie best are good fields.
Locations to be avoided are such as hold water too
near the surface or on the surface, especially as the
ground is freezing in the fall. Preparation should be
thorough; alfalfa (to be irrigated) should never be
sown until the soil is perfectly mellowed by cultiva-
tion, and leveled by cutting off the knolls and ridges
and filling the depressions—a bringing up of the sur-
face of the soil to a general plane. ‘This is to facilitate
irrigation (and it does not matter if the irrigation be
natural or artificial, as the necessity is even greater to
distribute rainfall evenly than arn applied
water) and harvesting.

‘“When one sows an alfalfa meadow it should be
remembered that many years are likely to elapse before
it is to be plowed up; that twice or thrice each season
expensive machinery is likely to traverse it, and that
rough land is destructive to all machinery.

‘“In Montana, under irrigation, I would seed to
barley. In Kansas I would have clean, straight alfalfa
on the land and no other crop. A ‘nurse-crop’ is a
misnomer; a good nurse does not take the food and
drink out of the mouth of the helpless charge, and that
is what is done when the so-called ‘nurse-crop’ is
sown with the legumes. Ona rich soil, and with irri-
gation, we get in Montana a fine stand with barley,
supplying two irrigations to the growing crop of grain,
and follow the harvest, from August roth to September
Ist, with a third irrigation. Thus treated the alfalfa
will make a stubble-growth of twelve inches by freez-
ing-up time, and gives fine pasturage. We sow broad-
cast with a hand-seeder, from May 1st to 15th, fifteen

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES UES.

pounds to the acre, harrow very lightly, across the
drill-marks, and, if grain has been sown, with a Scotch
harrow. We are indifferent to the effects of late frost
upon the young plants. If sown with barley, as
stated, we pasture the meadow or grain stubble; if
sown by itself and irrigated, we cut two tons to the
acre; if in June the field sown with alfalfa alone is
weedy, we run a mower over it, with the cutter set
low; then irrigate as soon as plants will bear the appli-
cation of water without the soil baking.

‘‘ We begin mowing the first crop as soon as the first
few blooms begin to show; in cutting thus early we
‘make up on our codfish what we lose on our mack-
erel,’ as the second cutting comes that much earlier.
We cut twice, and in the lower valleys three times.
The yield is from two to seven tons per acre, depend-
ing on age of meadow, stand, water-supply, etc. Five
tons would be a fair estimate of the Montana yield.
The bulk of alfalfa in Montana is cut under contract.
The owners mow the meadow, and contractors take it
in the swath and put into stacks for from 75 cents
to go cents per ton. Hay outfits working on modern
lines run three men, five horses, and a hay-stacker,
and it is estimated that stacking forty tons is a day’s
work for such an outfit. About half a ton of hay is
brought to the stack out of the swath upon a low-
running ‘go-devil;’ this is so constructed that it is
tilted by a system of ropes and pulleys up and onto the
stack; very little hand-fork work is done, and the old
hay-wagon is relegated to the rear. Mowers begin
running as soon as the dew is off, say at 9.30 or 10 A.M.
Hay lies in the swath until 2 p.m. if itis clear and dry,
as it usually is at haying-time. A two-horse rake

134 ALFALFA

then rakes and roughly cocks it by running length-
wise of the windrows and pulling into bunches. These
are left, if the weather is fair, until the next day when
the dew is dried off; the stacker, or wagons (where
stackers arenotemployed), are brought into requisition,
and the hay stored away or stacked, as the case may
be. Whenever smart pressure in wringing a wisp of
hay does not bring sap to the outside of the twisted
rope of hay it is fit to stack. It lies so loosely that the
air will circulate through the common stack, contain-
ing eight to ten tons. As soon as the crop is off the
ground the meadow is hurriedly irrigated, and in three
to four weeks thereafter may be again mowed.

‘“On lands in which the water-table is from ten to
thirty feet below the surface, alfalfa fields seem to be
permanent. Great care is exercised to not irrigate in
the late fall, especially after August. Alfalfa fields
after two to three years old are always pastured in fall
and winter, after the hay season is past, mainly by
sheep and lambs. I would not keep stock on land
after it is thawed out in spring for two reasons: First,
the ground would be too soft; second, after the new
growth is started it would not be economical to graze
at all. Excessive dry weather in the absence of irriga-
tion would be destructive, especially to the young
meadows. It is thought that once it is strongly estab-
lished that it will stand severe drouth, with a dimin-
ished yield as the only result. Hot and windy weather
is detrimental unless the land be damp from irrigation.
Wet weather works no hardships between early spring
and August 30th, except as it might retard haying
operations. Cold weather does no injury if the plant is
well ripened up, especially the crown. Withthe ground

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 135

full of moisture, cold, frosty mornings in October or in
April will bark-burst the roots of the alfalfa, as it will
apple trees.

‘‘ Animal enemies are prairie-dogs, pocket-gophers,
and ground-squirrels. These are not likely to injure
the alfalfa field except to feed down the tender shoots
on irrigated fields, as they are drowned out by water.
This is especially true of prairie-dogs and squirrels.
Ground-squirrels in fields not irrigated or on knolls
above irrigation prey upon the roots, and the mounds
thrown up by them dull the sickle-blades and wreck
mowers. For all of these pests sulphide of carbon is
a sovereign cure. We follow the rodents to their holes,
put one-half teaspoonful of the chemical into a dried
horse-ball (dung), roll into the hole, and at once close
the hole with a shovel of earth. They are quickly
suffocated by the fumes arising from the carbon.

‘““An army cutworm (Cheriza quotis aquestis) has
been a cause of loss to alfalfa fields in western Mon-
tana. Remedies: Where ditches can be filled with
irrigating water, plow them deep with sharp banks and
fill with water. Large numbers can thus be drowned.
In the absence of water cut fresh clover or alfalfa, dip
in water containing one pound of Paris green to fifty
gallons of water and strew across their path on the
plowed field.

‘‘Dodder is an enemy to alfalfa. When found near

the infested area, let the hay cure well, and burn on the

ground where it grew.

‘« Alfalfa is a valuable food, depending upon the
harvest period and method of curing. If cut just as it
begins to bloom, and if it is so handled that the leaves
are preserved on the stem, there can be no better forage

136 ALFALFA

crop for fowls, swine, sheep, cattle, and horses. If
allowed to stand until the stem has become woody, and
is then handled so little reaches the stack except the
woody stems, it is a trifle better than hazelbrush and
not so good as bright oat straw or wheat hay cut a
little green. Alfalfa has great value to all lands pre-
disposed to alkali. This works in a twofold way. If
alfalfa can be sown on land prior to the alkali develop-
ing to where it encrusts upon the surface it will pre-
vent incrustation or crystalization of the alkali by
shading the surface of the ground. Again, alfalfa
takes up a large per cent. of alkali into the plant; ten
times more alkali salts are present in alfalfa-ash grown
on alkali land than is foundin plants produced where
there is no alkali. Chemical analyses have proved
this:”?

NEBRASKA

Mr. S. P. Baker, of Curtis, Frontier County, in
southwestern Nebraska, writes: ‘‘Seventeen years ago
I heard about alfalfa, and sent to San Francisco for
my first seed, which I sowed, ten pounds to the acre,
on ‘bench’-land; that first field is standing to-day,
vigorous as ever. I have eighteen acres that I have
had for five years on sandy ‘bottom’ and dark loam
‘second bottom.’ ‘The soil is the same to a depth of
two to five feet, and bears evidence of being washed
from the hills. On the ‘table’ or ‘bench’ land
water is 160 to 240 feet from the surface, on the
‘bottom’ thirty two feet, and on ‘second bottom’
fifty feet. On well-cultivated land deep plowing is
sufficient preparation, and seeding may be done as
soon as the frost leaves the ground. ‘The best

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 137

results are obtained by sowing thirty pounds of seed
to the acre, cross-sowing both ways, using a hand-
flyer, and putting in a bushel of barley to the acre
with it. During the first season the crop should be
cut as often as the weeds grow higher than the alfalfa.
I have never irrigated. Last year I had three cuttings,
averaging six tons to the acre, and I used the fourth
crop for hog-feed, with a small quantity of corn, allow-
ing the young pigs to run on it until they were
about four months old. The hay is cut when the
_ plants are in full bloom, and it will cure in twenty-
four hours of dry, hot weather. I stack it the same
as native hay and top it with native hay, as alfalfa
does not turn water well. The yield of hay is
double that of clover here. The alfalfa has made
excellent pasture for all kinds of stock, especially
swine, and we think will produce more than any
grass or other clover. Some care should be taken
in turning on stock-cattle when very hungry, lest
they bloat. ‘The native grasses are failing us quite
rapidly here, and nothing seems to supply our wants
but alfalfa. This year it has been growing stead-
ily, while every other grass, grain, and vegetable
has failed, and those neglecting to plant it have dis-
covered their error. Many have had to give up their
hogs on account of the hot, dry weather, causing a
failure of the corn crop, while, if they had had alfalfa,
they could have held the stock over. There is con-
siderable difficulty in ridding land of the plant, but a
very strong team can plow it under. It is the best
crop to preserve the strength of the land that I have
known in my experience.’’

S. W. Stilgebauer, of Red Willow County, says:

138 ALFALFA

‘‘T have raised alfafa for the past eight years, and
find it the most profitable crop that I have ever raised.
Last year I cut, for seed, forty acres; had it thrashed,
and sold the seed for $1,131.25, and made a good crop
of hay after the seed was.cut. This year I will cut
fifty acres for seed, and it will bring me $1,500.
Everything else here is killed by the dry weather, and
alfalfa is to us who have it asa bank-account for a
dry year.’’

NEW JERSEY

Edward B. Voorhees, director of the agricultural
experiment station, says: ‘‘ Alfalfa has been given a
sufficient trial to determine its success as a green for-
age and as hay. Success depends more than anything
else upon the character of the soil, method of seeding,
and treatment of the plant the first year. In ordinar-
ily good seasons here, four cuttings are obtained, the
first about the 2zoth of May. We usually have a dry
spell, or it would be possible to get five crops. In
1899 the yield of green forage per acre was 20.2 tons,
containing an equivalent in protein of that contained
in six tons of average wheat bran. It is valued as a
food largely because of its richness in protein, thus
enabling the farmer to raise a large proportion of the
feed necessary for the dairy. In 1900 the field at the
college farm yielded nine tons of green forage at the
first cut, and the second cut, just now made into hay,
but not hauled and weighed, is estimated to be between
one and a half and two tons. Its permanence depends
largely upon the thickness of seeding and the start
gained the first year. ‘The area now in alfalfa at the
college farm is in the third year, and is much better

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 139

than any previous year. I can give no positive infor-
mation as to whether it will endure pasturing here, as
I know of no farmers who have used it for that pur-
pose. We have not yet observed that alfalfa has here
any insect enemies, although the last growth in Sep-
tember or October is oftentimes checked by a fungus
which spots the leaves. ‘This does not seem to injure
the growth the next year, hence nothing has yet been
done in regard to it.’’

NEW MEXICO

Prof. Fabian Garcia, of the experiment station of
New Mexico, says alfalfa is a success, and the factor
which seems to determine its greatest success is the
soil rather than location; a deep and rich loamy soil
seems best. A very fine seed-bed should be prepared.
Drill in the last of January or the first of February,
fifteen to twenty pounds to the acre.

‘‘We irrigate to promote germination, and then
irrigate again before the first cutting. Usually it is
cut when about one foot high, to get rid of the weeds.
After this cutting is hauled away the field is irrigated
again, and sometimes it is irrigated before being cut
the second time. The first year the alfalfa is cut about
twice, and sometimes, when all conditions are very
favorable for growth, three times. After the first
season the cuttings are made when the alfalfa is about
in full bloom. ‘The fourth cutting is left until the
weather begins to freeze. On an average, alfalfa
yields one ton per acre at a cutting. After the alfalfa
is cut it is allowed to lie on the ground till the third

day, when it is raked, and this is done in the forenoon.

If yet too green to stack or bale, it is left in the wind-

140 ALFALFA

row, or it may be cocked and left for a day or more.
However, if it is dry enough it is stacked or baled, as.
the case may be. It is always best to rake in the fore-
noon, because the leaves stay on better. After being
well started alfalfa lives for a long time. ‘There are
fields in this vicinity that were seeded fifty years ago,
and to-day they are producing as heavy crops as the
newer fields. It endures pasturing well if frequently
irrigated. Dry and hot weather does not affect it
when there is sufficient water to irrigate with. We
have but very little wet weather, and it has no notice-
able effect on growth. Cold weather stunts the alfalfa
very much, especially in the spring, after it has started
to grow. Aside from cold spells in the late spring,
the cold weather does not injure the alfalfa. So far
the alfalfa has no serious enemies. The grasshopper
is the only one mentionable for its depredations, and
these invaders are infrequent, and nothing is done to
check them. Alfalfa is considered the most highly
valued and economical forage for the farmers of the
territory.’’

NEW YORK

Alfalfa does not appear to be as yet much of a
factor in the agriculture of New York. Prof. I. P.
Roberts, of Cornell University, says: ‘‘The attempt
to raise alfalfa in New York has not always been suc-
cessful. It seems that in some localities it thrives well;
in others it appears to be a failure, and its failure is
apparently due to uncongenial conditions of the sub-
soil. During the last five years many farmers have
tried small areas. Some speak very highly of it,
others have not been successful. The experiment

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES I4I

station at Geneva has a field of five acres, and they
speak highly of it. Heretofore, red clover has been
successful, and it has generally been the opinion of
the farmers that where red clover would produce two
good crops per year, it was not wise to attempt to
raise alfalfa. ‘The wheat farmers especially prize the
red clover because it prepares the ground so admirably
after it is either one or two years old for winter wheat
and also corn. Red clover has failed so often within
the last few years in this state that many farmers have
attempted to substitute alfalfa for it. Many parts of
New York, I think, are too cold for alfalfa, and I am
sure in many localities the subsoil is not congenial.”’
M. H. H., Steuben County, N. Y., writes in Ruval
New Yorker: ‘‘In the spring of 1899 I sowed one acre
of fertile clay loam corn stubble, after an excellent
preparation with Clark’s cutaway and spring-tooth
harrows, sowed to oats, seeding down with one-half
bushel of alfalfa and six quarts of timothy. The growth
of grass seeding was light at harvest, owing to dry,
hot weather, but later rains gave the alfalfa a fine
growth ahead of the red clover in the rest of the field,
which had been killed considerably, especially after
the oats were harvested. I pastured lightly with
sheep, and it went into winter with a fine promise of a
crop this year. But I was doomed to disappointment:
it all lay with its foot-long roots on top of the ground.
It could not be the exposed situation, as some sheltered
but arid land shared the same fate. It might have
been different under a more favorable winter. Asa
dry-weather plant it proved a grand success, but as a
winter plant on our hills it was a dismal failure.’’
‘‘Alfalfa grows well in the fine alluvial lands of the

142 ALFALFA

broader valleys of Wyoming County,’’ says O. F.
Royce, in American Agriculturist. ‘It should besown .
in the spring on wheat, the same as red clover, and
should be brushed in with a weeder and rolled. After
wheat harvest the alfalfa will stool out, and should be
cut with a mowing-machine about September 20th. It
may be cured for hay or fed green as a soiling crop.
It should be cut when in bloom, which in this latitude
is about June 20th, August 1st, and September 20th to
25th. With a good stand it will yield three tons per
acre at the first cutting, two at the second, and one and
one-half at the third. After the third cutting, if the
weather be mild, there should be some after-feed for
the cows or sheep, letting them on only in the middle
of the day when it is dry, and not allowing them to
remain too long at first.

‘‘When cutting alfalfa begin at three o’clock in the
afternoon, and rake and cock the next day before the
dew dries off. Turn once or twice without opening,
then open to the air and draw. An alfalfa meadow
should last five to ten years, and may be made perma-
nent by proper treatment. Alfalfa is an excellent
soiling crop, and, fed with silage, isa good milk pro-
ducer.’

Charles Mills, Onondaga County, N. Y., writes to
the editors of Country Gentleman :

‘“’The increase of alfalfa has been steadily from the
single acre to thousands in the county. It is just be-
coming the leading forage or hay crop. _

‘Tt has been provea it will stand a drouth where
everything else fails to give satisfactory crops. Tim-
othy sown with it will yield more timothy hay than
when sown alone, and it does not interfere with a

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 143

heavy growth of alfalfa. It helps hold up the alfalfa,
and aids in curing it, as the timothy dries first.
This mixture improves the quality of the hay, espe-
cially for horses. In the Syracuse market it is readily
bought by the horsemen, and usually brings within
one dollar a ton as much as clear timothy.

‘“T have seen fields this year, during a severe
drouth, yield three tons to the acre at the first cut-
ting, and half as much at the second cutting. Instead
of cutting the third time, the October and November
growth is pastured. It has been found this does no
harm, if the ground is firm. The pasturing should
not be too close, if it is desired to mow the following
year.

‘“It is a complete exterminator of Canada thistles.
In sight of my place is a field, part of which is timothy
and clover, which is covered with thistles, while the
alfalfa part is clear of them, after cutting for two
years.

‘The methods of seeding are various. I have seeded
with one and a half bushels of oats, using six quarts
of alfalfa and four quarts of timothy; harrowed and
rolled after seeding. Some seed on winter wheat. If
this is done, do not sow as early as is often done with
clover, and when sown the ground should be harrowed
with a smoothing-harrow. A clean bed is desired. A
corn-field or potato ground which has been well tilled
makes a desirable seed-bed. It can be sown alone or
with a light seeding of oats or barley. The soil should
be free from standing water during the winter. It
does the best on a soil without hard-pan. It roots
deep and will stand a drouth, for the reason that it
will find the moisture, If ground is drained with tile

144 ALFALFA

or stone ditches that have a stream of water running
in the drains during dry weather, it will fill them with
rootlets and clog the drains. I have at a depth of six
feet had it shut off a water supply to a water-ram.
Had every farm a supply of alfalfa, it would be worth
millions of dollars to this country. I have no failures
to report.’’

NORTH CAROLINA

Prof. B. Irby, agriculturist of the agricultural
college, writes of alfalfa in North Carolina, saying:
‘“Lucerne does very poorly for this state, generally
speaking; but in the stiff red soils in the middle section
I have seen a magnificent crop grow on the same land
for years in succession, being cut as many as five times
in one year, and making a heavy yield of hay besides
affording some pasture. On our sandy lands it does
practically nothing. I have sown it here on the
college farm several times, but have met with little
encouragement. I would not recommend it to our
farmers generally. No enemies to speak of have been
developed here, as very little has been grown.’’

NORTH DAKOTA

Prof. J. H. Shepperd, of the agricultural college,
says: ‘‘ A number of trials with alfalfa have been made
in this state in addition to those made at the station, and
we have not heard ofany one who has madea pronounced
success with it. The difficulty seems to have come
from failure to obtain a stand. At the station the
failure is attributed to the soil and subsoil being very
heavy and difficult to penetrate. Superintendent Hover-
stadt, of the Crookston station, put it very well con-

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 145

cerning his alfalfa when he said that ‘it neither lived
nor died’—that is, it lives in little patches and
bunches, and never makes a stand and never all kills
out.’’
OHIO

Prof. Charles EK. Thorne, director of the station at
Wooster, writes: ‘‘ The results of experiments at this
station with alfalfa have been chiefly negative. When
we sowed it on the rich bottom-lands of the farm we
occupied at Columbus the weeds choked it out, and
what has been sown here was on thin soil, with rock
but a few feet from the surface, and the growth has
been slow and unsatisfactory. JI apprehend, however,
that the difficulty has been rather in our management
than in the nature of the plant, for it has been very
successfully grown by Mr. J. EK. Wing, of Mechanics-
burg, Champaign County, this state, on the deep, grav-
elly loams of the glacial drift on which he is situated.’’

Mr. Wing says: ‘‘I take pleasure in answering
your questions regarding alfalfa, and assure you that
it holds its own here as elsewhere as the most valuable
crop that can be grown. As to its comparative
adaptability, I will say that last season, one of great
drouth, we secured a fair stand of alfalfa, while so far
as I know not one field of clover made a stand in my
neighborhood. Our alfalfa hasstood all inclemencies
of season, while the meadows of timothy and clover
have so deteriorated about me that we have been able
to sell alfalfa hay to neighboring farmers at $12 per
ton. That would seem a good method of teaching
them the value of the plant, but the fact is that very
little is being sown, and we stand practically alone in
_ growing it in this part of Ohio.

146 ALFALFA

‘‘ Perhaps we have on our farm half of the alfalfa in
the state. We sow about twenty-five acres yearly and
plow up as much, generally that which has been sown
four years. Doubtless we ought not to plow it up.
Our land is not yet well enough drained, and corners
and strips winter-kill. We find that stock will.destroy
it if allowed to tramp it in frosty weather, or if they are
put on it in sufficient numbers to gnaw it down too
close. Ifa pasture has in it a small area of alfalfa and
the rest grass the alfalfa wiil surely disappear, as the
animals will not eat much grass when they can get
alfalfa. Yet, a small proportion of grass in an alfalfa
pasture is good, as it tends to prevent bloat. We sow
Bromus itnermis as a mixture with alfalfa; the two
grow well together, and Bromus is a fine pasture grass
here on good land. It does not seem to be adapted to
poor soils in Ohio. We pasture with sheep, mainly.
Last season we lost two per cent.; this season not one
thus far. We take them off at 9 A.M., put on again as
soon as they want to graze, and they remain all night.
Cattle run on it all the time.’’

OKLAHOMA

John Fields, director of the Oklahoma station at
Stillwater, Payne County, says: ‘‘ Generally speak-
ing, location seems to determine the success or failure.
It is difficult to grow alfalfa on extreme upland, while
on the bottoms, if not too sandy, it is very profitable.
Deep plowing and a thoroughly prepared seed-bed are
essential. The land should have been in clean culture
crops for one or two years before seeding. The great-
est drawback is the crab-grass, which chokes out the
alfalfa. We use about twenty pounds of seed per acre,

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 147

putting it in with a drill in the spring when the soil is
in condition. Web-worms and gophers seem to be the
principal enemies. The former are difficult to com-
bat; the latter are easily poisoned. Alfalfa is not gen-
erally understood and appreciated. The tendency is
to sow, and as soon as it comes up to treat it like a
patch of sorghum, and turn hogs on it until they kill
it all, and then say, ‘ Alfalfa has failed.’ It would be
better if alfalfa in Oklahoma were not pastured at all.
While it may be pastured without harm if done intelli-
gently, as a rule we advise against it, for the reason
that it is nearly always overdone. Our fields on a
medium upland farm are only partially successful.
Bunch-grass is making its appearance and seemingly
crowding the alfalfa out.’’

Station Press Bulletin No. 56 says: ‘‘ Experience
with this valuable hay crop has shown that it will
thrive in many sections of Oklahoma, and the acreage
of it should be increased. A careful survey of the
reported failures leads to the conclusion that too close
pasturing has been the usual cause. Many fields of
alfalfa have been ruined by this method, while fields
close at hand that have been cut for hay, and pastured
but little, are in excellent condition.

‘* Alfalfa has a long tap-root, and will not do well
on soil with hard-pan close to the surface. It thrives
best on soils that have been plowed deep and well cul-
tivated. Early plowing for spring seeding is an ad-
vantage, as it gives the soil time to settle and become
. filled with moisture before sowing. The seed should
be sowed as soon as the soil is in good condition in the
spring. When the plants are about six inches high
they should be cut with a mower set high, and this

148 ALFALFA

operation repeated at intervals of two or three weeks
until the weeds are left behind the alfalfa in growth.
‘There are some objections to it, and sometimes sowing
late in August has proven better. If wheat ground is
plowed early in July, and the weeds are kept down by
frequent harrowing, and the seed sown after the soil is
filled with moisture, a good stand of alfalfa free from
weeds may be secured. ‘Trials of the Turkestan alfalfa
imported by the United States Department of Agricul-
ture are being continued by the station.

‘““Three cuttings of one ton per acre each have
been secured on the station farm at Stillwater, and the
alfalfa plats at the present time are in good condi-
tion.”’

OREGON

Prof. James Withycombe, agriculturist of the Ore-
gon station, says: ‘‘ The Cascade range of mountains
divides this state into two separate and distinct agri-
cultural sections as far as climate and soil are con-
cerned. In the eastern portion the soil is of volcanic
formation, or largely volcanic ash. The climate is
dry and semi-arid. Alfalfa with irrigation does re-
markably well. There are large areas, however,
that will grow alfalfa without irrigation. In western
Oregon the soil is mainly alluvial deposits, and the
climate is humid, with a precipitation of about forty-
four inches annually. Here alfalfa does not succeed
or only does so on well-drained land, hence very little
is grown. In eastern and southern Oregon alfalfa is
sown in the spring after danger from frost is past.
The soil is first thoroughly pulverized, and then from
ten to twenty pounds of seed is sown per acre, broad-

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 149

cast, and harrowed lightly. Itis permitted to grow
the first season free from molestation in case weeds do
not prove troublesome. If they do, a mower, set
rather high, is run over the ground as often as neces-
sary to keep the weeds in check. ‘The second season
from two to three crops can be cut on irrigated land.
Alfalfa should be cut as soon as the blossoms appear,
as it develops crude fiber quite rapidly after this stage.
It is cured like clover hay, and is equally as suscep-
tible to injury by rain. Alfalfa endures pasturing
pretty closely without suffering material injury. On
suitable soils it will remain good from ten to twenty
years. There are no enemies of consequence. Little
difficulty is experienced from pasturing alfalfa here if
the precaution is taken to turn the stock in when the
_plant is free from external moisture and the animals
are not hungry. Alfalfa is valued very highly for
soiling, silage, hay, or for pasturing. The plant is
rich in protein, very palatable to stock, and is easily
digested.’’
PENNSYLVANIA

Prof. G. C. Watson, of the state college, thinks
from the number of inquiries recently received per-
taining to alfalfa, that it is not well known through-
out the state. At the station it has been impossible
to secure a good stand, although trials have been
made. ‘The alfalfa winter-kills badly the first winter.
Limestone clay soil holds too much water, and the
plants are injured by freezing. It frequently happens
that during the greater part of the winter the ground
is covered with snow. Blister-beetles have injured
alfalfa, vetches, and some other leguminous crops con-
siderably.

150 ALFALFA

RHODE ISLAND

J. A. Tillinghast, of the experiment station at
Kingston, writes: ‘‘I think alfalfa has not been tried
sufficiently in our state to really determine whether it
is a success or failure. In experiments here we have
been fairly successful. The soil where grown was a
sandy loam. We found that the seed-bed should be
deep and thoroughly prepared. We seeded in May,
using a drill, and about fifteen pounds of seed to the
acre. ‘The first year it was cut but once, at the time
of blossoming. ‘The second year we made two cut-
tings. The yield seemed to be about like the ordinary
yield of clover with us, and we handled it and cured it
very nearly as we would a clover crop. As to perma-
nence, it seemed to be about the same as our red clover,
not winter-killing worse unless in places where water
stood and froze, forming ice. We had no trouble with
any particular enemies of the plant, with the exception
of dodder in small quantities. We did not experiment
with alfalfa as a feed, but I am inclined to think where
we can raise red clover to advantage I would prefer it
as a teed.’

SOUTH CAROLINA

J. S. Newman, of the South Carolina Experiment
Station, says alfalfa succeeds there on well-drained,
fertile soil, with a dry subsoil. The preparation of
the seed-bed should be about the same as for turnips.
Ten pounds of seed per acre should be sown in drills,
so as to permit of cultivation, after each cutting for
the first year, especially. Three to six crops per year
are harvested, depending on the season, giving an

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 151

average of three tons of hay per acre. ‘‘ Fields
twenty-five years old are still in good condition, but
continuous pasturing is detrimental, as it prevents
branching. Intermittent pasturing is not injurious.’’

SOUTH DAKOTA

Prof. James H. Shepard, director of the experiment
station at Brookings, says: ‘‘ Alfalfa is not generally
grown in this state. There are some portions where
irrigation is practiced that are raising fine crops. In
the Black Hills I have seen fine fields of irrigated
alfalfa, in the valleys, which gave from two to. three
heavy crops per year. From one and a half to three
tons per acre has been obtained at each cutting. ‘The
ordinary alfalfa does not seem to do well in the eastern
section of the state. The dry, cold weather of winter
seems fatal to the roots. We have great hopes, how-
ever, of the Turkestan alfalfa, which has given us very
good, results in small plats, but we have been unable to
obtain sufficient seed to make large sowings. ‘The
particular enemies of alfalfa are certain leaf-eating
insects, like the spotted blister-beetle. These seem to
retard the growth by destroying the foliage. With
patience we hope to accomplish much in the near
future.”

TENNESSEE

Andrew M. Soule, of the University of Tennessee,
at Knoxville, writes: ‘‘ Having been in the state only
a year, I have not been able to inform myself fully
about all the soils and crops, alfalfa being one of the
crops. There is a great deal of contradictory evidence
concerning its success. I notice a plot on the station

152 ALFALFA

farm that grows vigorously and seems to thrive well on
our sandy river-bottom soils. It has been known to
make a yield of two to two and one-half tons of cured
hay. Of course, we appreciate its feeding value very
thoroughly. It is somewhat difficult to establish a
stand in this climate, I understand, but there is no
reason why it should not succeed well, especially on
our ‘second bottom’ lands, and I have every reason to
believe it will. We will commence extensive experi-
ments soon to determine a number of points. Ona
neighboring farm there is a very healthy, vigorous
crop of alfalfa on second bottom-land similar to ours.
When it has been tried on the heavy red clay of the
state I believe it has failed in some instances. We
can, of course, appreciate the reason why. In other
instances where it has failed I believe it largely due to
a lack of preparation of the soil and seed-bed. Most
of the soils of Tennessee have been farmed in a one-
crop rotation until all the humus has been exhausted.
In many other instances the land has been washed
very badly. This has taken all the fiber and life out
of it, and the result is there is not sufficient vitality in
the soil to produce a good crop of alfalfa. When green
crops are plowed under on these lands, as cow-peas,
and lime and other fertilizers judiciously used, they
produce immense crops, and we think that when they
are treated in this way and a fine seed-bed prepared
that they will produce magnificent crops of alfalfa.
Alfalfa will afford two cuttings easily per year in this
section of Tennessee. I do not know of any alfalfa
fields being pastured. Our climate might be termed
humid through three-fourths of the season. We
generally have a drouth through part of July, August,

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 153

and September of more or less severity. The rainfall
of this section is about fifty-four inches per annum.
We do not know that any insect enemies have inter-
fered with alfalfa. About the only animal that does
any injury isthe mole. The value of alfalfa as a feed
is, of course, unquestioned. We fed it as a green
soiling crop to our dairy cows with most satisfactory
results, and regard it as essential on any dairy farm
where intensive methods are followed.’’
UTAH

Mr. O. F. Hunter, of Salt Lake City, writes:
“* Alfalfa has done more for Utah than any other crop,
being the most profitable that we can raise. I have
160 acres, and twenty years’ experience withit. My
land is upland loam and gravel soil, very dry from the
surface down to water, which is reached at a depth of
twenty-five feet. I prefer to seed in April or May,
first plowing the ground, sowing oats and harrowing
in; then sow the alfalfa seed, roll the ground, and
mark it off for irrigating. Twelve pounds of seed to
the acre is sufficient. The seed crop is harvested, and
after that there will be a light crop of cow-feed from
the alfalfa. Assoon as the weather is warm in the
spring I irrigate from a stream, and after that, when
the soil has dried, every ten days, being sure to apply
once just before cutting, in order to give the next crop
a good start. ‘There is no noticeable difference in the
quantity of water needed the first year and any other,
only that the more the ground is shaded the longer it
takes to dry out. If water is too near the surface of
the land, the crop will eventually die out; but it is not
liable to winter-kill here. The nearer hard-pan is to

154 ALFALFA

the surface the more water is required, and it some-
times needs to be irrigated every eight days. The
plant is at its best, usually, in one year from seeding,
and continues vigorous for ten to fifteen years. There
are three crops each season, yielding about two and a
half tons, two tons, and one ton, respectively. The
second cutting is sometimes used for seed, but gener-
ally the first. As soon as the pods turn black, and
the seed is ripe, it is cut with a common reaper, and
thrown aside so that the seed will not be run over.
When it is dry, it is thrashed with the ordinary
thrashing-machine. The hay is cut as soon as it
blooms, and raked while green into small bunches that
can be handled in one forkful. It is best stacked
with open-sided and shingle or lumber topped sheds.
Bales weighing one hundred pounds are preferred for
market, and the cost of preparing them is $2.25 a ton.
The total cost of alfalfa in the stack, on $30 land, is
about $2 per ton. ‘The hay is better for mutton and
beef than clover or timothy, but it is not so good for
driving-horses. My alfalfa has been used for feeding
beef, and I found that I could do as well with it as
with hay and corn, and the stock are very fond of it.
It is superior for feeding calves and young stock, and
we use it, after it is stacked, for feeding swine. The
pasturage is better for swine than clover, but it is best
to cut it and feed it to them. The hay and water will
keep them growing well. The thrashed straw is worth
about one-half as much as.that cut green for hay
alone. ‘There is some difficulty in clearing land of the
plant, because the roots are so hard to break up.”’

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 155

VERMONT

eee, Hills, director “ot the = station; writes:
‘* Alfalfa has hardly been given a sufficient trial to
determine absolutely whether it will be a success or
failure. About twelve years ago we tried it at some
forty-odd places throughout the state with uniform
failure. We have tried it several years at Burlington,
and have never been able to get a good stand except
at the present time, when we have a fairly good stand
of about three years’ growth. A few weeks ago I
visited an excellent field about twenty miles south of
Burlington. ‘This was upon a soil very well adapted
to it, being old orchard soil well drained. I think
the failures have, as a rule, come from poor choice of
soil, and more particularly from winter-killing. Iam
inclined to believe that such success as alfalfa has
attained in this state was due largely to character of the
soil, to good preparation of the seed-bed, and to careful
attention the first year.’’

WASHINGTON

F. M. Lowden, Walla Walla: ‘‘In twenty-two
years I have had an experience with from one to four
hundred acres of alfalfa, on ‘bottom,’ ‘ second bottom,’
and up land, with clay, sand, and loam soils, with sub-
soil of hard-pan and strong alkali from eighteen to
twenty inches below the surface, and water at depth
of eighteen to twenty feet. The soil is seldom moist
all the way down, the dry soil beginning five to eight
feet below the surface and ending within two or three
feet of the water. After plowing deep and harrowing
well, I sow in the spring, late enough to miss frost,

156 ALFALFA

twenty-five to thirty pounds to the acre; then cover in
light soil from one to two inches, and in clay soil less.
During the first season it should be mowed, so that the
weeds cannot choke it out, and then there will be
about a ton of hay to the acre to be cut in August.
I irrigate with water from streams; thoroughly in the
spring and after each cutting, using enough water to
to soak the ground for a few days. New land requires
more water than old, but the quantity needed is about
the same every year. Atthree years the plant attains
its best yields, and with proper care will not need
reseeding. There are usually three cuttings each sea-
son, with an average of one and one-half tons to the acre,
and I have known five cuttings. Itis mowed for hay
when it commences to bloom, and for seed any time be-
fore the frost comes, the second crop being best for the
latter use. ‘[Theseed ismowed, thrashed, and dried as
any other clover is. The hay should lie before raking
until it is thoroughly wilted, then cure in cock two or
three days. We stack in ricks sixteen to eighteen feet
wide and any desired hight or length. ‘The hay will
not heat if well cured before stacking. On land
valued at $40 an acre the cost of hay in the stack is
about $1.50, and to bale this costs $2 aton. The yield
of seed is five to ten bushels to the acre, and it sells
for $4.50 to $7.50 a bushel, while hay brings $4 per
ton. For thrashing, a clover-huller is better than a
common machine. ‘The alfalfa straw is of double the
value of any other straw for feeding. The hay grown
without irrigation is not so rank as that which is
watered, and is consequently more valuable as a feed;
any is better than timothy, and equal to clover for
cattle, but the seed must form in it to make it valuable

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 157

for working-horses. After cutting three crops in a
season, I usually use the field in the fall for pasturing
cattle, and it furnishes nearly double the feed the red
clover will, acre for acre. For hogs the pasturage is
much better than clover, and I sow with blue-grass
and clover on rich ground. For horses and sheep the
pasturage is better than clover, but causes bloat in
cattle in the same way. It is difficult to plow up
alfalfa, but continued cultivation will rid land of it
when desired.’’

WISCONSIN

Prof. S. M. Babcock, assistant director of the sta-
tion at Madison, says: ‘‘ We have had little experi-
ence with alfalfa at the station, never having more
than a small plot at one time. I do not think it is
raised as a forage crop in this state—certainly not to
any great extent.’’

WYOMING

B. C. Buffum, vice-director of the experiment sta-
tion at Laramie, refers to bulletins published by his
station which give the magnificent results obtained
with alfalfa in that state. ‘‘Its points of advantage
over other hay crops are, (1), its large yield per acre;
(2), its hardiness, after getting started, standing
drouth well; (3), its high nutritive value, any kind of
stock making flesh and fat upon it without other
food, and (4) instead of impoverishing the soil it en-
riches and leaves it in fine condition for any other
crop, as do the clovers and other leguminous plants.

‘* Alfalfa does well upon almost any land that will
produce other crops, providing it is not too wet or

158 ALFALFA

underlaid with a hard or impervious subsoil. Gener-
ally it does not do well above 7,000 feet altitude, though
in sheltered localities in Carbon County it is reported
as thriving at this altitude, and produces two crops.
On the Laramie Experiment Farm, situated at about
7,200 feet altitude, it made a good stand and lived
through the winter, but the plants did not look
thrifty and made little growth. Dodder appeared in
the second year and all was plowed up.

‘‘Trrigation seems to be necessary to make alfalfa
reach its best development. We cannot recommend it
for general cultivation in this state where irrigation
cannot be applied, though when once established it
takes a great deal of drouth to kill it. It requires
considerable moisture to germinate the seeds and keep
the plants growing the first year. For hay, twenty or
twenty-five pounds of seed to the acre is required, but
if planted for the production of seed, half this quan-
tity is sufficient. Sowing oats with the seed is recom-
mended, as they shade and protect the young plants.

‘“The general rule for harvesting all hay crops is
to cut them at the time of blossoming or soon after.
It is probable that the time to cut alfalfa to obtain the
most nutritious hay is when it is budded and just be-
fore blossoming. This was determined by both chem-
ical analysis and feeding experiment at the Colorado
station.”’ ;

M. R. Johnston, superintendent of the Wheatland
Experiment Farm, in writing of alfalfa, says: ‘‘ June
20, 1891, one acre on the experiment farm was planted
to alfalfa, twenty-four pounds of seed being used.
As the weather was hot and dry the seed did not ger-
minate, and it was irrigated to bring the plants up.

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 159

During the season of 1892 there were harvested from
this acre seven tons 1,720 pounds, and in 1893 seven
tons 1,752 pounds.

‘“Our experience with alfalfa has demonstrated, I
think, that we have a natural home for this plant.
For the arid region I believe it is much superior to
any other forage plant, being a much more profitable
crop to grow on our high land than. either the native
blue-stem or grama-grass. Ido not dispute that the
native grasses contain a larger per cent. of nutritious
matter, but the superior cropping qualities of the
alfalfa is greatly in its favor.’’

CANADA

Pron. A. Zavitz, of the Experimental Depart-
ment of the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph.
says: ‘‘ Alfalfa seed has been distributed to farmers
throughout Ontario during each of the past ten years.
It is found that in some localities and on some farms
the alfalfa proves quite successful, while in others it is
sometimes a total and sometimes a partial failure.
-The cause of the failure seems to be poor seed, killing
out the first winter, and unfavorable conditions of sub-
soil. A medium or elevated location appears to be
best. ‘The character of the top-soil does not seem to
exert as much influence as that of the subsoil; the
best results are frequently obtained where the subsoil
is a gravelly or sandy loam, and is naturally well
underdrained. Alfalfa starts well on land which has
had potatoes, corn, roots, or rape the previous year.
The land should not be plowed after these crops are
harvested, but be thoroughly cultivated. Alfalfa is
sown eighteen to twenty pounds per acre, in the fall

160 ALFALFA

and in the spring, with or without grain crops, at each
season, but the best results are obtained by sowing in-
the spring either alone or with a light seeding of
grain. About one bushel of barley per acre makes an
admirable nurse-crop, and at the same time gives a
very good yield of grain. During the first year, if
sown alone, a mowing-machine is usually run over to
cut the weeds. If sown with grain no special treat-
ment is necessary after the grain is cut. It is advis-
able, as a rule, not to pasture the first year, although
in exceptional circumstances, when the growth is un-
usually large, it might be pastured to a limited extent.
Thorough experiments in determining yield per acre
and digestibility by feeding to sheep show that the
best results are obtained by cutting when the plants
are about one-third in blossom. One lot of alfalfa for
five years gave an average of three cuttings per year,
there being four cuttings one year, two cuttings
another year, and three cuttings in each of the other
three years. ‘The average yield was from seventeen to
twenty tons of green hay per acre annually.

‘‘Tn curing great care must be taken not to allow |
it to lie in the hot sun too long and dry the leaves so
that they will fall off. It is permanent after being
well started, as farmers have alfalfa that has grown
for about twelve years in succession without being
reseeded; but it does not seem to endure pasturing
very well, as animals eat very close to the crown of
the plant. The alfalfa seems to thrive best in warm
weather, with frequent showers. Although affected
by the hot, dry weather of the summer, it is not as
greatly influenced as most other plants with shorter
roots. If they have a luxuriant growth early in the

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 161

spring, followed by a frost, the plants seem to be
injured more than those of red clover or alsike clover.
The greatest source of trouble ‘with alfalfa seems to be
from crowding by weeds, especially the first year, if
sown by itself. Even after it is well established the
crop is sometimes pretty badly crowded out by the
Candanian blue-grass (Poa compressa).

‘There is risk when pasturing the crop alone. I
have known within fifteen months three instances in
which cattle have died while pasturing on alfalfa, and
in nearly all cases the animals have been pastured in
the same field for some time. When alfalfa is sown
with grasses for a permanent pasture there does not
seem to be the same danger from pasturing on it.’’

2

GENERAL INDEX

Alfalfa asa honey plant. . 63, 84
Alfalfa in:
ANTRAC IN 2 shee nee 102
AME GVRSEIS) 5 en 103
CAILC ican as en ae 104
BAUM Ese ee eS ss 159
IECHOTLOGOLCA 60 5. b- ) sean sw 107
BRM cIVerey sto) eA fs a ese se 108
ODI SSI a een eee 109
IGain® . ue Sates eee IIO
UN OS UT ee 112
MGT). c, “ARS 113
ITEVG ENO VEL Ae II4
IESUOSAS Oke Gy te es coe ee II5
TL (OAETUSTIAU 52) aie 121
INMIATIONS., SO eee eee arr 122
Mictiaatmd sr. 2) Sk kas ew 123,
WrASSACHUSELES) . 2 2 0. nek 125
MMIC SOLAW hs” 2. sinks. SoS es 126
MISSISSIPPI con fs ke is Sse Soe 128
INS O iS) ee ea 130
IY (OVO EIZ TS Wee as Senne ee er et 131
I feels keereiretes een ek: Shee 136
INGWAVEESCVes Gl ls 6 Fe we 138
INGWAMIERHICO: 6 5 Row ass 139
Ge NEOTEL SS ee se 140
MOnuMVCALOlIMA.. .. f. . e 144
IN yes) <6) 144
MOLMOMPEI 0 tues se ale T45
OkonMiay s 6 gS 146
We COlerme see eA i es 148
Hemuswivatlia . %. 2 5 sa 2-4): 149
Ode mmSlande ss i SAkhe ste Boe 150
SOMPMMCATOlMA a) 58.0 . wo: 150
Souch Dakotas =: 2 4). s-.. % 151
THERES 2 he ee mre I51
Oita enema ee Se an ti 153
WGTRRICIDG ia 5a ee eee 155
Washinetom se 22. ee 155
BASCOM s A oe ss Yes 157
Bee OTIS eee ey cans acess ia 157
Alfalfa for:
IaVCOWS . 5. ke ees ae 49
IEORSES Se ea 61
PASIOIICS, 5 Oe 32
POWINEAY 5) 5) Nee eee 62
SUIGEG 5 so Sete One eee 62
Soniye... 5: 225, aca eee e 22
Silt. 2 Gea con ean 54
Alfalfa hay, Feeding value of. . 44
Alfalfa hay for fattening steers .. 52

Alfalfa-root rot, a fungus disease

Alfalfa vs. corn
Bacteria, alfalfa’s most important
parasitic friend
Balanced ration,Makinga....
Botanical position
Climate and soil
Comparative value of alfalfa hay
and other feedstuffs for pro-
tein
Description
Disking and harrowing: Often
essential to success
Beneficial to plant
Destroys ’hoppers eggs
Effect on rootsand stems. .
Further experimentsin ....
Kills cutworms
Dodder—alfalfa’s worst parasitic
GIIStIYA Ha Ae ese aye ae
Feeding alfalfa hay
Feeding scientifically
Feeding standards for farm ani-
TMANS Pee ee ret Fete mn en eae A ae
Feedstuffs—digestible nutrients .
Food requirements for alfalfa. .
Gophers, and how to exterminate
Grasshoppers injurious; how to
destroy
Growth, habits of
Harvesting
History
Introductory
Length of life
Nurse-crop undesirable
Place in rotation
Prairie-dogs, and how to exter-
minate
Roots, Penetrating powerof.. .
Seed-bed, and its preparation
Seed, Germinability of
Seeding, Method of
Seeding, Time of
Seed, Quantity and quality of, for
sowing
Sheds foralfalfa economical. . .
Soil and climate
Treatment of young alfalfa ...
Turkestan alfalfa—a hardy new
variety
Varieties
Yields, Comparison of, with other
tame grasses

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oe LUBLISHED S BY as

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OOKS sent to all parts of the world for catalog
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RECENT BOOKS BY THOMAS SHAW

Professor of Animal Husbandry at the University of Minnesota,
formerly Professor of Agriculture at the Ontario Agricultural College.

Animal Breeding

The most complete and comprehensive work ever published on the
subject of which it treats, and the first book of the kind ever given to
the world which has systematized the subject of animal breeding.
The striking originality in the treatment of the subject is no less con-
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the beginning to the end of the book. Illustrated. 5x8 inches, 13
full-page plates, about 400 pages. $1.50.

The Study of Breeds

Origin, history, distribution, characteristics, adaptability, uses, and
standards of excellence of all the pedigreed breeds of cattle, sheep,
and swine in America. The accepted text-book in colleges, and the
authority for farmers and breeders. 387 pages, 5 x 8 inches, 60 full-
page plates. $1.50.

Forage Crops Other than Grasses
How to cultivate, harvest, and use them. Indian corn, sorghum,
clover, leguminous plants, crops of the brassica genus, the cereals,
millet, field roots, etc. Intensely practical and reliable. 295 pages.
Illustrated. 5x8 inches. $1.00.

Soiling Crops and the Silo
The growing and feeding of all kinds of soiling crops, conditions to
which they are adapted, their plan in the rotation, etc. Best methods
of building the silo, filling it, and feeding ensilage. Illustrated.
5 x 8 inches, 378 pages. $1.50.

Swine Husbandry

By F. D. CopuRN. New, revised, and enlarged editition. A practical
manual for the breeding, rearing, and management of swine, and the
prevention and treatment of their diseases. In preparing this work
it has been the object of the author to condense in one volume, from
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successful, and observant men who have followed the business in our
time, and in our own country, acting upon the belief that no one
man, or atty half-dozen men, know all there is worth knowing on a
subject so extensive and important as that of Swine Husbandry. It
is the fullest and freshest compendium relating to swine breeding yet
offered. Cloth, 1zmo. Illustrated. $1.50.

Home Pork Making

The art of raising and curing pork on the farm. By A. W. FULTON.
A complete guide for the farmer, the country butcher, and the
suburban dweller, in all that pertains to hog slaughtering, curing,
preserving, and storing pork product—from scalding vat to kitchen
table and dining-room. Fully illustrated. Cloth. 50 cents.

Shepherd’s Manual

By HENRY STEWART. A practical treatise on the sheep for Ameri-
can farmers and sheep-growers. The results of personal experience
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Cloth, 12mo. $1.00.

Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Allied Vegetables.

By C. lL. ALLEN. A practical and reliable guide to the successful
raising of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, collards, Brussels sprouts,
kale, and kohlrabi, from ‘‘seed to harvest.’’ Illustrated. 5x8 inches,
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Hedges, Windbreaks, Shelters, and Live Fences

By E. P. POWELL. The planting, growth, and managemeut of hedge
plants for country and suburban homes. Illustrated. 5x8 inches,
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Landscape Gardening

By F. A. WauGH. A treatise on the general principles governing
outdoor art, with sundry suggestions for their application in the
commoner problems of gardening. Illustrated. 5 x 8 inches, 150 pages.
Cloth. 50 cents.

Plums and Plum Culture

By Prof. F. A. WaucH. A complete manual for fruit-growers,
nurserymen, farmers, and gardners, on all known varieties of plums
and their successful management. A monograph of the plums culti-
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of their propagation, cultivation, and utilization. It is one of the
most complete, accurate, and satisfactory works ever written for the
field of American horticulture. Illustrated. 5 x 8 inches, 371 pages.
Cloth. $1.50.

Hemp (Cannabis sativa)

By S.S. Boyce. A practical treatise on the culture of hemp for seed

and fiber, with a sketch of the history and nature of the hemp plant.

All the various operations connected with hemp culture are so plainly

and clearly described as to enable any one to make a success of hemp-
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Irrigation Farming

By LUTE WiLcox. A handbook for the practical application of
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The New Rhubarb Culture

By J. E. MorsE and G. B. Fiske. A complete guide to dark forcing
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50 cents.

The New Egg Farm

By H. H. Stopparp. A practical, reliable manual upon producing
eggs and poultry for market as a profitable business enterprise,
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pages. I40 original illustrations. Cloth. $1.00.

Turkeys and How to Grow Them

Edited by HERBERT Myrick. A treatise on the natural history and
origin of the name of turkey ; the various breeds, the best methods
to insure success in the business of turkey growing. With essays
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and Canada. Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. $1.00.

Tobacco Leaf

By J. B. KILLEBREW and HERBERT MyRIck. Its culture and cure,
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Handbook of the Turf

By SAMUEL L. BOARDMAN. A treasury of information for horsemen,
embracing a compendium of all racing and trotting rules: laws of
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American Grape-Growing and Wine-Making

By GEORGE HUSMANN. New and enlarged edition. With contribu-
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The Fruit Garden

By P. Barry. A standard work on fruit and fruit trees, the author
having had over thirty years’ practical experience at the head of one
of the largest nurseries in this country. Invaluable to all fruit
growers. Illustrated. Cloth, 1zmo. $1.50.

Small Fruit Culturist

By ANDREW S. FULLER. The book covers the whole ground of
propagating small fruits, their culture, varieties, packing for market,
ete. Illustrated. 5x8 inches. Cloth. $1.00.

Gardening for Profit

By PETER HENDERSON. The standard work on market and family
gardening. The successful experience of the author for more than
thirty years, and his willingness to tell, as he does in this work, the
secret of his success for the benefit of others, enables him to give
most valuable information. The book is profusely illustrated. Cloth,
I2mo. $1.50.

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