F.D. COBURN
Book At Ge a
Copyright N° IF OG
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
NK ee <
oes
Bi FACET
pe *
Pes kD
eM es ee
> apt
4 4
[t is the pleasure of the publishers to present to those who are interested in alfalfa, the man
who declined an appointment as United States Senator, that he might continue to direct the
affairs of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture in general and of farmers in particular.—
Orange Judd Company.
The Book of Alfalfa
HISTORY, CULTIVATION AND MERITS.
ITS USES AS A FORAGE
AND FERTILIZER
** * *® Shanish clover, such as has
Usurped the Occident and dwells
On Sacramento’s sundown hills,
And all the verdant valley fills
With fragrance sweet and delicate
As wooing breath of woman is.
—Joaguin Miller.
By F. D.. COBURN
Secretary Kansas Department of Agriculture
Thutrated
1906
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
New York
LIBRARY of CONGRESS
Two Copies Received
Copyright, 1906 by
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
New York
THERE ARE SOME SILENT SUBSOILERS
THAT DO THEIR WORK WITH EASE, AND,
IN THEIR WAY, MORE EFFECTUALLY
THAN ANY TEAM OR PLOW EVER
HITCHED. THE CLOVER PLANT IS RIGHT-
EOUSLY FAMED AS ONE OF THESE, BUT
ALFALFA IS ITS SUPERIOR. ITS ROOTS
WORK SUNDAY AS WELL AS SATURDAY,
NIGHT AND DAY; THEY STRIKE 5, 10, 15 OR
zo FEET DEEP, MAKING INNUMERABLE
PERFORATIONS, WHILE STORING UP
NITROGEN, AND WHEN THESE ROOTS
DECAY THEY LEAVE NOT. ONLY A
GENEROUS SUPPLY OF FERTILITY FOR
ANY DESIRED CROP, BUT MILLIONS OF
OPENINGS INTO WHICH THE AIRS AND
RAINS OF HEAVEN FIND THEIR WAY,
AND HELP TO CONSTITUTE AN UNFAIL-
ING RESERVOIR OF WEALTH, UPON
WHICH THE HUSBANDMAN CAN DRAW
WITH LITTLE FEAR OF PROTEST OR
OVERDRAFTS.
‘ Its long, branching roots penetrate far down, push and
crowd the earth this way and that, and thus constitute a
gigantic subsoiler. These become an immense magazine of
fertility. As soon as cut, they begin to decay and liber-
ate the vast reservoir of fertilizing matter below the plow,
to be drawn upon by other crops for years to come.’’
The Author’s Foreword
This volume, however strong its statements in favor
of alfalfa may appear to those unacquainted with that
plant’s productivity and beneficence, is by no means pre-
sented as an argument that everyone should raise alfalfa.
It is intended rather as a conservative setting forth of
what others have found alfalfa to be and do under wide
variations of soil, climate, condition and locality; of its
characteristics and uses; the most approved methods of
its raising and utilization, and the estimates of it by
those who have known it most intimately and longest
as a farm forage crop and a restorer and renovator of
the soil.
The author believes in alfalfa; he believes in it for the
big farmer as a profit-bringer in the form of hay, or
condensed into beef, pork, mutton, or products of the
cow ; but he has a still more abiding faith in it as a main-
stay of the small farmer; for feed for all his live stock
and for maintaining the fertility of the soil.
To avoid the appearance of both special pleading and
exaggeration the statements have been guarded, and
many of a laudatory nature, which fully authenticated
tacts seemed to justify, have been omitted, as neither the
author nor the publishers have desire or willingness to
extol unduly a commodity so little needing it as that of
which the volume treats. Alfalfa’s strongest commen-
dations are invariably from those who know it best; none
are incredulous who know it well, and none have grown
it but wished their acreage increased.
F, D. COBURN.
Topeka, Kansas.
1906
Introductory
BY
Former Governor W. D. Hoard, of Wisconsin
Editor Hoard’s Dairyman
I am exceedingly gratified by the preparation and
publication of a new and larger work devoted to the sub-
ject of Alfalfa. The earlier effort by Mr. Coburn upon
the same subject was in many respects a classic, and I
am sure farmers everywhere will now hail with joy the
advent of a kindred work by him, still more complete.
It is strange, this late awakening all over the Union
and in Canada to the feeding value and possibilities of
this marvelous plant. Again, it is wonderful to me that
within a few years farmers everywhere are being com-
pelled to revise their judgment as to their chances of
success with it. A large correspondence on this subject
comes to me from every state in the Union and the prov-
inces of Canada, and success is being had in the growing
of alfalfa where not more than three years ago it was
deemed impossible to make it live. Of course the ques-
tion of growing alfalfa contains a thousand or more
chances for good or poor judgment. Men who are not
too conceited, too ignorant or too stubborn to learn by
reading other men’s experience will go ahead rapidly
and soon make a success of it.
I believe this alfalfa movement is the most important
agricultural event of the century. For the production of
and rightly cured alfalfa hay furnishes almost a perfect
ration, requiring but a small addition of grain feed. Both
of these can be cheaply and easily produced on nearly
every farm in the land. In my herd of nearly fifty reg-
istered and grade Guernsey cows these feeds constitute
the sheet anchor of my dairy work.
No one more literally abets the growth of two blades
of grass where one grew before than he who effectively
urges the cultivation of alfalfa upon those who are
strangers to it, and no one is more truly working for the
benefit of agriculture, the basis of all prosperity, than he
who proclaims its excellence as the foremost forage.
Hoard’s Dairyman will do all in its power to enhance
the circulation and reading of such a book as Mr. Coburn
has made.
W. D. HOARD.
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
1906
Table of Contents
Page
Introductory é : ‘ oh NL
The Author’s Boeara 5 : : > x
CHAPTER I
History, Description, Varieties and Habits . : I
CHAPTER II
Universality of Alfalfa : ; 3 ‘ 13
CHAPTER III
Yields, and Comparisons with other Crops ; 20
CHAPTER IV
Seed and Seed Selection : ; : 27
CHAPTER V
Soil and Seeding : ‘ ; ; 4 44
CHAPTER VI
Cultivation ; : : : : : 67
CHAPTER VII
Harvesting ; : ‘ ; ‘ ; 79
CHAPTER VIII
Storing : : 4 : : é 93
CHAPTER IX
Pasturing and Soiling : ; : 107
CHAPTER X
Alfalfa as a Feed Stuff : P oan F
CHAPTER XI
re in Beef-Making : ° 51.2838
CHAPTER XII
Alfalfa and the Dairy ‘ P : Phage 7 i}
be
CHAPTER XIII
Alfalfa for Swine
CHAPTER XIV
Alfalfa for Horses and Mules
CHAPTER XV
Alfalfa and Sheep Raising
CHAPTER XVI
Alfalfa and Bees
CHAPTER XVII
Alfalfa and Poultry
CHAPTER XVIII
Alfalfa Food Preparations
CHAPTER XIX
Alfalfa for Town and City
CHAPTER XX
Alfalfa in Crop Rotation
CHAPTER XXI
Nitro-Culture
CHAPTER XXII
Alfalfa as a Commercial Factor
CHAPTER XXIII
The Enemies of Alfalfa
CHAPTER XXIV
Difficulties and Discouragements
CHAPTER XXV
Miscellaneous .
CHAPTER XXVI
Alfalfa in Different States
154
165
171
175
180
182
187
189
196
204
206
220
223
231
List of Iflustrations
Page
EDP MOOWUN otal i Moule |Z) Resin oe, hares Frontispiece
A Typical Altalia Plant. -.. ; Gis I
Typical Stems and Foliage of the Alfalfa Plant I
Crown of Plant Shown in the Preceding Illus-
oO’
tration J ERS PEAR S10
An Eight-year-old Alfalfa Plant a) lui a eae 6
Alfalfa Blossoms Enlarged . . . . 7
Intergrading Types of Seed Between Alfalfa
and) sweet, Clover) )..c(?. A ee
Seeds of the Weed Known as Backhoe raaP Se hy
Alfalfa Seeds Magnified Five Diameters . . 13
Sweet Clover—Alfaifa—Yellow Trefoil . . 26”
Three Distinctive Types of Alfalfa Seed Mag-
mined | A welvel “amesy Shr 7) aa ley Page ee
meer reroll Fads 1S i) Scr aie’. te cher cen SRS
Peta OPER OE GUS) 5 fli rt a A Rl eS ad Be
mare Clover teed Bods: 46 yoga la) 6 bs Va es 33
Sweet Clover Pods . . . PR Re |
Three General Types of Alfalfa Seed Ora twas: ©
Pinader Seed Macnified 0) 8/3000.) ba ie Le 45
Pride seed Mamnsteds ou is rek0 ay ke de) en SAS
Dodder Plant on an Alfalfa Stem . . ou taee
Alfalfa and Dodder Seed. (Actual Size) SR Ag
Dedder i (Cuscuta avicwis)) a. jae ee ee A
Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) . . . . 47
x - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,
Peculiar Nodules in Groups on Small Rootlets
Alfalfa Roots Showing Normal Nodules
Gathering Alfalfa Hay into Windrows with a
Side-delivery Horserake
Cutting a Fine Field of Alfalfa
Alfalfa Harvesting Scene in Yellowstone
County, Montana
Gathering an Alfalfa Crop in Pare Coaiy,
Iowa :
A Derrick Stacker
Mast and Boom Stacker, with Six- ea ae
son Fork :
Box Rack for Feeding Alfalfa to Stes
Lattice Rack for Feeding Alfalfa to Cattle
Box Rack for Feeding Alfalfa to Cattle
Lattice Rack for Feeding Alfalfa to ati
Alfalfa Field in New Jersey
A Second Cutting of Alfalfa (July 28) in
Shawnee County, Eastern Kansas
Steers Eating Chopped Alfalfa and Corn Meal
Mixed as
Dorset Ewe Lambs in Alfalfa i in Ohio
Showing Advantage of Early Fall Sowing
Five-year-old Alfalfa
Alfalfa One Year Old, Showing Effects af
Inoculation
A Good Type of a Four-year- bald Alfalfa Plant
Alfalfa Plant and Roots Showing Bacteria
Nodules
Page
66 °
67
78 |
79
92
92
a3
93
106 /
106
107
107
124°
125
138
139
154.
155
170
171
196
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xi
Suipercies on Clover RoOts i) 3 she a5 6) ie do EOP
Em slOven ; POGis yeti os aN So not thy Le 2 200°
Mellow. Fretoi: Seed: Pom 7505: ie. 58 > 2 206
RMP ECHO Dc 5 Pano bat. xin she tet ca 8 DOF
mpatted Clover Pod (°°. <:: OSes hgh ae ee oe
And There’s Still More to Fratton KERMGSNL GP Rae orf
Pead. ‘Prairie Dogs’) 3) <<. 221
Pot Culture Experiments at Univcety of
Illinois . . ce csneaos
Six Months’ Growth of Alfalfa ‘Foliage BOCES Pe ST
Putting up Alfalfa Hay . . . 250°
The Hay-loader Picks the Crop up ‘Caan oa
Chrricte le oS ose) oe 256
A Cable Derrick, Provided aa: a aie:
Borkistses 3 Foes Pace Mela CREPE SE
A 400-ton Rack of Alfalfa Nee Ste Saar Oe Mee ime rg
Mmm ies homies) eR poe. Mr: odo tycoons St a ee BOS:
Yellow Trefoil SPRAY yes Relay Sipe leat late ee
Ve
Pees
siateeid amibaman
me
A Typical Alfalfa Plant
as it appears before the blossoms are developed. From Michigan Experiment
Station Bulletin No. 225.
Typical Stems and Foliage of the Alfalfa Plant
when beginning to blossom the most suitable for hay. Grown in Shawnee county,
Kansas, on unirrigated upland prairie with a ‘‘gumbo"’ or hardpan subsoil.
From the season's third cutting, August 20; height 24 and 26 inches.
ALFALFA
(Medicago sativa, Linn.)
CHAPTER J,
History, Description, Varieties and
Habits.
HAS ALWAYS BEEN KNOWN.
There appears no record of a time when alfalfa was
not in some portions of the world esteemed one of Na-
ture’s most generous benefactions to husbandry and an
important feature of a profitable agriculture. Its begin-
ning seems to have been contemporary with that of man,
and, as with man, its first habitat was central Asia, where
the progenitors of our race knew its capabilities in sus-
taining all herbivorous animal life, and where, possibly,
it too afforded the herbage which sustained Nebuchad-
nezzar in his humiliating exile, and eventually restored
him to sanity and manhood.
It was carried by the Persians into Greece with the
invasion by Xerxes in 490 B. C., utilized by the Romans
in their conquest of Greece, and carried to Rome in 146
B. C. Pliny and other writers praise it as a forage plant
and it has been in cultivation in parts of Italy continu-
ously from its introduction. Some writers are disposed
to aver that it was brought to Spain and France by the
Roman soldiery under Cesar and early thereafter, but
2 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
more probably it was not introduced into those countries
until several centuries later. It is known to have been
cultivated in Northern Africa about the time it was first
brought to Italy; and the name “alfalfa” being Arabic
the inference might be reasonable that it was introduced
into Spain by the Moors from Northern Africa at the
time of their conquest of Spain about 711 A. D., but this
is of small consequence to the twentieth century. From
Spain it crossed to France, and later to Belgium and
England. It was highly spoken of by an English writer
of the fifteenth century.
AMERICA INDEBTED TO SPAIN.
But in those ages Europe was not so much interested
in agriculture as in war. Land tenures were not well
fixed and ownerships were uncertain. Spain, however,
was to perform at least two important services for half
the world, if none for herself. She was to reveal to
civilization a new continent, and give to it the most
valuable forage plant ever known. And so, in 1519,
Cortes, the Spaniard, and his remorseless brigands car-
ried murder, rapine and havoc to Mexico, but gave
alfalfa. Less than a score years later Spain also wrote
in Peru and Chili some of the bloodiest pages of human
history, but left alfalfa there, where it has since luxu-
riantly flourished. If it was brought to the Atlantic
coast of the United States in that century, it was not
adopted by the Indian inhabitants, who were not an agri-
cultural people, nor by the early European settlers.
It was not until about 1853 or 1854 that it was intro-
duced into northern California, the legends say from
Chili, but it had been grown by the Spaniards and
HISTORY, DESCRIPTION, VARIETIES AND HABITS 3
Indians in southern California for probably a hundred
years, having had a gradual migration from Mexico.
Strange to relate, while it is even now on the Atlantic
coast discussed as a new plant, there is good evidence
that it has been in cultivation on a small scale in the
Carolinas, New York and Pennsylvania for probably
one hundred and fifty years. Certainly there are small
fields in those states that have been producing for over
sixty years, and there are to be found articles and letters
written far earlier showing that it was then known and
had been proven. One Spurrier, in a book dedicated to
Thomas Jefferson, and written in 1793, spoke highly
of alfalfa, called “lucerne; told how it should be
cultivated, and that three crops of valuable hay could
be cut annually. In the “Transactions of the Society
for the Promotion of Agriculture,’ published at
Albany in 1801, it was favorably mentioned, and in the
“Farmers Assistant,” printed in Albany in 1815,
alfalfa was praised and the statement made of its
yielding 6 to 9 tons of hay per acre “under the best
cultivation and plentiful manuring.” Yet its cultivation
did not spread. The inertia of farmers, or perhaps their
indifference to new ideas, in the early days must have
been marvelous, According to Spurrier the difficulties
were not considered greater than now; he said one plant-
ing would survive many years and the yield was three
times as great as that of any other forage plant. The
seed was no doubt introduced there from England or
France; it was probably scarce, and difficult to secure
from growings in this country. |
4 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
THE NAME AND ITS ORIGIN.
The name “Alfalfa” is from an Arabic word meaning
“the best fodder,” which honor it can certainly still
claim. Many writers have assumed that the name
“Lucerne” which it bears in France and England, was
from the name of the Swiss canton, Lucerne. This is
a mistake as it was not known there until long after it
was cultivated in France and England. The name is
probably from the Spanish word “Userdas” which the
French changed to “La-cuzerdo” and later to “Lu-
zerne,” still later to “Lizerne” and then to “Lucerne.”
Among other names by which alfalfa is known are
the following: Lucerne; French Lucerne; french
Clover, in part; Mexican Clover, in part; Lucerne
Clover; Lucerne Medicago; Alfalfa Clover; Chilian
Clover; Brazilian Clover; Syrian Clover; Sainfoin,
erroneously; Spanish Trefoil; Purple Medick; Manured
Medick; Cultvated Medicago; Medick. Persian, Isfist;
Greek, Medicai; Latin, Medica, Herba Medica; Italian,
Herba Spagna; Spanish, Melga or Meilga, also
(from the Arabic), Alfalfa, Alfasafat; French, La
Lucerne; German, Lucerne, Common Fodder, Snail
Clover, Blue Snail Clover, Branching Clover, Stem
Clover, Monthly Clover, Horned Clover, in part, Peren-
nial Clover, Blue Perennial Clover, Burgundy Clover,
Welsh Clover, Sicilian Clover.
Alfalfa belongs to the botanical family Leguminosae,
or the legumes, of which there are thousands of species,
and is thus related to all clovers, peas, vetches and beans.
Its botanical name is Medicago sativa. There are some
fifty species of the genus Medicago that are known, but
HISTORY, DESCRIPTION, VARIETIES AND HABITS 5
alfalfa and one or two others are all that are of practical
value as fodders. It is a true perennial plant, smooth,
upright, branching, ordinarily growing from one to four
feet high, yet in some instances much higher, owing to
conditions of soil, climate, and cultivation. Its leaves
are three parted, each leaflet being broadest about the
middle, rounded in outline and slightly toothed toward
the apex. The purple pea-like flowers instead of being
in a head, as in red clover, are in long, loose clusters or
racemes. These are scattered along the plant’s stems
and branches, instead of being especially borne, as in red
clover, on the extremities of the branches. The matured
seed-pods are spirally twisted through two or three com-
plete curves, and 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 seeds of red clover, and in color are at
their best an olive green or a bright egg-yellow, instead
of a reddish or mustard yellow, or faded brown. The
ends of the seeds are slightly compressed where they are
crowded together in the pod.
Alfalfa is very long-lived; fields in Mexico, it is
claimed, have been continuously productive without re-
planting for over two hundred years, and others in France
are known to have flourished for more than a century.
Its usual life in the United States is probably from ten
to twenty-five years, although there is a field in New
York that has been mown successively for over sixty
years. It is not unlikely that under its normal conditions
and with normal care it would well-nigh be, as it is
called, everlasting.
6 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
ITS WONDERFUL ROOT SYSTEM.
In its root growth it is probably the greatest wonder
among plants. While it usually grows no higher than
four or five feet (although it has been known to reach
more than ten feet; an unirrigated stalk is on exhibition
at the office of the Kansas Board of Agriculture, measur-
ing nearly seven feet) and its normal height is about
three feet, its roots go down ten, twenty, or more feet,
and one case in Nevada is reported by Charles W. Irish,
chief of Irrigation Inquiry United States Department of
Agriculture, where the roots were found penetrating
through crevices in the roof of a tunnel one hundred
and twenty-nine feet below the surface of an alfalfa field.
Prof. W. P. Headden of Colorado found roots nine feet
long from alfalfa only nine months old, and another
reports roots seventeen inches long of but four weeks’
growth, the plants being but six inches high. It usually
has a slender taproot, with many branches tending
downward, yet with considerable lateral growth. As the
taproot is piercing the earth it is also sending out new
fibrous roots, while the upper ones, decaying, are leav-
ing humus and providing innumerable openings for air,
the rains, and fertilizing elements from the surface soil.
The mechanical effect of this root-growth and decay in
the soil constitutes one of the greatest virtues of the
plant, and by its roots alfalfa becomes, self-acting, by far
the most efficient, deep reaching subsoiler and renovator
known to agriculture.
VARIETIES AND PECULIARITIES.
There are several other varieties of alfalfa besides
Medicago sativa, the most common being the Interme-
An Eight-year-old Alfalfa Plant
with 312 stems growing from one root Grown at Manhattan, Kan., on high
upland prairie having a stiff, hardpan subsoil. Depth to water 180
feet. Height of growth, May 6, ten inches.
Crown of Plant Shown in the Preceding Illustration
Stalks removed to show branching crown
Alfalfa Blossoms Enlarged
HISTORY, DESCRIPTION, VARIETIES AND HABITS 7
diate Lucerne or Medicago media, the Yellow Lucerne
or Medicago foliata and Turkestan alfalfa or Medicago
sativa Turkestanica, None of these have such unquali-
fied value as the ordinary alfalfa; in fact the first two
are properly regarded as weeds when found with Medi-
cago sativa. In 1898 when there had been reported
many failures in the alfalfa districts of the extreme
North and the extreme Southwest, the United States
Department of Agriculture sent Prof. N. E. Hansen of
South Dakota to Russia, especially the cold, arid and
semi-arid portions of northern Turkestan, to discover if
possible a more hardy strain of alfalfa than that grown
in America. He brought back from there several hun-
dred bushels of seed which was distributed to govern-
ment stations and individual experimenters in forty-
seven states and territories, The reports of its behav-
ior varied greatly, some growers being enthusiastically
in its favor, while most reported results below or not
above the average from other sorts, and some practically
a failure. It would appear from the consensus of opin-
ion at this time that the Turkestan alfalfa has not dem-
onstrated in America any such superiority as to justify
its general adoption, even in the dry and warm regions
of the Southwest, in our colder states, or in Canada.
Among other claims for Turkestan alfalfa by the gov-
ernment officials in charge of its introduction and
exploitation have been that “its seed will germinate
much quicker and the plants start into growth earlier
under the same conditions than common alfalfa. The
plants are more leafy, grow more rapidly, and have a
stronger, more vigorous root system. Another advan-
§ THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
tage which the Turkestan variety has is that the stems
are more slender and less woody, the plants making a
more nutritious hay of finer quality. That it will with-
stand drought under the same conditions better than
ordinary alfalfa seems certain from the reports of the
experimenters. In the West and Northwest, at least, it
seems to be more productive, both with and without
irrigation.”
At the North Dakota station Turkestan alfalfa sown
in 1901 yielded in the three years following (1902-3-4)
at the average rate of slightly more than two tons per
acre annually.
Acclimation of alfalfa is a slow process, and numerous
close observers think there are too many radical differ-
ences in climate and possibly of soil between Turkestan
and New Mexico, or North Dakota, to admit of this
variety’s becoming a pre-eminently valuable acquisition
to America. It is thought more reasonable to let the
American-grown alfalfa gradually accustom itself, as it
will, to any particular region, sowing seed from nearly
the same latitude and grown under as nearly as possible
the conditions it will encounter in its new environment.
In 1903 the Department of Agriculture began experi-
menting on a small scale at stations in Arizona, Califor-
nia and the warm regions with alfalfa seed procured by
Mr. D. G. Fairchild, from Arabia. The officials in
charge observe that the plants from this seed appear to
make a much quicker growth after cutting, and as a
result of this one more crop in a season than is obtained
from other alfalfa may be possible. It differs from
other strains in having larger leaflets and in being much
HISTORY, DESCRIPTION, VARIETIES AND HABITS 9
more hairy. “It is thought very probable that by careful
selection hardiness can be bred into Arabian alfalfa so
that it will grow much farther north than it does at
present.”
AN OPINION FROM HEADQUARTERS.
As a latter day opinion or estimate of alfalfa from an
official who is presumed to speak as an authority, with-
out bias and knowing his subject, the words of W. J.
Spillman, agrostologist of the United States Department
of Agriculture, should carry weight. In an address
before the eleventh annual convention of the National
Hay Association, at St. Louis, in 1904, Professor Spill-
man said:
“Alfalfa is the oldest plant known to man; it is the
most valuable forage plant ever discovered. It has not
been appreciated in the eastern part of the United States
until the last five years. We are now growing it success-
fully in every state in the Union, and I believe it is safe
to say in every agricultural county in the United States
it is being grown with success. Two weeks ago I
secured a picture of a field of alfalfa in South Carolina
that was sowed over sixty-nine years ago. It was still
in pretty good condition. I know of another field in
New York State sowed forty-five years ago, and one in
Minnesota that was sowed thirty-three years ago. All
over the West there are thousands of fields of alfalfa
that were sowed twenty-five years ago that are still yield-
ing large crops. In Wisconsin alfalfa yields three crops
of hay a year, and in Texas, four and five large crops.
In southern California, below sea-level, where they
iy
Io THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
never have any frost, they cut alfalfa eleven times a year,
and in Texas, south of the Rio Grande, they cut it nine
times a year.
“Alfalfa does not exhaust the soil. Nitrogen is the
soil’s most important element, and the one most liable to
give out; the one the farmer is called upon to supply
first. Alfalfa does not ask the farmer for nitrogen at
all, because it can get its nitrogen out of the atmosphere.
Four-fifths of the atmosphere consists of nitrogen.
Ordinarily, plants cannot make use of that nitrogen at
all; the roots of the alfalfa will leave in the soil eight
or ten times as much nitrogen as was there before. The
farmer who plants alfalfa, clover or peas does not have
to get nitrogen from the fertilizer factories. I know one
farmer who for the past eight years has made an average
of eight and one-half tons per acre of alfalfa on irri-
gated land in the state of Washington. I have heard
of other men that produced twelve tons an acre in south-
ern Texas on irrigated land. It would hardly be possible
to produce that much on land that is not irrigated,
because rain does not come to order.
“T have lived ten years in a country where the horses,
cattle, sheep, hogs and chickens eat alfalfa hay, or green
alfalfa, the year round. It is the richest hay food
known. Eleven pounds of it is worth as much for feed-
-ing purposes as ten pounds of bran.”
A most pleasing word-picture of alfalfa is that by
Geo. L. Clothier, M. S., who has studied his subject
closely in the field, the feed lot and the laboratory, and
he paints it thus:
“The cultivation and feeding of alfalfa mark the high-
est development of our modern agriculture. Alfalfa is
HISTORY, DESCRIPTION, VARIETIES AND HABITS II
one of nature’s choicest gifts to man. It is the preserver
and the conserver of the homestead. It is peculiarly
adapted to a country with a republican government, for
it smiles alike on the rich and the poor. It does not fail
from old age. It loves the sunshine, converting the
sunbeams into gold coin in the pockets of the thrifty
husbandman. It is the greatest mortgage lifter yet
discovered. —t
“The alfalfa plant furnishes the protein to construct
and repair the brains of statesmen. It builds up the
muscles and bones of the war-horse, and gives his rider
sinews of iron. Alfalfa makes the hens cackle and the
turkeys gobble. It induces the pigs to squeal and grunt
with satisfaction. It causes the contented cow to give
pailsful of creamy milk, and the Shorthorn and white-
faced steers to bawl for the feed rack. Alfalfa softens
the disposition of the colt and hardens his bones and
muscles. It fattens lambs as no other feed, and promotes
a wool clip that is a veritable golden fleece. It compels
skim-milk calves to make gains of two pounds per day.
It helps the farmer to produce pork at a cent and a half
a pound and beef at two cents.
“Alfalfa transforms the upland farm from a some-
time waste of gullied clay banks into an undulating
meadow fecund with plant-food. It drills for water,
working 365 days in the year without any recompense
from man. The labor it performs in penetrating the
subsoil is enormous. No other agricultural plant leaves
the soil in such good physical condition as alfalfa. It
prospects beneath the surface of the earth and _ brings
her hidden treasures to the light of day. It takes the
12 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
earth, air, moisture and sunshine, and transmutes them
into nourishing feed stuffs and into tints of green and
purple, and into nectar and sweet perfumes, alluring the
busy bees to visits of reciprocity, whereon they caress
the alfalfa blossoms, which, in their turn, pour out secre-
tions of nectar fit for Jupiter to sip. It forms a partner-
ship with the micro-organisms of the earth by which it ©
is enabled to enrich the soil upon which it feeds. It
brings gold into the farmer’s purse by. processes more
mysterious than the alchemy of old. The farmer with a
fifty-acre meadow of alfalfa will have steady, enjoyable
employment from June to October; for as soon as he has
finished gathering the hay at one end of the field it will
be again ready for the mower at the other. The homes
surrounded by fields of alfalfa have an esthetic advan-
tage unknown to those where the plant is not grown.
The alfalfa meadow is clothed with purple and green
and exhales fragrant, balmy odors throughout the grow-
ing season to be wafted- by the breezes into the adjacent
farmhouses.”
Intergrading Types of Seed Between Alfalfa and Sweet Clover
The six seeds to the left being alfalfa, the five to the right Sweet clover.
Magnified eight diameters,
Seeds of the Weed Known as Buck-horn,
Ribbed plantain, English plantain, or Rib-grass, (Plantago lanceolata). Very commonly
present in alfalfa seed, especially that of European origin. A bad
weed. Magnification five diameters.
Alfalfa Seeds Magnified Five Diameters
Note the characteristic angular point at one end, typical of alfalfa. The kidney-
shaped type, as in ‘‘a’’ is also characteristic. The rounded type ''b’’ is rare,
and resembles Sweet clover. Seeds marked ‘'c’! and ‘'d’!
resemble Yellow trefoil in the projecting ‘beak.’
CHAPTER A.
Universality of Alfalfa
ITS WIDE DISTRIBUTION.
As the history of alfalfa is traced in the preceding
chapter the conclusion is reached that its distribution is
not to be circumscribed by any hard and fast lines of
climate and soil. It is grown profitably in every country
of Europe, in central Asia, its original home, in Australia,
the islands of the sea, and in almost every state and ter-
ritory of the United States, and in Canada. Only two
states, Maine and New Hampshire, and only one ter-
ritory, Alaska, are left wholly in the experimental col-
umn. Everywhere else there have been such results as
to prove that it ought to become, in greater or less degree,
a staple crop on practically every farm, dependent only
upon more energy, faith and skill on the part of the
farmer, and a natural acclimation. There are several
other states such as Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ar-
kansas and North Dakota where the experiment station
experts are not fully ready to recommend it as a regular
crop for every farm, yet, in each of these there are en-
terprising farmers who have for years found profit in
its raising. The station authorities in Vermont say that
success with alfalfa there “depends first on the man, and
second on the soil.”
14 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
W. R. Dodson, botanist of the Louisiana station, says
it is his firm conviction that nothing will contribute so
much as alfalfa toward making the southern farm self-
supplied with feed for work animals, for the production
of dairy products, and home raised meat. “I doubt,” he
also says, “if alfalfa does better anywhere outside the
irrigated regions of the West than it does in the alluvial
lands of Louisiana. We have had as high as eight cut-
tings in one year, with a total tonnage larger than is had
in Kansas or Nebraska, and our annual rainfall is sixty-
five inches, or more.”
From Ontario, Canada, comes a report of a yield of
four tons to the acre in three cuttings, on a clay hillside;
at far-off Medicine Hat, Northwest Territory, it makes
a growth pronounced “phenomenal,” and at the experi-
mental farm at Brandon, Manitoba, three cuttings per
year are harvested. On a gravelly hill in the District of
Columbia a field was sown in April, 1900. Two crops
were cut from it that summer, three in Igo1, and the
first cutting in 1902 yielded three tons per acre. In
southern Minnesota, some thrifty Germans, not knowing
that “alfalfa will not grow in Minnesota,” have been
raising it since 1872, while others were declaring it im-
possible. A half-score of men in the sagebrush wilds
of Nevada decided to try it, and in 1872 they had 625
prosperous acres, without plowing and without irriga-
tion. J. H. Grisdale, agriculturist of the Central experi-
mental farm at Ottawa, (Bul. No. 46) says, “it is grown
in Canada more or less extensively from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. It is the staple forage plant for winter in the
dryer part of British Columbia, and it has been grown in
UNIVERSALITY OF ALFALFA 15
Southern Alberta for many years. It is not much known
in Manitoba, but is possible of easy propagation in almost
all parts of Ontario. It is, and has been grown long and
successfully in Quebec, and is not unknown in Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick.” In Cape Colony, South
Africa, “lucerne can be cut from four to six times in
summer and from once to twice in winter, and is the
greatest forage plant in the world.” In 1go1 the Brit-
ish consul at Buenos Ayres reported alfalfa as covering
“an enormous area in Argentina, and every year becom-
ing more important.”
NOT PARTICULAR AS TO SOIL.
While experts have been declaring that alfalfa would
only grow in certain soils and in certain climates it has
proven adaptability to nearly all climates and almost all
soils. It produces with a rainfall as scant as 14 inches,
and in the Gulf states flourishes with 65 inches. It gives
crops at an elevation of 8000 feet above the sea level,
and in southern California it grows below sea level to a
height of six feet or over, with nine cuttings a year, ag-
gregating ten to twelve tons. An authenticated photo-
graph in possession of the writer, reproduced on opposite
page, shows a wonderful alfalfa plant raised in the (irri-
gated) desert of southern California, sixty feet below
sea level, that measured considerably more than ten feet
in height. Satisfactory crops are raised, but on limited
areas as yet, in Vermont and Florida. New York has
grown it for over one hundred years in her clay and
gravel; Nebraska grows it in her western sand hills
without plowing, as does Nevada on her sagebrush
~~
16 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
desert. The depleted cotton soils of Alabama and rich
corn lands of Illinois and Missouri each respond gener-
ously with profitable yields to the enterprising farmer,
while its accumulated nitrogen and the sub-soiling it ef-
fects are making the rich land more valuable and giving
back to the crop-worn the priceless elements of which it
has been in successive generations despoiled by a con-
scienceless husbandry.
Its introduction into Maryland was largely through
the perseverance of Prof. W. T. L. Taliaferro of the
agricultural college, who says: “The future for alfalfa
for southern Maryland is bright, indeed, and with its gen-
eral introduction will come a new era of prosperity for
the ‘lower counties.’ Live stock farming will take the
place of tobacco farming. The fertilizing elements of
the soil will be concentrated at home instead of being
shipped abroad. Larger crops will be raised. Soil im-
provement will take the place of soil exhaustion; worn-
out farms will be restored to their original fertility.”
THE ORACLES REFUTED.
One by one the oracular statements of so-called ex-
perts have been shown at fault. One said, “it will grow
wherever corn will grow; and as promptly men from
New York and Louisiana rise and say that they are
growing it where corn will not grow. Another declares,
“it will not grow over a hardpan or gumbo subsoil;”
at once a New York man reports a good field of alfalfa
with roots fifteen feet long that pass through six inches
of hardpan which was so hard that it had to be broken
with a pick axe in following the root. A Kansas man
writes that he has eighty acres that has stood five years
UNIVERSALITY OF ALFALFA ky
and promises to continue indefinitely, yielding 4 1-2
tons from three cuttings a year, and the whole of it
on gumbo soil where corn raising was a failure. An-
other declares, “it must have a rich, sandy loam,” and
forthwith from the deserts of Nevada, the sand hills of
Nebraska and the thin, worn, clay soils of the South
come reports of satisfactory yields. Such results are
significant, indicating better returns than any other crop
brings from these varied soils, and that few farmers
are justified in postponing the addition of alfalfa to
their agriculture because of supposed hindrance of soil
and climate.
A NEW YORK EXAMPLE.
As citing an example, and suggestive of the fact that
alfalfa not only grows but flourishes in the eastern states
where the claim has been made that it would not grow,
the following by the editor of the Rural New-Yorker, in
his journal of September 3, 1904, is forcibly to the point:
“A farmer visiting the New York state fair this year
wlll do well to take time to look at some of the alfalfa
fields near Syracuse. Whether it means that the soil in
this locality is well suited to alfalfa, or that farmers have
learned how to grow it, it is a fact that the crop makes a
wonderful showing there. You find it everywhere—in
great billowy fields of green, along the roadsides—even
in vacant city lots. The crop crowds in whether the
seed is sown by hand, dropped from a passing load or
scattered by the wind. The majority of the farms show
great fields of it, and the character of farming is slowly
changing as more and more alfalfa is cut. On fruit
farms or small private places the crop is changing meth-
18 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
ods and habits. A few acres in alfalfa provides all the
roughness needed for stock on these small places, and
gives extra room for fruit or similar crops. In fact, the
most interesting thing about these alfalfa fields is the
way they are changing the entire conditions of the coun-
try. It is similar to what happens when a new industry is
established in a town or city.
“The Grange meeting at a Mr. Worker’s farm, was
held in a great barn. He had delayed the alfalfa cut-
ting so that the barn might be empty. Some other farm-
ers nearby had already cut. I had a chance to see alfalfa
growing under what seemed to me about the toughest
chance you can give a plant. The city of Syracuse is
buying gravel from his field, to use on the street. The
workmen are digging right into the hill,and it requires
hard labor to pick up this tough, hard soil. As they dig
they follow the roots of the alfalfa down. Some of the
roots are quite as large as my thumb, and I am sure that
many of them had gone down twenty feet at least into
this tough soil. These big roots make plowing an al-
falfa sod anything but fun. This is one of the few ob-
jections to the crop. I had supposed that the plant does
its best where it can work down into an open or gravel
subsoil. I have been told by one who is called an ‘ex-
pert’ that alfalfa cannot thrive on a hardpan subsoll,
yet here it was going down into the toughest soil I ever
saw, and covering the surface with a perfect mat of
green stalks. Mr. Worker goes so far as to say that the
tougher the subsoil the better the alfalfa goes through it,
provided water does not stand about the roots. That is
One point upon which all agree—the alfalfa cannot stand
UNIVERSALITY OF ALFALFA 19
wet feet. It must have water enough; that is why its
roots go down so far, but it will not thrive in wet fields |
where water does not run easily away.
“On other farms I saw the alfalfa growing at the top
of steep clay hills, which were formerly almost useless
for farm purposes unless stuffed with stable manure.
Now that alfalfa has been started these hill-tops have
become about the most profitable fields on the farm. At
another place I saw a fair crop of alfalfa growing in a
thin streak of soil over a rocky ledge. There were not
eighteen inches of soil covering the solid rock, yet the
alfalfa was thriving. I have been told that this is the
condition under which alfalfa will not grow, yet here it
was giving more forage than any red clover we can
grow. I have said that the spreading of these alfalfa
fields is changing the character of farming in central
New York. It is not easy to realize just what this means
without visiting this favored section. This new forage
plant brings fertility and feed to the farm. It is just
like having a fertilizer factory and a feed store drop out
of the skies upon the farm, to get this alfalfa well
started. Of course as the farmer learns what the crop
will do he uses it more and more to feed both stock and
the farm. It would not be a very bright farmer who
would continue to grow wheat or some other annual
crop which brings him $25 per acre when a permanent
crop like alfalfa will guarantee $60. Some farmers are
quicker to see this than others, but in the end the major-
ity of them see it and then we see a change. These alfalfa
farmers are giving a great object lesson, and their farms
are more interesting than any exhibit at the state fair.”
CHAPTER III.
Yields, and Comparisons With Other
Crops
COMPARED WITH CLOVER.
Many things are understood best through contrasts
with others better known. In every part of the country
certain crops are considered standard, and all others are
judged by comparison with these. For example, red
clover in most parts of the United States is ranked as
the richest and best yielding forage, and the fertilizer
and renovator par excellence.
The Massachusetts experiment station after a series
of tests reports that 100 pounds-of clover contain 47.49
pounds of digestible food and 6.95 pounds of proteids,
while 100 pounds of alfalfa contain 54.43 pounds of
digestible food and 11.22 pounds of proteids.
The New Jersey station reports that the average yield
per annum of green clover to the acre is 14,000 pounds,
and of green alfalfa 36,500 pounds; the protein in the
clover is 616 pounds and in the alfalfa, 2214 pounds; one
ton of alfalfa has 265 pounds of protein, and clover only
246 pounds. But alfalfa will produce three, four, or
more cuttings each year, while clover will produce but
one or at most two. Further, clover will ordinarily sur-
vive but two years, while alfalfa will last from ten to one
YIELDS AND COMPARISONS WITH OTHER CROPS 21
hundred, thus saving many plowings and seedings. It
is also estimated that the stubble and root-growth of
alfalfa are worth at least four times as much for humus
as are those of clover, while the mechanical and other
beneficent effects of the long alfalfa roots far excel those
of clover. The alfalfa field is green for pasturage a
month earlier in the spring than clover and may be
mowed a month earlier, It starts a vigorous growth at
once after cutting, covering the ground with its luxu-
riant foliage before the second growth of clover has made
any substautial progress.
The Wisconsin experiment station says that “one acre
of alfalfa yields as much protein as three acres of clover,
as much as nine acres of timothy and twelve times as
much as an acre of brome grass.”
COMPARISONS WITH SEVERAL GRASSES.
Plat No. Variety Grown Hay, lbs. | Yield per acre, lbs.
I Me) C lowers acm crctereictaiwiaicin else 473 2,365
2 Mammoth Clover............. 475 2,375
3 PUISTEPAC 1OWETsateinielsntsialolesistatels's 413 2,065
4* Alfalfa (first cutting) 26
inches high, June 2gth....... 816 4,080
5 Ble rassyiic cosines to) alae to 575 2,875
6 Orchard @rassioies seis. dsj esse - 478 2,390
7 Timothy...... peste eleiaialataiststata/a\s 560 py de
8 PRGA EO areata celeia weloeaetole stale’ = 470 2,350
9 Meadow fescue...............- 375 1,875
Io Tall meadow oat grass......... 600 3,000
II Italian rye grass........ Nerina B
12t Timothy, blue-grass and
orchard grass mixed......... 203 1,015
*The alfalfa piat yielded a second cutting 26 inches high on August 2nd, anda
third 24 inches high September ist; there was also a six-inch after-growth estimated
at 180 pounds. The total alfalfa yield was equivalent, “approximately to 6 1-2
tons of good dry forage.” None of the other clovers or grasses gave more than one
cutting.
+ Robbed somewhat of both plant food and moisture by an adjacent row of
grown cottonwood trees.
22 “THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
- The Nebraska experiment station has made very care-
ful tests of the comparative yields of various grasses,
clovers and mixtures. These were on plats of one-fifth
of an acre. The foregoing table shows the yields the
second year from planting, which owing to the very dry
spring was a quite unfavorable season.
COMPARED WITH CORN.
The Colorado station reports a comparison with corn
as follows: ,
Yield per acre of Corn and Alfalfa
Corn, lbs. Alfalfa, lbs.
Dyn Matterieicicisis|ele\ala'eis/= cee sioacccese 3,605 5,611
PAB iM OIGS os oteic\oieialaialaia/oialeielela\atalelsiaini= 296 1,198
Starch TOUpATS ELCs a inisicteiis ele siuleleiaial sia 2,186 3,114
OLDE leratelalelaferstatetevelele eievote Gieieteloleielelat tetas 1,060 1,198
Hate. < siels ciejeeeiricis clon visicinecicesisevesise 63 Iol
INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF CASH RETURNS.
A Lincoln county, Kansas, farmer writes that from
five acres of alfalfa he received in one season $100 for
hay, $150 for seed and $20 for straw.
A farmer near Atwood, Rawlins county, Kansas, cut
two crops for hay and threshed the third crop for seed,
realizing 13 bushels per acre, which sold at $5 per bushel.
A Harlan county, Nebraska, farmer reports an income
of $774 in one year from seed and hay from six acres.
Scott Bros., of Pottawatomie county, Kansas, report
to the author as follows concerning their returns from a
twelve-acre field in one year:
_ YIELDS AND COMPARISONS WITH OTHER CROPS 23
@ hay crops, 30 toms at $12..226.2 5.4%. $360
ros bushels of seed at $6....:....)..3... 630
PGMs aie aCe ka et Lt ote 50
Fourth cutting 12 tons at $12.......... 144
Hotalone year's returins:!}!). 5°02: $1,184
A Buffalo county, Nebraska, farmer sold from a year’s
growth on 22 acres, hay worth $328.12, seed $1000, and
straw $150.
A Montgomery county, Kansas, farmer reports to the
author a return of $106 per acre in one year from hay,
seed and straw.
Another report was sent in 1904 from southern Kan-
sas, of five cuttings, making 81% tons per acre, which
sold at $5 per ton in the field.
SOME REPORTS OF YIELDS.
A farmer of Harvey county, Kansas, reported in 1903
two hay crops and one seed crop, the hay, seed and straw
returning more than $50 per acre from a field that two
years before had failed to yield enough corn to justify
its gathering.
Sixteen acres in Reno county, Kansas, are reported to
have pastured in 1904 four hundred pigs and yielded one
cutting of hay of over 16 tons.
An alfalfa field of eleven acres in Washington, on the
bank of the Columbia river, under irrigation, produced in
IQOI over 100 tons of hay.
Former Governor W. D. Hoard, of Wisconsin, reports
from three-fifths of an acre on his farm in the southern
part of the state, four cuttings in one season, ee
5-7 tons of hay,
24 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
Alva Langston, of Henry county, Indiana, sowed five
acres of alfalfa May 20th, and harvested nearly 11% tons
of hay per acre August 25th following, and about the
same quantity September 20th to 25th. This was on
upland, thirty or more years in cultivation. The alfalfa
was clipped twice before the cutting for hay.
In 1902 F. S. Kirk of Garfield county, Oklahoma,
sowed a field near a creek, but about 25 feet above water,
with thirty to thirty-five pounds of alfalfa seed per acre,
broadcast. The soil, which he calls “high bottom,” was
a dark brown and contained considerable sand. For two
years no attention was given the alfalfa except harvest-
ing from it three crops the second year and four the
third year. In 1905 he harvested from ten acres nine
cuttings, estimated to weigh fully one and one-half tons
each, per acre. The longest time between any two cut-
tings was twenty-two days, and the shortest fourteen
days. During the season of 1904 seven cuttings were
made and the field was gone over with a disk harrow
early each time after removing the hay from the field.
It was possible to cut another growth of 8 to 12 inches,
had he not preferred to use it as pasturage for stock.
Mr. Kirk does not irrigate and maintains that in his
part of the country “the best irrigation for alfalfa is with
a disk harrow.” He also insists that “alfalfa can be en-
tirely killed by disking in the dark of the moon,” espe-
cially if the weather that follows is hot and dry. He past-
ures his alfalfa with cattle and horses in fall and spring,
and disks in the spring as soon as the stock is removed.
YIELDS AND COMPARISONS WITH OTHER CROPS 25
SOME MONEY COMPARISONS.
A good acre corn crop in Ohio is forty bushels, worth
not to exceed $20, after all the labor of cultivating and
husking; the stover, if properly cared for, ought to be
worth $5, making a total of $25. An Ohio farmer reports
a yield of 4% tons of alfalfa hay per acre, worth for feed
as compared with the price of bran about $12 per ton,
or a total value of $54, from only one plowing in six
years (as long as he let it stand) and with less labor in
harvesting than for husking corn and caring for the
stover.
The Utah station reports a cattle feeding test (Bul.
No. 61) in which 100 pounds of gain from feeding
alfalfa hay cost $3.76; from timothy, $4.71, and from
corn fodder, $6.21.
A good Kansas or Nebraska corn yield (far above the
state average) is 50 bushels per acre, worth ordinarily
about $17, with stover worth $3. The farmer should
obtain from his alfalfa at least four to five tons, worth
co him for feed for cattle, hogs or sheep from $10 to $12
per ton—practically two to three times his income from
an acre of corn, while the cost of production is much less.
The average year’s corn or wheat crop is worth only
about $10 per acre, while the average alfalfa crop is worth
on the market from $15 to $35, or more, per acre, owing
to the market appreciation of the crop, and from $35 to
$60 as feed for stock.
Many thousands of acres in western Kansas and
Nebraska are now returning from their alfalfa fields an
income of from $15 to $25 per acre where but a few
years earlier the land was deemed worthless for agricul-
26 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
ture. Hundreds of acres in western New York that
were returning only a small income above cost of labor
and fertilization are now supporting great money mak-
ing dairies from alfalfa. Cotton land in the South rents
for $5 per acre, while alfalfa fields bring a yearly rental
of three times that amount.
Sweet Clover Alfalfa Yellow Trefoil
The Sweet clover and alfalfa are magnitied five diameters and the trefoil seven diameters
‘paas vjley/e Ul Uses WO} OI}SIJa}OBIeYD sow
8U} S! Jazze] e4] ‘pazulod iejndue ajppilwW ay} ul suo ay} pue !padeys Aauply }Yysls ay} }e au ay} ‘papunol y4a| ay} ye aUO aul
SOIT, WATEMIT, poyluse poss Bjejty jo sodA oarjourjsiq soy
CHAPTER IT.
Seed and Seed Selection
NO SUCCESS WITHOUT GOOD SEED.
It is a time-worn but no less true saying that good
seed is essential to good agriculture. No matter how
well the farmer prepares his land, no matter how much
time, labor and money he spends on it, if much or all of
his seed fails to grow, he will either have a poor crop or
_be obliged to reseed, thus losing time and labor. Many
causes may contribute to prevent a good stand, but if
he can eliminate any one of these, he is by so much the
gainer. Poor seed is a primary and great cause of a poor
stand.
The farmer obtains his seed from one of two sources;
he raises it or buys it. If the former, there should be
less danger, as the chief source of poor seed is careless
handling in harvesting and storing. If the seed becomes
damp, mold will damage much of it, or it will sprout,
then dry out, and the germ be killed. If seed is bought
of strangers or from a distance, the chances of poor qual-
ity increase many fold. If all seed were bought of
reliable dealers, there would be less cause for complaint,
but farmers too often buy where they can buy cheapest.
They pay for trash that is either full of harmful weed
seeds or has a liberal admixture of old and dead seeds
left over from previous seasons, |
28 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
Before seed is purchased it should be tested for purity
and germination. The adage that a dollar saved is a
dollar earned well applies here; it is an easy matter to
waste a dollar on seed, and when profit depends on avoid-
ance of useless expenditure the use of inferior seed
points its own moral.
IMPORTANCE OF SIMILAR CONDITIONS.
The farmer who has brought himself to the point of
introducing alfalfa upon his farm should be extremely
careful in the selection of seed. In the first place it is
important that he should sow such as is produced in
about the same latitude as his farm and from a region of
about the same rainfall, thus keeping in a line of accli-
mation, and with the habits and habitat, as it were, of
what he is seeking to raise. Next, he should not sow
seed raised under irrigation if he is in a non-irrigation
region. A Michigan farmer, for example, should sow
seed grown as near to his latitude as possible, say, from
Wisconsin, Minnesota or the Dakotas, or not south of
Nebraska or Kansas. It is questionable, at present,
whether it is wise or profitable to attempt raising alfalfa
seed in the more humid districts of the eastern and south-
ern parts of the United States. It may be economy to
leave the raising of seed to those regions with the least
summer rainfall, keeping always in mind the securing of
seed grown under conditions nearly like those to which
the seed is to be introduced.
Speaking of the alleged different varieties of alfalfa,
the seed of which is urged upon buyers by seedsmen, the
editor of the Oklahoma Farm Journal pertinently says:
SEED AND SEED SELECTION 29
“We see occasional references to “dry land’ alfalfa
and statements that it’s a kind that just longs for the
hilltops so that it may turn off big crops of rich hay from
land too dry and hard to yield good sorghum. Don’t for-
get that the one thing to look for when purchasing alfalfa
seed is good seed, that will grow. It’s hard to find and
the price is usually high. When you buy it, buy subject
to test and send a fair sample of about an ounce to your
experiment station, where it will be tested without charge.
At the present time there is but one variety of alfalfa that
Oklahoma farmers should buy, and that is good alfalfa
seed. There is no ‘dry land’ variety of alfalfa, and the
much boomed Turkestan variety isn’t as good for sowing
in Oklahoma as Oklahoma or Kansas grown seed. Rich
soil, thorough preparation, good seed well sowed, cutting
at the right time, harrowing when weeds and grass
bother, all these are requisite to success with this most
valuable crop, and it pays for all the bother.”
Seed from Nebraska and northwestern Kansas has
been generally successful through Iowa and Illinois, and
is probably adapted to Ohio and southern Pennsylvania.
Utah seed produces good crops in Minnesota, the ex-
tremes of cold and heat in Utah having developed a strain
that does well in cold climates. The writer would use
Utah grown seed for New York, northern New Jersey
and northern Pennsylvania, and seed from Wyoming or
Montana for New England. On the sandy land of south-
ern New Jersey, in Delaware and Maryland, the seed
grown in southern Colorado and southern Kansas ought
to do well.
30 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
Prof. H. M. Cottrell, formerly agriculturist of the
Kansas experiment station, says: “One year I sowed
20 acres to alfalfa—i1g acres with Utah grown seed and
one acre with imported seed; both showed a germination
of over 98 per cent, and the growth was good from both
lots all through the season, with no difference that could
be detected. The next spring there was a good stand all
over the 19 acres seeded with Utah seed, and not a single
live plant on the acre seeded with the imported seed. I
have seen several trials with imported seed, and never
yet saw a good crop harvested from it. Usually after
passing through the first winter there is from one-fourth
to one-half a stand from such seed; the plants make a
weak growth and, if allowed to remain, most of them die
out in two or three years. Descriptions of the puny
growth in reports of failures of this crop, given by east-
ern growers, make one think that probably imported seed
had been sown. No intelligent farmer would take corn
grown in the warm soil and climate and long season of
southern Kansas and expect to grow a good crop in New
York on heavy soil with short seasons. It is even more
difficult to succeed with so great a change in growing
alfalfa, as it would have to withstand the long severe
winter, as well as the change in summer conditions. No
one should sow alfalfa seed without knowing where and
under what conditions it was grown.”
New seed, other conditions being right, is always pref-
erable, although that kept for several years, properly
cared for, may have retained most of its germinability.
Such tests as have been made appeared to show a loss
in well stored seed of only about one and one-half per
SEED AND SEED SELECTION 31
cent of germinability in five years, W. P. Headden
(Colorado Bul. No. 35) after various experiments
declares, “the results are positive in showing that the age
of seed up to six years does not affect its germinating
power.” It is usually handled and stored by seedsmen
in the ordinary seamless cotton sacks holding from 150
to 160 pounds, and quoted and sold by the pound or
hundred-pounds instead of by the bushel. The legal
weight of a bushel of recleaned alfalfa seed is sixty
pounds.
Although the seed is handled in sacks for convenience,
seedsmen say there is no good reason why it might not
be safely stored in bulk in bins without any deterioration
from heating, or otherwise. There might, however, be
some degree of danger from weevils or other insect
pests in warm weather. Exposed to too much light, seed
will lose its bright yellow color and change to a brownish
cast. When stored, dealers say, it does not go through a
“sweating” process as do the seeds of some other forage
plants and grasses.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF SEED.
In years of large production in America and a short-
age in other countries, considerable American seed goes
abroad to Italy, France, Germany and Australia. The
largest portion is consigned to Germany because exten-
sive seed houses at Hamburg act as distributers to all
portions of the world, from which they receive demands.
In recent years the United States has been a buyer
rather than a seller, and imports have been as follows:
Year. Lbs.
WOGer Sites mya gees Le 1,018,559
EOOS As Ses e Tas Ais ae 2,200,267
32 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
According to the government authorities the bulk of
the imported seed comes from Germany and France.
That having the best reputation in Europe comes from
Provence, (southeastern) France. A small quantity
comes from Italy, but it is not generally considered to be
of as good quality as that grown farther north. Seeds-
men complain that many consignments of the foreign
seed contain large quantities of Yellow trefoil and Bur
clover.
It is a fallacy popular among farmers and country
seed dealers that great quantities of alfalfa seed are
exported to be used for dyeing purposes. There is no
foundation in fact for such a belief, and the exportations
made, like the importations, are for seeding purposes
exclusively.
IMPURITIES AND ADULTERATIONS.
A foremost source of danger and loss, aside froin
infertile seed, is impurities and adulterants in the alfalfa
seed planted. Growers often are careless and do not
examine their alfalfa before or at the time of harvesting,
and do not reclean their seed after threshing, thus send-
ing out among innocent purchasers seed mixed with
those of weeds, inferior grasses and forage plants, and
with various trash which adds bulk and weight but has
no value. The commonest seed adulterants or impuri-
ties are those of Sweet clover, (Melilotus alba), Bur
ciover, (Medicago denticulata), Spotted clover (Medi-
cago Arabica), Yellow trefoil (Medicago lupulina) or
Hop clover, and the Dodders (Cuscuta epithymum and
Cuscuta arvensis).
Yellow Trefoil Pods
The pods of Yellow trefoil are shaped as here shown and contain but
a single seed. Magnified four diameters
Alfalfa Seed Pods
Alfalfa has a spiral pod of two or three turns, often containing five
or six seeds. Magnified four diameters.
Sweet Clover Pods
Magnified four diameters
Bur Clover Seed Pods
The seeds are inclosed in a cciled pod which is covered with bristly projections as
shown above. Magnified four diameters.
SEED AND SEED SELECTION
33
That an extraordinary proportion of the alfalfa seed
in the markets, wheresoever from, is adulterated to an
amazing extent with seeds of undesirable plants or
loaded with worthless, if not actually harmful impurities,
is being demonstrated by the United States Department
of Agriculture. In a circular pertaining to this work
is given the following, showing the adulterants found in
samples bought in the open markets of the cities named:
Seeds used as adulterants.
Sweet
City where bought clover
Bur clover
Yellow
trefoil
Total
adulterants
Per Cent Per Cent
Providence, R.I.............. “Ane 3-47
WER VET,NCOlO sso. sieratels « cieioaers aferate 10.86
BROCMESEET: Nee Nic (ols siefoe cine oiuie'e are 5.02
Milwaukee, Wis.............. 5 Aon 5-74
Indianapolis, Ind............. aerate 4:27
See ieratelelelole 36 wale ees 3-90
Marblehead, Mass............. Seles 3-00
TRETEYSDHT 2s Vsiie's'sis(0\0 c'cie's «se © spe BIBS ssatere
Cedar Rapids, Iowa........... SBS 5-49
Indianapolis, Ind.............. ster Ebay
Pattsheld)\ Masses. 5 <'<..ccies's sss OSDS pipe cabins
MD NeRe a teh) Ge
10,000 3,500 2,000 228
Huta bagaS-nicleisisisivisiwiciele sic 31,700 3,400 3,000 279
Mangelsiy. 2 arom esses 25,000 3,500 2,750 232
DUPAN Deets iar vicicieslgcisie or 17,800 2,500 1,800 213
ANALYSES OF FEEDSTUFFS.
The following table gives the analyses of a number of
feedstuffs, showing the percentage of digestible nutrients
and fertilizing constituents in each:
ALFALFA AS A FEED STUFF 127
(From Texas experiment station Bul. No. 66.)
8 Digestible nutrients in | Fertilizer constituents
A 100 pounds. in 1000 pounds.
ce Ler
a & a } 3 ns) § 3 cor
Ha| 8 | 221/28 | & | 631 8
B eer ras fia ~eal 2
a ied oehoos Sete hg fer oem bes e
HAYS
Alfalfa..... Seinieictere 91.6 11.0 39.6 1.2 21.9 5.1 16.8
ROW PLar cinis wisisie's.ci0is ei]. <3 10.8 38.6 IGE 19.5 5.2 14.7
MAL IBAY, cin 'eicteie e.eia o e+ gl.I 43 46.4 Mee | yecetelt:si | ctota we aiarmiltsol steiner
Fodder corn......... 578 2.5 34.6 e205 e720 5-4 8.9
Sorghum’... ......-.. 82.04 2.4 40.6 TEQP Geo ae iolefar cheer a rage toatl
Cotton seed hulls.....| 838.9 Pe ve as oe 1.7 6.9 2.5 10.2
GREEN FEEDS:
PALER ators icl vin !nieisiniecstet|! 2Oc2 ROP ks7 ee 7.2 1.3 5-6
Cowpea. ......0-0.5.| 16.4 1.8 8.7 we oe 1.0 Zr
Oat taddersss cc eras wou) 3729 1.6 18.9 1.0 4.9 1.3 3.8
Corn silage.......... 20.9 9 11.3 4 2.8 1.1 3-7
GLP UUM a efele = cisrein «1s 82.4 2.4 4 I 2h, |G leretaberarthel| chats eet a tea skola sys
Rapes. seacenccsoeas | 24,0 vif I .2 1 6
GRAINS: : = : :
Wheat bran.........-| 88.1 12.2 39.2 2.7 26.7 | 28.9 16.1
Cotton seed meal..... 91.8 | 37.2 16.9 12.2 67.9 28.8 8.7
CDEUG hase nolo. Savers «'esaif COGaE 7.9 | 66.7 43 18.2 7.0 4.0
Cowpea...... Briel) to 22 183 54.2 Ter Ch aia Raosd ior Doeoe
Cotton seed..........] 89.7. | 12.5 | 30.0 EPQe ie 31.3 re eed Naa ee)
From the above table we find that five tons of alfalfa
hay contains 1,100 pounds of protein, equal to this food
element in
Cotton seed meal......... 2,956 pounds
Banseed: meal. . 3.56.0... 53,754 pounds
Wheat bran ............ 9,016 pounds
owped, BAY? ia ss sce we 10,185 pounds
Red clover hay..........16,176 pounds
Timothy hay....... ....-39,285 pounds
RELATIVE VALUES OF DIFFERENT CUTTINGS.
The most interesting experiments comprehending tests
of the comparative yield, composition and digestibility
of early, medium and late cuttings of alfalfa, of the
128 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
first, second and third crops; the relative feeding value
of the various cuttings, and of the different crops,
have been made at the Utah station, details of which are
recorded in the station’s bulletins Nos. 31, 44 and 61.
These tests and investigations extended continuously
through a period of five years, and following are the more
important facts developed and the conclusions that may
be legitimately drawn from them, as summarized (Bul.
No. 61) by Profs. Luther Foster and L. A. Merrill who
supervised the work:
1. The largest annual yield of hay per acre is obtained
by the method of early cutting and the lowest by the late,
the average result standing as follows: early cutting,
100; medium, 92; and late, 85.
2. The early cut alfalfa contains the highest per cent
of protein and fat, the most valuable food constituents,
and the lowest per cent of crude fiber, the most indigest-
ible portion. The former decrease constantly while the
latter increases rapidly from early bloom to the full
maturity of the plant.
3. The proportionate amount of leaves to stems is
greater at early bloom than at any subsequent time, and
both leaves and stems contain a greater per cent of pro-
tein and a less per cent of crude fiber at this time than
at any later period in the growth of the plant. The rela-
tive proportion of leaves to stems in the different cuttings
is as follows: early, 42 to 58; medium, 40 to 60; and late,
33 to 67.
4. Alfalfa leaves as compared with stems are very
much richer in protein, fat and nitrogen-free extract, and
they contain a much smaller proportion of crude fiber.
; ao
ie ote = = 6.04 “!
Below is shown the cost under similar conditions with
the two-year-olds, (the cost of the corn and oil meal fed
them having been slightly greater than that fed the year-
lings) :
Lot fed corn and prairie hay........s.esseseeres &.23 cents
« « corn go %, oil meal 10 %, and prairie hay.. 8.27 “
«“ “corn go %, oil meal 10 %, and corn stover..6.49 ‘*¢
corn 90 %, oil meal 10 a and sorghum hay 7.87 “
Bh Es COLT ANG Alfalla HAY ss se a/e/o\s'sx.c,b.c/0\e stereo =1e 6.89
Among the deductions from these experiments, Profes-
sor Smith records the following, bearing upon the use of
alfalfa :
140 - THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
“Alfalfa is much superior to prairie hay when the grain
consists of corn alone. It also proved to be a cheaper
source of protein than oil meal. The returns on the cattle
fed alfalfa hay, were the alfalfa ficured at $11.14 per
ton, would have been as great as the returns on prairie
hay at $6 per ton, with corn as the grain ration at 39
cents per bushel. In comparison with prairie hay at $6
when oil meal worth $28 per ton was a part of the grain
ration, the alfalfa returned a value of $8.28 per ton.
(In these experiments the cost of all alfalfa hay and all
prairie hay was figured at the one price of $6 per ton.—
Author. )
“Bright, well-cured corn stover fed with an equal
weight of alfalfa, the grain consisting of corn alone, gave
slightly larger gains than corn and alfalfa, and proved
the most economical ration in the experiment. The addi-
tion of corn stover may have improved, to some extent,
the corn and alfalfa ration by furnishing greater variety,
and by its tendency to check scours sometimes caused by
alfalfa. The stover fed with alfalfa returned a value of
$4.57 per ton in comparison with alfalfa at $6 per ton
as the sole roughness.
“By feeding alfalfa hay, which is a protein-rich rough-
ness, extremely palatable and readily masticated, in place
of prairie hay with corn alone, 14 per cent less grain was
required for each pound of gain on two-year-olds and 27
per cent less on yearlings.
“Alfalfa hay, fed once per day in connection with corn
and well-cured cornstalks, furnished sufficient protein for
two-year-olds to make the three foods a combination
producing heavy and very economical gains—more eco-
nomical than any other ration in the experiment.
ALFALFA IN BEEF-MAKING I4I
“Alfalfa is pronouncedly superior to prairie hay for
beef production, and the more rapid the extension of the
area of land devoted to the production of alfalfa, sup-
planting the less valuable and lower yielding native hay,
the more rapid will be the production of wealth from our
soil.”
One authority who has made a study of such problems
says, “steers can be fattened on one-third less corn with
alfalfa for roughness than without.”
W. H. Jordan, director of the New York (Geneva)
experiment station says: “Probably no species of forage
are known that are more economical sources of high-
class cattle food than alfalfa and corn, and if in the
realms of stock raising corn is king, alfalfa is queen.”
FEEDING TOO MUCH ALFALFA.
Many feeders make the mistake of feeding too much
alfalfa hay to young steers grained heavily on corn.
Careful tests seem to prove that cattle on a heavy feed of
corn, corn meal, Kafir-corn or Kafir-corn meal gain as
much with 25 or 30 pounds of alfalfa hay per day as by
having 50 pounds, the very common quantity in feeding.
It is also reported by experienced feeders that steers over
three years old may be fattened on alfalfa with a mod-
erate feed of corn, while for younger steers the heavy
feed should be corn with 15 to 25 pounds of alfalfa hay
per day.
A Colorado feeder put a lot of steers nearly four years
old on a daily ration of ten pounds of corn chop and
fifteen pounds of alfalfa hay for 100 days. The gain
was surprising and the steers weighed on the Denver
market about 1430 pounds per head.
142 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
A feeder in Osborne county, Kansas, reported to the
author the following: “Began feeding 22 two-year-old
steers on February 3rd, averaging 941 pounds in weight.
Gave them no feed but alfalfa hay until March 4th. From
March 4th until May tst fed all the alfalfa they wanted
and 243 bushels of corn chop, when they weighed out
at an average gain of 259 pounds each in 86 days, or
three pounds per day on a feed of 11 bushels of corn chop
and plenty of alfalfa hay per steer.”
Western feeders generally claim to be able to put fat
cattle on the market from 20 to 30 per cent cheaper with
alfalfa as the balance than on corn alone, or with corn
and bran or any purchased protein foods. The cheapest
beef-making in the West is the raising of calves on
alfalfa, and at 20 to 24 months fattening them by a heavy
feeding of corn and alfalfa hay for 100 days. Cattle car-
ried to 1000 or 1200 pounds on alfalfa, and then finished
by strong feeding on corn with alfalfa hay for fifty to
sixty days, make beef of a choice quality at a low cost.
CHAPTER XII,
Alfalfa and the Dairy
MAKING A MARGIN.
The most enthusiastic advocates of alfalfa are dairy-
men. The market price of milk is quite well fixed and
the price of butterfat at the creameries remains, in the
different seasons, pretty much the same year by year.
Hence, the problem of increasing his financial returns
must depend upon the dairyman’s being able to increase
the volume of his product or to decrease the cost, or both.
If he is selling butterfat at a profit of five cents and he
cannot force the price any higher, it is the sensible thing
to decrease the cost per pound and thereby enlarge his
profit.
The dairyman who buys all his feed has but little mar-
gin. To raise enough clover calls for considerable land.
Alfalfa will yield a large bulk of excellent feed from a
few acres of well treated land. For profit he must raise
more feedstuff and buy less. The Kansas station reported
that with common scrub cows fed on alfalfa hay and
Kafir corn meal it was possible to produce butterfat at a
cost of seven cents a pound.
SOME MILKING TEST VALUATIONS.
The New Jersey station as a result of a very pains-
taking milking test reported: (1) In a ration where
144 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
alfalfa hay was tested against wheat bran and dried
brewers’ grain the saving in the cost of milk was 12.7
cents per hundred, and 2.3 cents per pound of butter when
alfalfa hay was used. This saving means a great deal
when it is considered that the alfalfa is raised and not
purchased. (2) That the milk value of one acre of
alfalfa was $74.
A Kansas dairyman is reported to have kept ten cows
through one summer on the alfalfa cut daily from a patch
containing four square rods less than two acres.
Some dairymen believe that there is a great saving in
the alfalfa hay by cutting it into two-inch lengths, and
feeding it dry. It is also believed that it will always be
a matter of economy to feed with the alfalfa, green or as
hay, a small ration of a carbonaceous food, even corn
stover serving such a purpose.
Former Governor Hoard, editor of Hoard’s Dairyman,
says that with alfalfa hay at $10 and bran at $20 per ton
there is a saving, by using alfalfa, of $2.80 for every 100
pounds of butter made, and a saving of 19.8 cents for
every 100 pounds of milk.
In a section of New York where alfalfa has been quite
generally introduced, dairymen claim an increase in their
profits of 15 to 30 per cent by its use, besides the enrich-
ment of their farms for other crops.
Prof. D. H. Otis, telling of experiments with the dairy
herd at the Kansas agricultural college, states that, “it is
usually recommended to feed a cow all the rough feed
she will eat, and then balance up the ration with grain.
The experience at the college indicates that much rough
feed is wasted in careless feeding. The cow will eat the
ALFALFA AND THE DAIRY 145
best first, and, if given too much, will pick the most
desirable morsels, leaving what might be called passably
good, which too frequently is treated as waste and
thrown under foot. No more hay should be given an
animal than it will eat up clean. This refers to first-class
quality, however, as a cow could not be expected to eat
poor hay clean.
“In feeding the rough feeds, the following table has
been used by the college as a guide:
RovuGHNESS.—Value per ton when alfalfa is worth $1.00 per ton.
FEED. Tota] | Protein FEED. Total | Protein
nutrients.|nutrients. nutrients.|nutrients.
Dry ROUGHNESS. GREEN ROUGHNESS.
J MICU Seer $1.00 $1.00 Ailfalfar.; conkescistesiec $0.34 $0.37
Corn-fodder...... 32 -19 Corn silage....... 13 12
Cowpeas.........- 97 1.02 Fodder corn...... 14 - 09
Fodder corn...... .40 24 Pasture grasses... i23 24
i) 1 ee eee 64 42 Sorghum fodder. . 12 .06
Oathay sc fice cscs 59 41 Soy-beans........ .28 +30
Oat straw........ 33 15
Orchard-grass .... 60 -45 |ROOTSAND TUBERS.
Prairiehay....... +51 333 Mangels......-.- .I0 .09
Red clover....... -70 64 Sugar-beets....... 14 10
Sorghum......... 43 23 Turnips.......... II 08
Soy-beans ....... 98 1.02
Mixed hay....... 67 56
Timothy......... 47 27
Wheat straw..... 25 08
“Students working with the dairy herd were anxious
to have the cows make the best possible yields, and were
tempted to give all the good alfalfa hay the cows would
eat. When we discovered the alfalfa hay going too rap-
idly we looked for the cause and found that the dairy
cows had consumed an average of forty-three pounds per
head daily, besides fifteen pounds of Kafir-corn fodder.
The quantity of alfalfa was reduced to thirty-three pounds
146 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
and the Kafir-corn fodder to three and one-half pounds
daily per cow, and we found that the daily yield of milk
was slightly increased. The quality of the hay was the
same in both instances. In the latter case it was eaten up
clean, while in the former considerable was hauled away
and fed to dry cows. Later records show a still greater
reduction in the allowance of alfalfa without decreasing
the flow of milk. This experience shows some of the
leaks that may take place in feeding roughness, especially
when those feeds are appetizing, like alfalfa and red
clover.
“For ease of calculation the roughness is figured on
the basis of alfalfa hay selling for one dollar per ton.
When alfalfa is worth six dollars per ton the other rough
feeds are worth six times the amount indicated in the
table; when alfalfa is worth eight dollars per ton the
other feeds are worth eight times as much, and so on.
Usually we find that we can give practically all the rough
feed that the cows can eat, although, as indicated above,
with a good quality of alfalfa or clover hay more may be
eaten than will be consumed at a profit, At this writing
alfalfa hay is selling in Manhattan at seven dollars per
ton. This would make the feeding values of the other
rough feeds worth seven times the amount indicated in
the table. Red clover, for instance, would be worth seven
times seventy cents or $4.90 per ton; prairie hay would be
worth $3.57 per ton; and millet hay would be worth
$4.48 per ton. If the problem was to select the most eco-
nomical roughness, we would select alfalfa at seven dol-
lars per ton, in preference to red clover at six dollars
per ton, or prairie hay at four dollars per ton, or millet
ALFALFA AND THE DAIRY 147
at five dollars per ton. Knowing the cost of these differ-
ent rough feeds and having this table before him, a feeder
can tell which is the most economical feed to use. It will
be noticed that the table is divided into two parts, the
first part giving the value of the total nutrients, and the
second one the value of the protein nutrients. It fre-
quently happens that we have plenty of carbohydrates
and fat, but that we are lacking in protein. In this case
we would consult the ‘protein nutrients’ column in order
to determine what feed to buy in order to furnish the
protein most economically. If it be carbohydrates and
fat as well as protein that is required, as was the .condi-
tion in the dry year of 1901, then we should take the
‘total nutrients’ column. When it is possible to get a
rough feed containing a large amount of protein, we iind
that in feeding a liberal allowance of roughness the grain
can be reduced. Hence, the importance of providing
roughness rich in protein, like alfalfa.”
SELLING FARM PRODUCTS THROUGH THE COW.
No other phase of agriculture presents more advan-
tages than dairying—disposing of the products of the
farm as milk and butterfat. When the latter may be sold
to creamery stations and the skim milk fed to calves and
pigs along with alfalfa the profits are greater than from
almost any other form of agriculture. No other business
tends so rapidly to build up the fertility of the farm, and,
when judiciously conducted, no other branch of farming
yields more satisfactory financial returns. Raising and
feeding alfalfa will add from 15 to 30 per cent to the
profits of dairying over the use of any other feedstuff
148 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
that may be raised or bought. The profit problem for
the dairyman is constantly to find the feed that will
decrease the cost of his production.
The diagram below, prepared by the editor of the
Nebraska Farmer, is to “represent the digestible protein
or milk property contained in different kinds of rough-
ness. Points represent the decimals of a pound, and the
bars are an exact representation of the superiority of one
kind of food over another for the production of milk.
Each bar represents 10 pounds of roughness. The
approximate yield is also given per acre:”
Approximate Yield Per Acre.
Corn Stover 6 to 8 Tons 17 Points
Drilled Corn Fodder 10 to 14 Tons 25 Points
Timothy Hay 2 Tons 28 Points
Prairie Hay 2 Tons 30 Points
Millet Hay 3 Tons 32 Points
Oat Hay 3 to 4 Tons 43 Points
Red Top 2 Tons 48 Points
Red Clover 2 Tons 68 Points
Alsike 3 Tons 84 Points
Alfalfa 6 to 8 Tons 110 Points
A. S. Hitchcock cites as an illustration of feeding alfal-
fa alone, the case of the dairy farms in the vicinity of
Moneta, Cal., where the stock are ordinarily fed no other
ration than alfalfa. As alfalfa is not a balanced ration, a
number of local dairymen tried to replace a part of the
alfalfa by sorghum, thus giving a more nearly balanced
ration. The cows, however, did not give as much milk
upon this combination as upon pure alfalfa. “This result
AS a
5 ties eae
ALFALFA AND THE DAIRY 149
may be assigned to the fact that the cattle were unable to
consume a sufficient quantity of the mixture to produce
the same results as the alfalfa alone. These dairymen
find they can secure a larger milk yield by feeding a little
grain; but the increased yield does not pay for the grain,
which is high priced in this locality.”
AN ESSENTIAL IN MILK PRODUCTION.
Oscar Erf, dairy husbandman at the Kansas experiment
station, writing for this volume, says: “Alfalfa is quite
indispensable in successful dairy operations, being one of
the cheapest sources of protein, that most essential com-
pound in feeds for milk production. The Kansas station
found that for milk 144 pounds of well-leaved alfalfa hay,
containing a high per cent of protein, is equal in feeding
value to a pound of bran. In case the alfalfa is of a
stemmy nature it requires 134 pounds to equal the feeding
value of a pound of bran. Alfalfa hay is worth from $4
to $7 per ton on the farm, while bran costs from $14 to
$20 per ton, hence it is far more economical to feed the
alfalfa hay.
“Like other hays alfalfa varies in composition accord-
ing to the time of cutting, the soil on which it grows, and
its per cent of leaves. It has been found that three-fourths
of a pound of alfalfa hay is equal in feeding value to a
pound of clover hay of equal brightness and quality. A
good stand of clover yields about 214 tons per acre per.
year, while a good stand of alfalfa yields about 5 tons
per acre per year. Hence, on an acre of land, 1100 pounds
of protein can be produced by raising alfalfa while only
340 pounds can be produced by growing clover, the pro-
150 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
tein in the alfalfa and that in the clover being equally
digestible. This comparison is chosen from the fact that
clover is the next cheaper source of protein found on the
farm.
“At the Kansas station the following experiment was
conducted, and illustrates the low cost of a ration includ-
ing alfalfa hay for roughness as compared with a ration
in which prairie hay was used. The experiment was with
ten cows. The first ration consisted of 21 pounds of
alfalfa hay and g pounds of corn. While the cows were
on this ration each produced an average 26 pounds of
milk per day, the milk containing 3.9 per cent of butterfat.
To formulate a ration from prairie hay and bran which
had the same amount of nutrients, we were obliged
to feed 19 pounds of bran and 15 of hay. Fed on this
each cow produced only 24 pounds of milk per day, con-
taining 4 per cent of butterfat. The 21 pounds of alfalfa
hay at $7 per ton, which is rather a high estimate, and g
pounds of corn at 70 cents per hundred weight cost 13.6
cents per day. At this rate it cost 3 1-3 cents to produce
a gallon of milk, or approximately 13.5 cents for a pound
of butterfat. Estimating bran at $16 per ton and prairie
hay at $5 per ton, the cost of the second ration was 18.95
cents per day, and milk approximately 7 cents per gallon,
making the butterfat worth 19.7 cents per pound.
“The following two tables show the difference in cost
between a ration in which alfalfa is used for part of the
roughness and one which contains no alfalfa but has the
same amount of digestible nutrients:
ee ee er
ALFALFA AND THE DAIRY 15t
‘Alfalfa hay..19 lbs at $ 7.00 per ton. . .$.066
oo oe 7lbsat .70percwt......049
27) a 24 lbs at 18.00 per ton... .0225
$.1375
Sorghum hay..1olbs at $ 3.50 per ton.$.0175
Prairie hay....12lbsat 6.00 perton. .036
Ground wheat.. 8 lbs at 80 per bu. .1066
Cottonseed meal 3 Ibs at 24.00 per ton.. .036
$.1961
“As shown by the table a gain of 5.86 cents is made by
feeding the alfalfa. Being a proteinaceous feed it can to
a great extent be substituted for cottonseed meal, linseed
meal or gluten meal, and will entirely substitute other
leguminous hays and forages, such as soy bean hay, cow-
pea hay, clover hay and vetch hay, any one of which is
more expensive, for nutrients contained, than alfalfa hay.
“The Kansas station has found it practicable, from
results obtained in the past three years, to ensile green
alfalfa for dairy cows. This is superior to dry alfalfa,
owing to its succulent nature. In the eastern part of the
United States ensiling alfalfa has another advantage in
that all cuttings can be harvested in perfect condition. As
a rule the first cutting throughout this whole territory is
liable to be damaged more or less by rains. By putting
the green alfalfa into a well constructed silo this loss can
be obviated and the full value retained. For example: a
man has 40 acres of alfalfa, from which he harvests for
the first crop 1% tons per acre. Estimating the price of
good, clean alfalfa hay at $7 a ton, this would be worth
152 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
$420. Should the hay be damaged by rain its value would
be greatly reduced and, as has been the case for many
years, such damaged hay could be purchased for $2 or less
per ton. Accordingly this damaged hay would be worth
$120. The loss caused by rain would therefore be $300.
Put into the silo this first cutting would be equal in value
to the best bright hay.
“The cost of a 100-ton silo is $250, hence the owner
could not only save the first cutting, but money besides.
Furthermore, it is not infrequently the case that alfalfa of
the first cutting is of a stemmy nature, and it has been
estimated that fully 28 per cent of such hay is wasted
when fed to cows, as they do not eat the coarse stems.
This loss can be entirely eliminated by the siloing, for
cows will readily eat the stems as silage.
“The value of alfalfa silage in influencing the milk flow
was indicated when a ration was fed to sixteen cows, in
which 12 pounds of alfalfa hay, 20 pounds of corn silage,
5 pounds of bran and 4 pounds of corn meal were used;
this ration was afterward changed by substituting alfalfa
silage for the corn silage, and at the same time the bran
was reduced to 1 pound, and the corn increased 1 pound.
By these changes the milk was increased Io per cent.
“With butterfat worth 23 cents a pound the value of a
ton of alfalfa silage has been estimated at approximately
$8. This silage solves the problem of feeding cows eco-
nomically in summer, as well as in winter, under a system
of intensive farming.”
W. J. Fraser, chief in dairy husbandry at the Univer-
sity of Illinois, says: “Corn silage and alfalfa, two of
the best feeds for dairy cows, make practically a complete
ALFALFA AND THE DAIRY 153
or balanced ration in themselves. Several years’ experi-
ence in supplying the university dairy herd with various
kinds of soiling crops in midsummer has led to this high
recommendation of corn silage and alfalfa.”
Alfalfa hay has much the same laxative effect as June
pasture. An Elgin, IIl., dairyman, with fifty cows, says:
“Every month I feed alfalfa in winter gives me a month
in which I have practically pasture conditions. The cows
show the pasture-effect in the glossy condition of their
hair and in the yield of milk, and have never before looked
quite so well.”
CHAPTER XIll.
Alfalfa for Swine
HOGS WILL EAT HAY.
In a preceding chapter it was stated that alfalfa is a
valuable pasture or soiling crop for pigs. It is equally
true that they will actually eat alfalfa hay. A hog is not
usually ranked as a hay-eating animal but an exception
must be made as to his eating alfalfa hay. As a pasture
or soiling crop for sows and young pigs, alfalfa proves a
wonderfully helpful ration for milk-making in the sow
and for growth in the pigs. Experiments have shown
that pigs make better growth when the dam is fed consid-
erable alfalfa than those from sows fed the best of com-
mercial rations, but with no alfalfa. Given two sets of
pigs, one fed clover, rape and soaked corn and the other
fed only alfalfa forage, the latter seemed to grow the
more rapidly. For brood sows it is a most valuable food,
either as hay, a soiling crop, or as pasture. The litters of
such sows are generally large and vigorous and the dams
have a strong flow or nutritious milk. Alfalfa meal in
slop may be used with profit where the hay is not to be
obtained. It is also claimed that sows fed on alfalfa dur-
ing pregnancy will not devour their young, its mineral
elements seeming to satisfy the appetite of the sow, while
contributing to the foetal development of the pigs.
Showing Advantage of Early Fall Sowing
Beginning on the left the seed was sown August 19, September |5 and October | respectively. All were dug
up April 13 of the following spring. Nebraska Experiment Station Bulletin No. 84.
eet
Ne
peleey
Id Alfalfa
ive-year-0
F
at the time of its third cutting,
September 8, and its root develop-
ment. Grown at Manhattan, Kansas, on upland prairie
having a heavy clay subsoil.
ALFALFA FOR SWINE 155
On the farm of Governor Hoard, in Wisconsin, all the
brood sows have for several years been wintered on alfalfa
hay of the third cutting, and their drink, without any
grain until the last two weeks of gestation. Mr. Hoard
says the object was to give the sows a food that should
keep them in a non-feverish state and furnish protein
sufficient to build the bodies of the forthcoming pigs.
(Their “drink” was the skim milk from his dairy.)
“It was a matter of experiment at first, our only guide
being what knowledge and reason we could exercise from
what we knew, or thought we knew, of the philosophy of
gestation. The experiment proved to be a success from
the first. The sows went through their work in fine con-
dition, giving milk abundantly. The pigs came with splen-
did vitality, thus reducing our losses from early death
fully 30 per cent over what they had previously been.
The hay is fed dry and is thrown into the pen on the feed-
ing floor without any cutting or chaffing whatever. We
have sometimes thought we would try the experiment of
cutting it into half-inch lengths and moistening it. Pos-
sibly it would take less hay in this way. The sows keep
in good flesh, fully as much so as we like.”
A Finney county, Kansas, farmer reports having pas-
tured 30 pigs on one acre of alfalfa from May Ist to
September Ist, when they weighed 100 pounds each and
were in fine condition for fattening. Another Kansas
farmer reports keeping 100 pigs from about the middle
of April to September on five acres of alfalfa pasture. A
little grain during the last two months would have gained
him many pounds of pork, Many alfalfa raising. pig-
156 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
growers insist that their pigs can be maintained from
~May to October on alfalfa for one-half what it would
cost for almost any other feed.
The Utah station found that young shoats gained one-
’ third of a pound a day on alfalfa pasture without grain.
> But the station found also that the gain was not so great
in older hogs. A Wisconsin dairyman reported that he
kept nine sows all winter and spring on alfalfa hay and
skim milk, without any grain, and raised from them 75
pigs, all healthy and vigorous. |
The Colorado station considers that a ration of three-
fourths corn and one-fourth alfalfa hay is the best for
fattening hogs for market, but for young hogs not ready
for fattening the proportions should be reversed. The
station does not recommend grinding alfalfa hay for
hogs, probably on the theory that the hog’s time is not
worth much at best.
A VALUABLE FEEDING TEST.
The Kansas station in the fall of 1898 made a series of
experiments of interest to feeders everywhere. The test
was to determine the value of alfalfa hay fed to fattening
hogs that were receiving all the grain they would eat.
The results are related here in the language of the
bulletin :
“The hogs fed in this experiment were bought of farm-
ers, and averaged in weight 125 pounds each. They were
placed in lots of ten each, in large pens, having for shelter
some sheds open to the south. The alfalfa hay used was
of the best quality, carefully cured. Blackhulled White
Kafir-corn was the grain used, the hogs being fed all they
Sp Sle a> em 6 rds
ALFALFA FOR SWINE 157
would eat without waste. The hay was fed dry in fork-
fuls in a large flat trough. The pigs were given more
than they could eat, and they picked out the leaves and
finer stems, rejecting the coarser stems. One lot of hogs
was fed Kafir-corn meal dry and alfalfa hay; one lot
whole Kafir-corn dry; one lot Kafir-corn meal dry, and
one lot Kafir-corn meal wet.
“The experiment began on November 24 and lasted
nine weeks. ~By that time the alfalfa-fed hogs became
well fattened, and were marketed. We estimated that it
would require four to five weeks additional feeding, with
ordinary weather, to get the hogs that were fed grain
alone into good marketable condition.
“The gains in nine weeks from the different methods of
feeding were as follows:
Gains per hog
in pounds.
Kafir-corn meal dry and alfalfa hay. .90.9
OIE GOTT WHOLE. iyo s isc cia aide ed 59.4
Katr-corn meal ted drys 2.. . 06d. 52.4
Kafir-corn meal fed wet........... 63.3
“The gain from feeding alfalfa hay with Kafir-corn
meal fed dry, over the meal alone fed dry, is more than
73 per cent.
“The gains per bushel of feed were as follows:
Pounds
Kafir-corn meal dry and 7.83 pounds
Shire MeV eI AS ee uiads oie keene 10.88
POROUS WIAGIS 5. acy Sie ela ses pisceiw 428 8.56
i
leakage from the vessel in which the wheat is mixed.
Let the poisoned grain stand over night, and distribute
it in the early morning of a bright day. Use a table-
spoonful of the wheat to each hole occupied by prairie
216 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
dogs, putting it near the mouth of the burrow in two or
three little bunches. Do not put out the poison in cold
or stormy weather. It will keep for a considerable time,
and is much more effective after a cold period, as the
animals are then hungry and eat the grain readily. A
bushel of wheat should poison 1000 to 1200 holes. An
excellent substitute for the oil of anise in this formula
can be made by soaking two ounces of green coffee ber-
ries in the whites of three eggs. Let this stand for about
twelve hours, and use the liquid instead of anise oil.”
A tablespoonful of carbon bisulphide, upon some such
absorbent material as cotton, dry horse manure, or a piece
of corn-cob, and rolled into the burrows, is effective. It
is best immediately to cover the hole with a sod and stamp
down firmly,
GRASSHOPPERS.
Grasshoppers are a source of no little loss to alfalfa
growers in some parts of the West. They usually do
their greatest damage to the season’s second crop, the
young not being very destructive to the first. The best
remedy, or rather prevention, is deep disking in April and
then harrowing to destroy the eggs.
Where the pests attack or are about to attack a field
of alfalfa, Prof. L. Bruner, of the Nebraska station recom-
mends the use of a “hopper dozer,” which is “simply a
long, shallow pan of stove-pipe iron or galvanized iron
mounted on runners and backed by a light frame covered
with cloth. The pan is about four inches deep, from
eighteen inches to two feet wide, and from ten to sixteen
feet long. It is partly filled with water and a little kero-
sene. A horse drags the machine across the field over
THE ENEMIES OF ALFALFA 217
the stubble of the first crop and the half-grown hoppers
jump into the pan where the oil coats them over and
kills every one that it touches. The hopper dozer works
best on level land. On sloping ground the oil and water
run to one end and slop over. To prevent this the pan is
usually divided into sections by a number of partitions.
The runners should stick out in front of the pan about
a foot and one-half, and a piece of chain or heavy rope
should be stretched loosely between them to_drag ahead
of the machine and make the hoppers jump. On level
fields there are no great difficulties in the use of the
hopper dozer. Careless driving may spill oil on some
alfalfa and kill it. If these machines are to be really
effective, they must be used before the grasshoppers get
their wings. The first crop of alfalfa should be cut as
early as possible, and the hopper dozers should follow
the rakes as closely as may be. On the whole, they should
be used only where plowing and harrowing have not been
done or have failed to keep the grasshoppers in check.”
Of the use of this implement or machine Prof. S. J.
Hunter has this to say:
“The height of the runners depends upon the height
of crop to be protected. It is important that there be no
timbers in front of the pan, so that its front line may
come in contact with the grain passed over. The insects
then fall directly into the fluid. When ready for use
place two buckets of water and one-half gallon of coal-
oil in each pan, and then drive back and forth across the
end of the field where the grasshoppers are entering until
you have filled the pans; remove the insects, replenish
with oil and water, and continue until the field is rid of
the pest.
218 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
“Many grasshoppers will be seen strike the sheet-
iron back, drop into the pans and immediately jump out
again. Those farmers who observed the experiments
were at first of the opinion that the locusts that jumped
out had jumped away ‘to live another day.’ The writer
asked those interested to watch the insects and note the
actions of grasshoppers that had jumped out. In every
case the report was that the insects became sick and
soon died. In fact, persons going over fields where
a day or so before the hopper dozer had been at work,
were impressed with the number of dead _ grass-
hoppers on the ground. An examination showed the
presence of coal-oil upon the body. This. kerosene and
water is an external irritant, and my observations have
been that the mixture is more effective than the oil alone.
“The use of the machine may be best shown by
examples. In Ford county, Kansas, a large tract of
alfalfa was cut, and the locusts at once began moving inte
a large field of Kafir-corn which had been sown broad-
cast. The hopper dozer was drawn back and forth across
the end of the corn field nearest the alfalfa land until a
portion of the field about twenty rods deep had been gone
over. Here it was apparent that there were very few
grasshoppers; or, in other words, the advance line of
the locusts’ march only extended twenty rods into the
field. Two days later the same area of ground was cov-
ered, but not as many insects were taken. Grasshoppers
no longer entered this corn and the hopper dozer was no
longer used at this point.
“It has been my experience with this machine that
after it has passed over vegetation it does not injure the
THE ENEMIES OF ALFALFA 219
plants, but in some way renders the vegetation distasteful
to the grasshoppers, so that they turn their course and
seek food elsewhere. I have observed that these native
grasshoppers enter a field from one corner or side, and
that they are not as a rule scattered over the whole field,
but occur in great numbers in patches. This being the
case, it is evident that with very little labor with this
machine the products of a field can be given full oppor-
tunity to mature.”’
ARMY WORMS.
In Nebraska the fall army worm has caused consider-
able damage. It is distinct from the true army worm, hav-
ing small hairs growing out from small black spots; it
has a whitish “Y’” shaped mark upon the head. The
parent of the worms is a moth of a yellowish, ash-gray
color. The female moth deposits her eggs in clusters
upon the leaves and stems. With the approach of cold
weather the worms pass into the ground and enter the
chrysalis stage about one or two inches below the surface.
When very numerous the only effective treatment is to
disk thoroughly in the spring.
BIND WEED.
Bindweed, belonging to the morning-glory family, is
one of the meanest weeds that annoy alfalfa raisers. It
spreads from the root, and is more than liable to smother
out alfalfa or any other crop which tries to occupy its
ground. If infested fields could be grazed closely with
hogs or sheep, they might keep the bindweed down and
finally eradicate it. If this cannot be done, the only rem-
edy is to plow and use the land for some other crop.
CHAPTER XAT.
Difficulties and Discouragements
Notwithstanding the fact that alfalfa is now grown
successfully in all parts of the United States, in almost
all kinds of soils and under many dissimilar conditions of
climate, there are grouped here as a summary from pre-
ceding chapters the several difficulties and discourage-
ments that may confront the one who would grow it.
1. Securing a Good Stand. Theoretically, the farmer
should secure a good stand every year with every crop,
but he does not. He obtains, however, poor stands of
wheat and corn and potatoes oftener than a poor stand
of alfalfa. Why does he fail with alfalfa? The follow-
ing, at least in part, suggests why:
a He neglects to prepare sufficiently in advance. He
should select his alfalfa field one or two years before he
intends sowing. If he raises wheat, he should sow a little
alfalfa seed with his wheat, one or even two years before
ready for alfalfa. This will leave a few roots and the
proper bacteria will have been introduced into the soil.
For two years there should be a vigorous fight against
weeds, the fewest possible being permitted to ripen seed.
b He neglects to prepare properly for the preceding
crop, and sometimes plants the wrong crop, although
sorghum and Kafir corn are about the only very objec-
And There’s Still More to Follow
*kep e ul
94} Bulzunoo jou *
U0!}98S-iejJeNb eB ynoge JaAo uosiod ay} aynqiiysip ueo ueW ev pue ‘s0qe]
*SMO1ING 1194} aplsul Sip sjeluiue ayy |je Ajseany *pauosiod uaeq pey yey} ,,UMO},, B YSnouyy Hjem aynulw
ss0q o11Iwig praq
e198 Jad s1Ua9 OM} J8AO JOU S| ZjULT 1OSSA}O1q4 0} SUIpsoooe ‘Way BulKo1ysap jo ys09 ayy
0% & ul dn paiayjzes
DIFFICULTIES AND DISCOURAGEMENTS 221
tionable planting to precede alfalfa. These have usually
taken too much of the land’s moisture, especially if the
season has been somewhat dry, to permit a prosperous
beginning of the plants from fall sown seed. Millet, oats
or cowpeas are the best crops to precede, i. e. for the first
trial. The plowing for this preceding crop should be
deep. Inclay land a subsoil plow (the kind which loosens
but does not throw the subsoil to the surface) should
follow. It is extremely important that a dressing of
stable manure be plowed under for this preceding crop.
The seed bed should be carefully prepared, and under
favorable conditions. Working the ground when too wet
would make it impossible to secure a proper seed bed
later when preparing for alfalfa.
c He neglects to prepare the alfalfa seed bed prop-
erly. He should begin disking and harrowing as soon as
the preparatory crop is off the ground, and continue
this at intervals of ten or fifteen days until time for sow-
ing, when the soil should be as fine as for an onion bed.
d He uses poor seed; seed that is infertile, or adul-
terated with weed seeds—undesirable and unreliable in
every way. /
2. Dying out the second year, which in most instances
is due to one of two causes, viz.: neglect to plow under
stable manure for the preceding crop, or pasturing alfalfa
in its first year. Not an animal should be turned on an
alfalfa field for pasture until the second or, preferably,
the third year. Another cause is disturbance of the soil
and plants by severe freezing. This may often be pre-
vented in a degree by a light top-dressing of manure in
December.
222 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
3. Failure through harvesting and stacking.
4. Injury from insects or disease.
These are practically all the things that need occasion
serious vexation. Of course alfalfa calls for more work
in harvesting than corn, or clover, or timothy; but one
acre of prosperous alfalfa is worth two or three of corn,
or clover or timothy, even for market, while for feeding
purposes the difference is even greater. The “poor”
farmer, the lazy farmer, the “corner grocery’ farmer
should not sow alfalfa.
Se
CHAPTER. XXF,
Miscellaneous
ALFALFA IN THE ORCHARD.
Probably nine-tenths of those who have written on this
subject have condemned the practice of sowing alfalfa
in the orchard. They have said that the alfalfa demanded
so much moisture that the trees would be dwarfed if not
destroyed. In going through an immense amount of
material in the preparation of this book only two
instances have been found of men who claim that the
alfalfa is a benefit to orchards. One of these was from
Texas and the newspaper quoting him did not give his
name. He was reported to have used his orchard for
hog pasture, keeping on five acres from ten to fifteen
sows with their pigs from early April to September. He
claimed that the alfalfa instead of robbing the orchard
of moisture actually contributed to the surface moisture
and benefited the trees.
Prof. F. L. Watrous, of the Colorado station, is an
earnest advocate of the use of alfalfa in the orchard and
from an article of his this is quoted:
“Whatever may have been believed or imagined as to
the uncongeniality of trees and alfalfa the theory is des-
tined to an early downfall. The evidence is at hand now
224 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
to show that not only is alfalfa not a detriment when
grown among fruit trees, but in many ways it is a posi-
tive benefit, lending itself and its properties to the advan-
tage of the trees.
“On land where moisture can be found at from six to
ten feet from the surface, the congeniality of the alfalfa
plant and the apple tree becomes apparent. Both need
plenty of surface water the first year, a little less the sec-
ond, and very little or none thereafter.
“After trees become old enough to bear and need all
the land between them, and that fertilized and renovated,
alfalfa may be used as a food gatherer and distributer.
It pushes down into the lower strata, bringing up min-
eral elements, captures nitrogen from the air through its
10o0t processes, and brings all together near the surface,
thus giving to the trees the food they need to fill up and
mature fruit. Nor is this all. The alfalfa falling on the
ground makes a soft cover upon which windfalls may
drop with little bruising; it so occupies the soil as to
allow no foul growth to creep in; it does away with the
work of weeding or cultivating, and keeps the surface
cool and porous, furnishing excellent pasture for hogs
if the trees are protected. It would be possible, of course,
in this system of co-operation between fruit trees and
alfalfa to secure a crop of hay or seed during the off
years for fruit, but whether this would prove profitable
may be questioned. Orchards growing under the condi-
tions described have produced magnificent crops of fruit
which, for size, quality and coloring, is seldom equaled.”
MISCELLANEOUS 225
SOME ALFALFA “MUSTS” AND “DON’TS.”
A Knox county, Ohio, man, in expressing himself as
to some of the requisites for success with alfalfa, as
observed from his viewpoint, has this to say:
“T have known about alfalfa from boyhood; been
familiar with it for thirty years, and have grown it suc-
cessfully on many soils, from a stiff clay, upwards. The
failures which I have seen have been accounted for by
the non-performance of some of the essentials. There
are certain ‘musts,’ not ‘shoulds,’ to be observed to secure
success. Here they are from my experience:
“First of all the seed must be pure, of high germinat-
ing power, and of the highest possible vitality. If I
doubted my own proficiency in these determinations, I
would consult the nearest experiment station. I have
had occasion to consult experiment stations, from New
Jersey to Wisconsin, on various subjects, and in every
instance have met with prompt and valuable—and sym-
pathetic—assistance.
“The soil must have lime; either as one of its natural
constituents, or lime must be added. If the soil is defi-
cient, then the lime must be incorporated with the soil
some months before seeding.
“The land must have efficient drainage, either natural,
or, as in the case of clay and heavy clay loams, artificial.
“The land must be fertile to a depth of at least nine
inches. Beyond that depth the taproot in its search for
water will take care of itself.”
Another writer, impressed by practices he regards as
reprehensible, enumerates them as follows:
226 . THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
“Don’t sow any nurse crop.
“Don’t sow on freshly plowed land, no matter how
carefully prepared.
“Don’t let weeds or grass grow over six inches high
without clipping.
“Don’t clip or mow when wet with rain or dew.
“Don’t let alfalfa stand if turning yellow; cut it.
“Don’t sow old seed.
“Don’t sow less than twenty-five pounds per acre, one-
half each way.
“Don’t sow on land that will not raise 250 bushels of
potatoes per acre.
“Don’t sow twenty-five acres at first, sow five.
“Don’t pasture it.
“Don’t put any of the rotten manure anywhere but
on your alfalfa plot.
“Don’t depend on ‘culture cakes’ or soil from some
distant field.
“Don’t let water ever stand on it. '
“Don’t let it go if a thin stand, but disk in more seed;
don’t be afraid you will kill it.
“Don’t replow the land; disk it.
“Don’t wait for it to stool; it never does.
“Don’t try to cut for hay until the alfalfa takes the
field.
“Don’t sow on any land not well underdrained.
“Don’t leave your land rough; use a roller or a plank
float to level and smooth it.
“Don’t give up.”
MISCELLANEOUS 227
ALFILERILLA OR “ALFILARIA.”
(Erodium citcutarium.)
On account of the similarity of its name to that of
alfalfa and the possibility of the two plants being con-
fused in the minds of those not acquainted with them, it
is proper to make mention here of the plant referred to
in the caption above. It is not generally known nor
widely distributed, and has as yet its principal habitat in
semi-arid parts of the southwestern United States. The
Century Dictionary calls it Pin-clover or Pin-grass, and
classifies it with the Geranium family. Webster’s Dic-
tionary speaks of it as a weed in California. It is an
annual and seeds profusely; a few seeds scattered over
quite a large area result in a thorough seeding the sec-
ond year. A stockman in Arizona writes that it will
grow on any kind of soil except alkali; that it was intro-
duced from Australia by sheep carrying it in their wool.
-It is a southern plant and should not be seeded largely
north of the northern line of Oklahoma until tested by
the experiment stations. It should not be confused with
alfalfa, as it is entirely dissimilar and not related.
In discussing this plant an Arizona editor writes the
following:
“Tt is by no means a new or experimental crop, for it
was the main reliance of Arizona stockmen during ten
years of drouth. We suppose that the experiment sta-
tions in the West have given it little attention because
it is as well known as alfalfa here, and millions of acres
are covered with it in various portions of the Territory.
228 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
“We know from many years experience that alfilaria
will thrive and keep stock in good condition where no
grass roots would live through one of the dry seasons.
It is peculiarly adapted to the poorer soils in western
Kansas, Nebraska, the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico,
and portions of the northern section of Mexico.
“Its merits are that it will grow in seasons so dry that
ether forage fails and that it will keep cattle in better
health and condition as to flesh and growth than any-
thing else we can grow in Arizona, not excepting alfalfa.
In the spring cattle and horses will go miles to find it and
it is better than ‘condition powders’ to put them in con-
dition for summer growth.
“What it will do on other classes of soil, under excess
of moisture, is a matter of experiment; but where it is
needed most—as above outlined, there is nothing that
has ever been tested under these adverse conditions which
‘can compare with alfilaria, This will be certified to by
every ranchman and cattleman in this section of Arizona.”
MEASURING HAY IN THE STACK.
Some method of arriving at the quantity in a stack,
rick, or mow without weighing it, is, at one time and
another, found desirable by everyone who has to do with
loose hay. There can be no absolute rule laid down for
this because of the varying compactness the hay attains
under differing conditions of coarseness or fineness,
moisture, length of time stacked or stored and the weight
which has rested upon it.
For prairie hay stacked not less than thirty days a
cube seven feet square (343 cubic feet) is not uncom-
MISCELLANEOUS 229
monly bought or sold as a ton; yet seven-and-a-half feet
square, or 422 cubic feet, are often made the basis of
estimating. The author is advised that in the alfalfa
growing districts of the Yellowstone valley it is the
general custom to accept as a ton 422 cubic feet of alfalfa
hay if it has settled thirty days or more. Also that hay-
men find there is a noticeable variation between the dif-
ferent cuttings. The first cutting will fall short of actual
weight more than the second, while the third cutting will
hold up in weight, and sometimes overrun. Prof. E.
A. Burnett, of the Nebraska experiment station, thinks
an eight-foot cube, or 512 cubic feet, a fair figure.
Professor Ten Eyck says:
“The rules for measuring hay in the stack will vary
according to the length of time the hay has been stacked
and the kind and quality of the hay, and also according
to the character of the stack. With alfalfa or prairie
hay which has been stacked for thirty days it is usual to
compute an eight-foot cube or 512 cubic feet as a ton.
When the hay has been stacked five or six months, usually
a seven-and-a-half-foot cube or 422 cubic feet is calcu-
lated for a ton. In old stacks which have been stacked a
year or more a seven-foot cube or 343 cubic feet is allowed
for a ton.
“There are different methods of measuring a stack,
depending upon its shape and also its size. For a long
stack or rick the usual method is to throw a line over
the stack measuring the distance (in two or three places,
and use the average) from the bottom on one side to the
bottom on the other; add to this the average width of
the stack, divide this sum by four (which equals one side
230 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
of the square) and multiply the quotient by itself and
this product by the length of the stack; this will give the
number of cubic feet in the stack, which may be divided
by 512, 422, or 343 in order to find the number of tons.
For small, low ricks the rule is to subtract the width
from the ‘over,’ divide by 2, multiply by the width and
multiply the product by the length, dividing the result
by the number of cubic feet in a ton.
“There is no established rule for measuring round
stacks, but this one will approximate the contents of one
of the ordinary conical form: Find the circumference at
or above the base or ‘bulge’ at a height that will average
the base from there to the ground, find the vertical
height of the measured circumference from the ground
and the slant height from the circumference to the top
of the stack. Multiply the circumference by itself and
divide by 100 and multiply by 8, then multiply the result
by the height of the base plus one-third of the slant
height of top. The hay in a round is necessarily less
compact than in a rectangular stack, hence a greater
number of feet should be allowed for a ton; with well
settled hay, probably 512 feet.
“The rules given may also be used in measuring any
kind of hay, sorghum or Kafir-fodder in the stack. How-
ever, for sorghum or Kafir-fodder only approximate
results can be procured by stack measurements because
the fodder is apt to vary greatly in weight, according to
the moisture it contains.”
ALFALFA, ML. ALFA.
ALFALFA. Bacteria irom Bacfecintteemn Bacteria trom Recteria from :
No Bacteria. Affalfa soll. Alfalfa Cubercies. Sweet Clover Soil Sweet Clover Tubercles
ALVALFA; § ALFALFA.
Pot Culture Experiments at University of Illinois
showing effect produced upon growth of alfalfa by nitrogen-gathering bacteria obtained
from older alfalfa and sweet clover, Reading from top to bottom the
four photographs were made five, six, seven and eight
weeks, respectively, from time of planting.
*je90} UaAa|a UeYY
ssa) Ajjysijs }USIeH "|aAe] eas MOlaq jaa} AZXIS ‘BIUJO}I[eD UJaY}NOS UI UOI}eSIWdI JapuN UMOID BuO WoOs$ UMOIZ
advlfog B}Te}TV JO YIMoIN syIWOP xXIg
CHAPTER XXVI,
Practical Experiences of Alfalfa Growers
in the United States of America
ALABAMA.
‘Prof. J. F. Duggar, Director Alabama experiment
station.—Alfalfa is grown in Alabama with entire suc-
cess on the lime soil of the central prairie region of the
state. This is a strip of land from Io to 20 miles wide,
extending southeast and northwest almost across the
state and into Mississippi. Beginning near Union
Springs, this prairie passes near Montgomery, Selma,
Demopolis, Greensboro and northwestward towards Co-
lumbus, Miss. On the prairie lands in this area alfalfa
affords from three to six cuttings per year, usually four,
and the yield is from three to six tons per acre. Irriga-
tion is not practiced. The seed is sown either in Septem-
ber or in the early part of March, usually from 20 to 24
pounds per acre. Almost a full crop is secured the first
year from fall seeding, but only from one-third to two-
thirds of a full crop is secured the first year from sowing
seed in March. It is not customary on this soil to use
fertilizer on alfalfa, but an application of even a light coat
of stable manure immensely increases the yield on the
poor spots. Failure has generally attended attempts to
232 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
grow alfalfa on non-calcareous or sandy soils, though un-
der favorable conditions, with liberal manuring and con-
stant warfare against crab-grass, it occasionally succeeds.
In Bulletin No. 127 of the Alabama experiment station
the results in alfalfa growing are summarized as follows:
Usually the best crop to precede spring sown alfalfa is
cotton, especially if cotton follows melilotus (Sweet
clover ).The best crop to prepare the land for fall sown al-
falfa is cowpeas, sown very thickly. Farmers have
found that alfalfa thrives when sown on Johnson grass
meadows, holding its own, at least for the first few years,
against this aggressive grass. Dodder, a yellow thread-
like growth, is a serious enemy of alfalfa. One of the
remedies consists in mowing and burning. Seed mer-
chants often pass alfalfa seed through a machine which
is claimed to remove the dodder seed. On sandy upland
soils at Auburn, alfalfa has not afforded very profitable
yields. On such soils it requires heavy applications of
lime or barnyard manure, and it is believed that more
profitable use can be made of manure. At Auburn neither
nitrate of soda nor cottonseed meal very greatly in-
creased the yield of alfalfa that was properly stocked with
root tubercles. Acid phosphate and potash fertilizers are
considered indispensable here, and generally advisable on
sandy or other soils not rich in lime. Inoculation with
soil from old fields of either alfalfa or Bur clover greatly
increases the yield of alfalfa growing on sandy land.
The germ that causes tubercles to develop on Sweet
clover also causes tubercles to develop on the roots of al-
falfa. Hence artificial inoculation of alfalfa is not neces-
sary when it is grown on prairie land that has recently
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 233
borne a crop of melilotus. Artificial inoculation of al-
falfa is probably advisable even for prairie soils when it
is uncertain whether either the melilotus or alfalfa germs
are present in great numbers. In regions in Alabama
where neither alfalfa, melilotus, nor Bur clover is exten-
sively grown, inoculation of alfalfa is advisable. For
this purpose one may use soil from old fields of either of
these plants or inoculating material prepared in the lab-
oratory.
ARIZONA.
John Blake, Graham county—Alfalfa is the king of
forage plants here. It will stand considerable dry weather
and live, but it will not yield profitably unless irrigated,
or on naturally damp ground. It does not do well here
on clay soil, and if clay subsoil is near the surface it is
likely to dry out, unless watered. I have grown alfalfa
for eight years on 175 acres, first and second bottom, and
upland, with sandy and loam soils, with small patches of
clay and various subsoils; the alluvial bottoms are usually
loam of different depths, underlaid with sand and gravel;
the next bottom more clayey, with quicksand about 13
feet deep and gravel about 30 feet below the surface. On
first bottoms, well water is reached at a depth of 3 to 8
feet, the soil being dry on the surface only; on the upland,
the soil is dry for 20 or 30 feet, or until water is reached.
Land intended for alfalfa had best be cultivated in other
crops for two or three years, thus insuring the killing off
of native brush and grass, and their roots; then it must
be laid off in “lands” of various widths, according to
the slope, each land being leveled uniformly and bordered
to hold water. Seed may be sown in August, September,
234 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
and October; in fact, all the year, except from the middle
of April to the first of August, when it is so hot and dry
here. The quantity of seed used varies with the prepara-
tion, from 12 to 20 pounds per acre. Sow with a
“Cahoon”’ seeder, and cover with a brush or light harrow.
It is generally sown here with barley, wheat, or oats.
The grain is cut early for hay, or ripened and headed, in
which case the stubble and alfalfa are cut immediately
afterward and hauled off. The ground is then irrigated,
and if it has previously been foul, there will be plenty of
weeds. Another cutting in good time will usually eradi-
cate these. The plant will not winterkill here if old
enough to have four leaves before frost. We irrigate
abundantly, from the Gila river, in winter and spring,
filling up the soil and thus making less need for water
during the hot, dry period. Irrigate after each crop is
taken off, and some land is benefited by two irrigations
for each cutting. The quantity of water needed depends
on the character of the soil and subsoil; some-on the bot-
toms needs but little after the first year, and it is a good
plan, if the subsoil is open, to let the plant go without
artificial water after it has a good start, as it sends its
roots down to moisture or water, if at a reasonable depth
below; it will then thrive on much less water, and the crop
will be more nutritious. If one is raising hay for quan-
tity, of course this does not apply. The four crops per
season yield on an average: First, 114 to 2 tons; second
and third, 1% to 4; fourth, three-fourths to one ton. If
cutting for quantity, mow when fairly in bloom; if for.
feeding, when the seed has formed. I have raised no
seed, but the crop used for that purpose is usually the sec-
eS ee ee ee
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 235
ond, and it is not irrigated. The time required for curing
depends on the stage at which the hay is cut, the dryness
of the ground, etc.; a good rule is to rake as soon as the
rake will take it up clean, and let it cure in windrows or
cocks. I use a “Landen” single pole stacker, with slings,
which puts the hay, just as it laid on the wagon, in the
center of the stack. The seed, threshed on an ordinary
thresher, contains straw and chaff, which are easily taken
out by running through ordinary wire screen-door net-
ting, and then it is suitable for the “Cahoon” seeder. On
land worth $40 per acre, the hay in the stack costs $3 per
ton. Baling costs $2 per ton, the best size being 100 or
150 pounds in weight. Size does not affect the keeping
quality of the hay. The hay has sold here for $6 to $12,
averaging about $7.50, and the seed sold here last year
for g cents per pound. I do not think the straw is of
much value. Alfalfa will yield abundantly the second
year, and, if harrowed with a good harrow, digging up
the soil, it will yield for a very long period. Mine, which
is 10 years old, looks as well as it did when two years
old. To rid land of it, it would be well to plow when dry,
then cross plow later on. On naturally damp bottom it is
hard to kill. Cattle pastured on rank alfalfa in the spring
are liable to bloat.
Thomas C. Graham, Pinal county—Though I have
been familiar with alfalfa growing for Io years, my first
experience on a large scale was five years ago, when I
seeded the Kenilworth farms, containing goo acres. I
was successful in securing a good stand on the entire
tract. Some of the land is upland, with sandy loam soil,
washed from the mountains, and various subsoils, hard-
236 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
pan being, in places, only 10 inches below the surface;
the remainder of the land is low, or bottom, with adobe
soil. Well water is found at a depth of 95 feet, and the
soil is dry from the surface to within a few feet of the
water stratum. Before sowing, the surface soil is plowed
and harrowed thoroughly; 20 pounds of seed is used to
the acre, and covered not more than one-half inch deep.
In our section, the best time for seeding is in September
and October, and there is no danger from the winter frost.
During the first season we cut twice or three times, to
destroy all weeds, and obtain 2% or 3 tons of hay per
acre, but have never been able to get a paying crop of
seed from the first season’s cutting. For irrigation, we
obtain water from the Gila and Salt rivers, but in some
sections of our country water is pumped from wells by
steam pumps. It has not been found practicable to lift
the water from a greater depth than 50 feet for this pur-
pose. The first year, as the land is very dry, it requires
twice the quantity of water that is needed the second year
and after. We flood the alfalfa five or six times a year—
once in the fall, in the spring, and after each cutting,
using water enough to cover the land to a depth of about
one inch. We have no rain to amount to anything here,
and depend entirely on irrigation. I think the ground
should be prepared in the fall, and seeded in February or
March, as, if seeded in the fall, the young plants might be
liable to injury from frost. In all cases, the soil should be
thoroughly prepared, and the seed not covered more than
cne-half inch deep. It is not uncommon to harvest six
crops of alfalfa in a single season, and its feeding quali-
ties are unequaled for cattle, horses, or swine. It is
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 237
found, by careful tests, that alfalfa is 45 per cent better
than clover and 65 per cent better than timothy for feed-
ing farm animals. In my opinion, there is no other hay
that will equal properly cured alfalfa. That grown with-
- out irrigation is much better, as it contains less sap and is
not so stalky. The threshed hay is splendid feed for
milch cows, and is sold here for the same price brought
by the hay cut earlier. Last season I pastured 65 head
of hogs on 10 acres of alfalfa, and they did well. In my
experience, it is far better than clover, from the fact that
it cannot be dislodged, the roots penetrating to a depth of
10 to 20 feet. The pasturage is profitable and satisfac-
tory for sheep and horses, and 45 per cent better for
cattle than is clover. They will bloat sometimes, but if
properly handled there is little danger. The best pre-
ventive is to not allow the cattle to become too hungry.
We get, on an average, three cuttings a year, averaging I
to 1% tons per acre each, and have pasture for five or
six months. For hay, we mow when in full bloom, rake
as soon as possible, and let stand in windrows until the
stems are about half dry; then put in the cock for two
days, and stack in large ricks of about 80 to 100 tons
each. If put up damp or green, it will mold. The seed
is harvested, usually, from the second crop, when the
pods turn black and can be shelled out by rubbing in the
hand. It is cut, raked in windrows, and allowed to stand
until thoroughly dry. I used, this season, a J. I. Case
separator, and threshed and cleaned 6000 pounds of seed
in three days. An ordinary yield is 100 pounds to the
acre, and the cost of cutting and threshing is 3 cents a
pound. The total cost of the hay in the stack is about
238 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
$3 a ton on $50 land, with 15 cents an acre for irrigation.
The average selling price for hay is $4 a ton, and for
seed, 10 cents a pound. With proper care, alfalfa will
last time without end, and improve each year, and it is
difficult to kill it out, as it makes more or less seed every
crop. An open soil, free from hardpan, is best for it.
CALIFORNIA.
Henry Miller, San Mateo county.—Since 1871, we
have gradually increased our acreage of alfalfa, until we
now have about 20,000 acres. This is on reclaimed
swamp and upland, under a complete system of irriga-
tion, 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 10
to 40 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 for planting is not over two or three inches.
For light, loamy soils, 12 pounds of seed to the acre is
ample, while for hard, rough, new land, from 16 to 20
pounds is required to insure a good stand. 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 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 irri-
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 239
gate 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. Wéinterkilling
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. After hay has been cut for
several years, we harrow in the spring with a heavy har-
row 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. With-
out 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 select 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 ot
short duration without 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
240 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
hay, we cut when the first crop is moderately ripe—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 prefer-
able 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 pos-
sible, allowed to dry in that state, gathered 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 threshing outfit, and turn out 800
to 1000 pounds a day, in rare instances double that quan-
tity, with a cost for threshing and cleaning of about 5
cents a pound. The hay we never put in barns, but stack
in small, narrow ricks, to avoid danger of heating, endeav-
oring to get it in the rick as dry as possible, gathering, in
the forenoons to avoid shelling. 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. The average price
per ton for hay in our San Francisco market is about $8
to $10; of seed, by the ton, 8 to 12% cents a pound, 10
cents a pound being about the usual average price. For
feeding farm animals, good, well-cured alfalfa hay is
better than clover. For milch stock, especially, we con-
sider it fully as good as any other hay. We find but little
difference between the straw and the hay, and while all
stock like the straw better, there is no doubt that the hay
So. ee ee ee ee
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 241
contains the more nutriment. Like all rank growths,
alfalfa will produce double under irrigation, and the quan-
tity will greatly overbalance any possible improvement in
quality without irrigation, for I have found little differ-
ence between that grown by irrigation and under natural
moisture. For horses, there is no pasture better than the
alfalfa; for sheep and cattle, it sometimes works injury
by way of bloat, caused by too rapid grazing, especially
when there is dew, thin cattle and young stock being most
liable. Cattle in high condition and cows suckling or well
forward in calf do not bloat. As preventive of the bloat,
hay should be kept in the pasture where the stock can
run to it, and a good supply of salt in troughs to which
they have constant access. The plant will not stand
trampling by stock unless the surface of the ground be
entirely dry, and we do not allow sheep or cattle on the
fields during certain stages of growth nor during certain
states of the weather. We consider this pasture better
than clover for swine, especially when the ground has a
smooth surface, but if the soil is of a sandy nature, and
allowed to dry, it is not so good. The capacity per acre
depends on the nature of the soil, and the gain in weight
made by the hogs depends on the breed and on the com-
fort they have. We can raise hogs on alfalfa, and by
feeding them two months on grain (say barley, wheat,
or Egyptian corn) they will average, when 10 months
old, 250 pounds, gross.
J. B. De Jarnette, Colusa county.—I have had 11 years’
experience with alfalfa, and have about 100 acres border-
ing on the Sacramento river. The soil ranges in Jepth
from 10 to 20 feet, and rests on a clay subsoil, while
242 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
water is reached at a depth of from 12 to 20 feet. In
sinking two wells on my place, the soil was found as fol-
lows: First 12 feet, decomposed vegetable matter; 4 feet
of quicksand; 4 feet of clay loam; 4 feet of hardpan; 16
feet of yellow clay; 6 feet of hardpan; 2 feet of black
sand, and, at 48 feet, coarse gravel. The ground should
be thoroughly pulverized—the finer the better—after
plowing at least 12 inches deep, and then seeded with not
less than 25 pounds of seed to the acre. I have had the
best results from sowing in the early fall, immediately
after the first rains, using the “Gem’’ seeder, harrowing
in with very light harrow, and rolling the ground well.
The first crop is usually quite weedy, and of little value,
but the second is better, producing about 1% tons of hay
to the acre, if the stand is good. Stock of all kinds should
be kept off the first year. There is no danger here of
winterkilling, and by the second year the full yield is real-
ized.. The length of time the plant continues vigorous
depends on the treatment. If pastured extensively, it will
require to be reseeded in from five to eight years; but
otherwise it may go considerably longer. I invariably
obtain three crops a year, averaging per acre for the first
2, and for the others 1% to 2 tons. I irrigate only in
the winter, when the river is bank full and I can turn in
water from it. Alfalfa produces the best results with
irrigation after each cutting, and in that case there are
five to seven cuttings obtainable, where with winter flood-
ing I secure the three only. I mow for hay as soon as
the bloom begins to develop, raking in the afternoon fol-
lowing the morning cutting, commence hauling about the
third day after, and then put in the barn with plenty of
ss
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 243
salt: The third crop is given the preference for seed, and
is harvested when the plant is well matured. I let it cure
in the windrows and haul to the thresher, handling as
little as possible. The common yield of seed is from 100
pounds up, according to the stand. The cost of my hay,
on land worth $100 to $150 per acre, does not exceed $2
per ton, and it sells for from $5 to $8, while seed brings
from 8 to 16 cents per pound. The hay after threshing
is of but little value. The pasture is unquestionably the
most profitable I have ever had any experience with, sup-
porting more stock of any kind to the acre than any other
forage plant. In early spring, cattle are liable to bloat
on the rank alfalfa, but after the first of June I have had
no trouble. There is no special difficulty in ridding land
of the plant, and it is undoubtedly as good for fertilizing
as Red clover.
COLORADO.
Jacob Downing, Arapahoe county.—I introduced alfal-
fa into Colorado in 1862, and have between 500 and 700
acres. It is on upland, clay, sandy and loam soil, with
some adobe subsoil, but mostly sandy loam; it is gener-
ally dry to sand rock, and then it is necessary to drill 50
to 100 feet to get water. The plant will not thrive where
there is hardpan, but will grow in any soil that is dry. Un-
like most other forage plants it derives considerable nour-
ishment from the air and water, though too much
moisture will kill it. After deep plowing and thor-
ough pulverizing of the soil, the land should be
scraped thoroughly smooth, as this cannot be done
after sowing, and is needed to make the mower
work smoothly. I sow about 25 pounds to the acre,
drilling in about two inches deep, 121%4 pounds one way,
244 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
and the other 12% pounds across it, thus making an even
stand. 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. After this there will be no- weeds.
It matures in three years, and after that is good for seed.
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 1000 years, and possibly forever.
Irrigate from streams, as it is required; when there is a
great deal of heat and wind, probably three times. The
water must not run 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
winterkills. Well water is better than the stream, pro-
vided it is pumped into a reservoir and allowed to get
warm. Water is brought from the streams by ditches.
Less water can be used the first year than after the plant
is matured. I am five miles west of Denver, and 500
feet above the city, in warm valleys. With plenty of
water, I can obtain three cuttings a year. Have raised
as much as 3% 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, cured until it is dry to
the touch of the hand. Stacking by hand makes the best
hay, as machinery is likely to pack it in bunches, causing
it to heat and become dusty. Hay in the stack costs
about $1.50 per ton. Baling costs $2 per ton; too-pound
bales are well esteemed, but it is probable that large bales
keep better than small, if properly cured. The seed pod
vasstmes the form of a cornucopia, and, when the seed is
ripe, it is of a rich brown or mahogany color. The first
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 245
crop is preferable for seed, and should be cut and stacked
as the hayis. It can be left and threshed when most con-
venient, but the longer it remains in the stack the more
easily it threshes. The ordinary threshing machine does
for the alfalfa, but the seed must be fanned to be market-
able. Six bushels is a common yield, and the cost of
threshing and cleaning is probably 25 cents per bushel.
The price of hay has ranged from $5 to $15 per ton, and
of seed, from 8 to 20 cents per pound. The straw has
almost no value, as it is cut up very fine, and can be used
only where it is threshed; if fed there, it is very fattening.
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, but always healthy. For pasturing cattle and
swine, alfalfa is superior to anything else, and, after it
is mown, it makes very excellent feed for horses and
sheep. If the alfalfa is wet, ruminants pastured on it
bloat and die very quickly. It is not properly a pasture
plant, and such animals should be kept away from it,
but the hay, properly cured, is superior to any other food
raised for fattening purposes. There is no difficulty in
ridding land of the plant, as a good team and sharp plow
will cut it out without any trouble. I have plowed fields
of alfalfa under and put in oats, obtaining three or four
times the usual yield, and have known of 50 bushels of
wheat to the acre on broken alfalfa land.
L. W. Markham, Prowers county.—I have had four
years’ experience with alfalfa. Have under my charge
500 acres. It is on both second bottom and upland; part
has clay subsoil, other dark loam, and all has more or
246 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
less sand. Water is reached at from 10 to 40 feet, and on
land not irrigated the soil is dry all the way down to the
water veins. The preferred time for sowing is either
April 1 or August 1. Have as good success right on the
sod as on old land. If to raise seed only, 10 pounds is
sufficient to the acre; for hay, 20 pounds is not too much.
Seed not more than two inches deep. About June 15 cut
weeds and tops of young alfalfa, and then irrigate well,
and you get one-half to one ton of hay in September. It
is best to not try for seed the first year, but give all the
strength to the roots. It does not winterkill here. We
irrigate from the Arkansas river, and the number of irri-
gations depends on the soil. The first year requires twice
as much water as later ones. Usually three applications
are needed: in early spring, mid-summer, and late fall.
I have 160 acres not irrigated for three years. We have
three cuttings, yielding 114 to 2 tons per acre each. Cut
for hay just when coming into full bloom, and stack in
the field—never in barn—in long ricks, 12 feet wide
by 80 to 120 feet long. It will not heat in the stack. Let
all pods become dark brown or black before cutting for
seed. The second crop is preferable, unless there is a
large acreage, when I take one-half the first crop and one-
half the second, in order to help the farmer out with
work. Have men follow the machine closely, and cock
up, to remain four or five days before stacking. Never
cut for seed with a mowing machine, as you will lose one-
third of the crop in trying to gather it. The cost of
alfalfa in the stack is not over $2 at the outside. To bale
—preferably in 80-pound bales—costs $1.50 per ton. An
ordinary yield of seed is five bushels per acre. The cost
SSE
PRACTICAL’ EXPERIENCES 247
for threshing is 60 cents per bushel. There is a special
alfalfa huller, as even the ordinary clover huller is not a
success. For a number of years the average price paid
the farmer for alfalfa seed has been $4.50 per bushel,
and hay in the stack has sold for $3.50 to $5. For feed-
ing farm animals, alfalfa hay is far more valuable than
timothy or clover. Horses will work and do well the
year round on the first cutting of alfalfa, and no grain
whatever. The pasturage for hogs and cattle is far bet-
ter than clover, and is profitable and satisfactory for
horses and sheep. I have 250 hogs now, and raise them
to weigh 200 pounds on green alfalfa alone; turn the
sows in the lot in early spring; they raise their young, and
I never bother them for eight months at a time, as they
have plenty of alfalfa and water. Put cattle on the past-
ure in early spring and let them run, and few, if any,
will bloat; but when they are not used to it, they eat too
fast, or too much, and bloat. The hay is not so good
after it is threshed as that cut earlier for hay alone, but
the straw sells readily at $1.50 in the stack. The stand
gets better every year for hay, and I know of fields in
old Mexico 60 years old that have never been reseeded.
There is no difficulty in ridding land of the plant if it is
plowed under eight inches deep while green. It makes
far better green manure than does red clover. On the
same quarter section, wheat grown on old wheat land
produced 20 bushels per acre, and that on broken alfalfa
land 50 bushels per acre.
CONNECTICUT.
Dr. E. H. Jenkins, Director Connecticut experiment
station—Alfalfa has been tried in a haphazard way in
248 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
Connecticut for many years and scattered plants and
colonies may often be seen in fence corners and headlands.
Within five years, however, some farmers under direction
of the agricultural station at New Haven, or on their own
initiative, have made more careful experiments and while
failures are numerous, there are at present a number of
small areas well established, yielding three or four cut-
tings yearly and highly valued by their owners. On the
fafm of C. W. Beach of West Hartford, F. H. Stad-
mueller had for seven years a considerable field of alfalfa
which yielded well and was used as a soiling crop. Mr.
Barnard of North Haven, after repeated failures, has a
fine field and feeds it to both cows and poultry. The
Gaylord Farm sanatorium at Wallingford, John Matthies .
of New Milford and others might be cited as successful
growers of alfalfa. It does well on a variety of soils with
us. Liming heavily, 1500 to 2000 pounds per acxe, is a
necessity. Some form of inoculation of the soil is gen-
erally required and clean, well-tilled land. Weeds are the
worst enemy of the newly seeded alfalfa and easily smoth-
er the crop. For that reason we prefer August seeding,
using at least 30 pounds of clean, fresh seed. It will pay
to fallow the land, in order to kill the weeds before seed-
ing down. Thin spots cannot be successfully patched by
seeding later. Great care in preparing the land pays with
a permanent crop like alfalfa.
DELAWARE.
Dr. Arthur T. Neale, Director Delaware experiment
station.—Twenty years ago, I drilled alfalfa in rows 18
inches apart, and cultivated at intervals of ten days until
the crop occupied the ground, seeding late in March, say
a
iz
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 249
the 28th. The first cutting of nearly 8 tons of green
forage per acre was made nine weeks later. Thereafter
four additional cuttings were made that season, resulting
in a total yield of 21 tons of green forage per acre. This
plot remained in good profit, all told, for five years. An
adjoining plot seeded broadcast, grew into a weed crop
the first year, but during four succeeding years was in
every respect the equal of its neighbor, the drilled plot.
Twenty similar experiments made during that year in as
many other sections of the state failed utterly. The dates
of seeding were in every instance subsequent to March 28,
but followed each other as rapidly as men could travel
from point to point, drilling the seed on well and previ-
ously prepared soil. Two years later nine similar failures
resulted from spring seedings. Late summer is now the
time most frequently selected for alfalfa seedings, but
success is by no means invariably attained even then.
Liming has been of service in one five-acre test con-
ducted in Kent county, by W. H. Dickson in co-operation
with this station. The third trial within four consecutive
years appears at present to be a complete success. The
first seeding gave a satisfactory stand, but the plants died
late in the following spring. The ground was limed that
summer, after thorough preparation of the seedbed.
Nitro-cultures from federal sources were used upon por-
tions of the seed, and 1000 pounds of soil per acre from a
successful alfalfa plantation were applied to the other
areas. This second seeding also failed. The five-acre
plot was then plowed, wheat was drilled and a fair crop
resulted. The wheat was harvested, lime was again used
after the seedbed had been prepared, and alfalfa seed sown
250 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
as usual. The crop this year has exceeded anticipations.
The check strip, to which no lime whatever has been ap-
plied, but upon which nitro-cultures were used, carries
nocrop. It will be disked after the third cutting of alfalfa
this year, well limed and again seeded.
GEORGIA.
Prof. R. J. Redding, Director Georgia experiment
station—This station has successfully cultivated alfalfa
for 12 years, and we have never found it necessary to
inoculate when we have sown the seed on rich, well pre-
pared land. The plants at once became supplied with
nitrogen tubercles and grew as luxuriantly as might be
expected from the quality of the land. Our practice is to
fertilize annually in January or February by sowing from
800 to 1000 pounds of acid phosphate and one-fourth as
much muriate of potash per acre. We run a cutaway
harrow over the alfalfa two or three times in different
directions. We then use a smoothing harrow and finally
a heavy roller. This puts the land in good shape for the
mowing machine and at the same time destroys weeds
that come up during the fall and early winter. I believe
that it is not desirable to continue land in alfalfa more
than six or eight years, because of the impossibility of pre-
venting infestation of weeds to such extent as to very
greatly diminish the yield of alfalfa. We have a plot
growing, that was sown about April 10, which seems to
be as favorable a time as any, provided there shall be one
or two good rains to give the young plants a start. The
main factors in success are: First, a deep, well-prepared
and well-drained soil, made very rich; and second, good
seed, carefully sown and repeated mowings at the proper
time,
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 25!
IDAHO.
H.W. Kiefer, Bingham county.—I have grown alfalfa
in Idaho, under irrigation, for 12 years. Have 40 acres
on second bottom, heavy clay soil for 12 feet. This sub-
soil pulverizes by the action of the air, and will produce a
good crop of small grain. Water is reached at 100 feet.
The 12 feet of clay is dry; the gravel and sand below are
more or less moist till water is reached. Land having
produced two successive crops of small grain is preferred
for alfalfa. Sow 20 pounds, in the spring, and cover
lightly with harrow, brush, or drag, or roll. The plants
should be vigorous enough to choke out weeds. Amount
of hay obtained the first year is governed by conditions
and treatment. When sudden freezing and thawing
occur, it is liable to winterkill. The frequency of our
irrigation is governed by the rainfall, but is usually done
when the ground is dry, without regard to stage of
growth, allowing the water to run until the soil is wet the
depth of a spade; usually average two irrigations to each
cutting. Our supply of water comes from Snake river
and tributaries, which furnish sufficient for the Snake
river valley. Have noticed no difference in amount of
water required during first or later years, except as
affected by the amount of rainfall. We get three cut-
tings, averaging about five tons for the season, cutting
for hay when in bloom, and for seed when seed is
matured, which generally requires the entire season to
mature in this locality. The seed crop should be handled
as little as possible, to avoid loss of seed. Alfalfa should
cure at least two days, and, if dry, will not mold in stack.
The cost of alfalfa hay, if irrigated, is about $2 per ton,
252 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
Cost of baling, $1.75 per ton, in bales weighing 75 to 109
pounds, the keeping being governed more by the solidity
than size of bale. During the past six years, hay has
averaged about $4 per ton, in the stack, and seed about 8
cents per pound. Alfalfa makes satisfactory pasturage
for sheep and horses. Cattle are liable to bloat, but, if
taken in time, may be relieved with a gag, and by exercise,
which will cause the gases to escape; the knife is used as
a last resort. The straw from which seed has been
threshed has about the same value as green oat straw.
The various soils here appear equally favorable to longev-
ity. Usually the third year gives about the best yield.
If not damaged by freezing, it will not need reseeding
for 10 or 15 years. We have no trouble in ridding land
of alfalfa. Wecut a hay crop, and plow under, for spring
wheat, with good results. Our best alfalfa land is clay,
which requires moisture, artificial or natural. Our best
yields have been six tons per acre for the season. The
feeding qualitites of the hay have been well established.
James Otterson, Logan county.—Have had 12 years’
experience growing alfalfa on sagebrush land, that will
grow nothing but sagebrush without irrigation. It is
fine, sandy loam, extending down 6 to Io feet, where
lava is encountered, which is from 1 to 100 feet deep.
The soil is dry until water is struck, which is at a depth
of from 100 to 200 feet. There is no water in the soil.
When preparing for alfalfa, we plow well, level the
ground, and sow 15 to 20 pounds of seed per acre, and
harrow lightly, or brush it in, Sow as early as the ground
can be worked—about March 1. The first crop, if prop-
erly handled, will yield from three to five tons per acre;
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 253
it will have more or less sunflowers, which are a protec-
tion while the plant is getting a start. It seldom winter-
kills. We irrigate by flooding the ground twice each sea-
son froma stream, After the first year, three cuttings are
had; 2% tons per acre the first; 134 to 2 the second; and
one ton per acre the third. Cut for hay as soon as well
blossomed. It grows too rank here for seed. Hay should
cure in from one to two days, and, if properly cured,
stack as other hay. Alfalfa costs, in stack, $3 per ton.
The size of bales is immaterial, except in fitting cars.
Prices for hay have ranged from $5 to $10 per ton; for
seed, from 7 to 15 cents per pound. It is the best hay in
use for farm animals. Horses will thrive on it without
grain, if properly handled. For swine pasture it is far
ahead of clover. It is satisfactory for sheep. In some
localities it will cause cattle to bloat; as a preventive, feed
well with dry hay before turning them on the pasture.
Deep soil is the best for the long life of the plant. The
second year it is at its best, and, if properly handled, and
does not winterkill, will last for all time. It is much bet-
ter than Red clover for green manure.
ILLINOIS.
Prof. C. G. Hopkins, Agronomist Illinois experiment
station.—Alfalfa is being introduced into Illinois to a
considerable extent. Very careful and somewhat exten-
sive investigations conducted by the experiment station,
beginning in 1901, have positively established the fact that
alfalfa can be grown in this state on several of our most
abundant types of soil. As a rule, it is markedly advan-
tageous to thoroughly inoculate the soil with alfalfa bac-
254 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
teria, preferably by taking infected soil from a well-estab-
lished alfalfa field, where root tubercles are found iti
abundance or from land where Sweet clover (melilotus),
has been growing successfully for several years. Infected
Sweet clover soil serves just as well as infected alfalfa
soil for the inoculation of alfalfa fields. As a rule, the
best results are secured from summer seeding. The land
should be thoroughly prepared and made as free from
weeds and foul grass as possible and then seeded between
June 15 and August 15, if the conditions are favorable.
Under exceptional conditions good results are obtained
from earlier and later seeding. Three cuttings are usually
obtained in the northern part of the state and four in the
southern part. The average yield is five or six tons per
acre. A liberal use of farm manure in getting the alfalfa
started is advantageous and on some soils the application
of lime is necessary in order to correct the acidity of the
soil. Asa rule, the yield is increased by adding to the
soil some form of phosphorus. A yield of 8% tons of
thoroughly air-dry hay has been obtained where a special
effort has been made to make the conditions favorable.
INDIANA.
C. M. Ginther, Wayne county writes in Orange Judd
Farmer, July 8, 1905: “Up to last year there had not
been half a dozen attempts to grow alfalfa in Wayne
county, not because there was no desire on the part of
the farmers to raise the crop, but because the farmers
knew absolutely nothing about the methods to pursue in
order to get a fair stand. Last year, however, a number
of agriculturists in the county determined to try the crop.
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 255
A mile west of Richmond lies the farm of J. H. Hollings-
worth, a well-known farmer, whose practical ideas about
farming have given him a local reputation. He is an
advocate of intensive farming and cultivates his crops in
the most thorough manner. He keeps a herd of dairy
cattle and in his search for more economical food than mill
stuffs and clover hay, he decided to try alfalfa and feed
it with a ration of corn meal. He had a tract of five
acres. This land was a clay loam with a good mixture
of sand. It was not underdrained, and Mr. Hollingsworth
believes the result would have been better had there been
a thorough system of underdrainage. The soil is what
is known here as sugar tree land. About May 1 of last
year, the tract was plowed moderately and then rolled.
During the previous winter a heavy top-dressing of barn-
yard manure had been applied to two acres for the pur-
pose of comparison. One week later the roller was run
over it again. After this the ground was thoroughly torn
up with a two-horse cultivator. This was for the purpose
of killing the weeds, which had been given time to take
a start. After the cultivator had thoroughly torn up the
ground, the field was harrowed twice both ways. It was
then rolled, and pronounced in first-class condition. The
weeds had succumbed to these repeated attacks and but
very few appeared in the crop. later. This thorough prep-
aration of the ground is absolutely necessary for the suc-
cessful starting of alfalfa. It is a fastidious plant, re-
quiring the most favorable surroundings in its early life,
but gradually grows quite robust and strong. Its early
weeks seem to be the critical time in its life, and if it can
256 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
once be started well its thrifty nature will assert :tself
and it will grow with amazing rapidity. On June 11 the
seed was planted. It was sown broadcast and harrowed
in lightly. One hundred pounds pure alfalfa seed were
sown, which was 20 pounds to the acre. The experience
of many others is that 15 pounds per acre is better. The
seed was first treated with bacteria, procured from the
department of agriculture at Washington, and when the
seeds were thoroughly dry, they were planted. Exactly
five weeks after the seed was planted, the crop was 1 foot
high and covered the ground everywhere. On that day
it was clipped first and later given two more clippings
during the season. The effect of the clipping was to cause
the crop to become more stocky, and spread out more
over the ground. None of the crop was removed from
the soil last year, the three clippings being allowed to
remain about the roots as a mulch. This was regarded as
highly important and its effect was noticeable in the per-
fect manner in which the crop passed through the win-
ter. Early this spring it started to grow and on April 18
the plants averaged 12 inches high all over the tract. Mr
Hollingsworth is a firm believer in the efficacy of the bac-
terial treatment of the seed before planting. He attrib-
utes the wonderful growth of this crop to the effect of the
organisms produced by inoculation. It is interesting to
note the effect of the top-dressing which was applied to
two acres of the tract. The crop on that part of the
ground is larger and more luxuriant than the part that
received no dressing. The crop all over the tract appears
vigorous and healthy, but the two acres show a decided
improvement and superiority.”
Appind pure uve dn doig oy} syog sJepeoyT Avy ony
uox Jad QSG*|¢ }e e4jesje JsaaseYy 0} ajqissod }1 ayeW Jayoe}s pue eyel deems 4)
Aey veyeyty dn suring
aS
A 400-ton Rick of Alfalfa
in Malheur County, southeastern Oregon. Dimensions, 400x30x26 feet.
A Cable Derrick, Provided with a Grapple Fork
The cable is supported by poles at the ends, and these in turn by guy ropes.
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 257
IOWA.
Prof. M. L. Bowman, Department Farm Crops, Iowa
experiment station—We are receiving very good results
from the alfalfa which is being grown at this station, mak-
ing from three to four cuttings each season with the yield
ranging from 4 to 7 tons to the acre. From one field,
seeded in August, 1905, the first cutting was taken June
II, 1906, and yielded 2.17 tons per acre. Two other cut-
tings were made. We believe alfalfa is sure to become
one of Iowa’s great crops as desirable results are being
obtained in many parts of the state where land is prop-
erly seeded. We take great pains to see that the ground
is in good physical condition and that the seed is sown
in late summer, some time between August 5 and 15, so
that the young plants will make sufficient growth to with-
stand the winter. If the seeding takes place in the fall,
the alfalfa plants will not make sufficient growth to with-
stand the winter. Alfalfa should not be pastured the first
season. The growth from seeding time until winter sets
in should be 6 to 8 inches and should be left on the ground
for winter protection. A nurse crop should not be used.
Alfalfa will not do well on low, wet ground, but must
have land that is well drained. In the northern parts of
the state it may be sown in the spring, and in this case
desirable results have been secured by using a nurse crop.
If oats are used at all, they should be an early variety.
Wheat or barley is much better. They are not so likely
to lodge. If the nurse crop is heavy, a poor stand of
alfalfa is almost sure to follow. Not more than one-half
the usual amount of grain should be sown to the acre.
Better results may be expected if no nurse crop is used.
258 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
In this case, it will be necessary for the weeds to be mowed
down two or three times during the summer, so that the
alfalfa will not be choked out. It is better to sow in the
spring than late in the fall. Late summer seeding is
the best. The following year it will be freer from weeds
and have a better stand than that which was sown the
spring before. Cornstalk ground which was well ma-
nured the year before for corn is generally used for spring
seeding. The stalks should first be removed. The field
may then be thoroughly disked and harrowed. The
seed should be sown about the middle of April.
KANSAS.
C. D. Perry, Clark county.—In 1887, I sowed 200
acres of alfalfa, and now have 270 acres. This is nearly
all on second bottom land, with black, sandy loam, black
sand, and gumbo. The land is largely “made” land,
about 6 to 12 feet of good soil, with gumbo only on
top for 12 or 14 inches. On the heavy land the dry soil
begins at the top, and, at the breaking of the sod, extended
down eight or nine feet. Water is found at a depth of 12
to 21 feet. We irrigate most of our crop from the Cimar-
ron river. The first time the land is watered it takes from
two to five times as much water as is required later, and
now we find the best results are obtained by watering
about 10 days before cutting, using three or four inches
_of water. There is no damage by frost, except on low,
wet land. Without irrigation, I should double plow the
ground before seeding, having one plow follow the other
in the same furrow, and going as deep as possible. Seed
by drilling one-half to one inch deep, 10 pounds to the
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 259
acre for seed, 20 pounds for hay, and 30 pounds for past-
ure, usually about March 15 here. We mow the weeds
the first year before they seed, leaving them on the
ground, After this, there will be a yield of three-fourths
to two tons of hay, or one to six bushels of seed to the
acre, depending on the season. In two or three years the
plant is at its best, and does not seem to need reseeding
after that. We have from three to five crops a year
depending on promptness in watering and cutting. Any
later cutting is better than the first for seed, and,
before cutting, two-thirds of the seed pods should be
black. We mow, then rake and cock at once, stacking as
soon as well cured. Hay should be cut when it is coming
into bloom. To make good hay, let it lie for half a day
(if dry weather), then rake and cock, and let cure thor-
oughly. We stack in long ricks, and it keeps well. The
alfalfa land is valued at $50 an acre, and the four irriga-
tions cost 25 cents each; the estimated cost of the alfalfa
in the stack is $2.15 a ton. An average yield of seed is
three bushels to the acre, and the cost of threshing and
cleaning it is 80 cents a bushel. Hay has sold for $5 a
ton, and seed for 6, 8and Iocentsa pound. The threshed
hay is not so good as that cut earlier, but cattle eat it all
clean. The pasture is excellent for horses, hogs, and
cattle. If the alfalfa is wet, it is liable to cause bloating
with sheep; for cattle, there is not much danger, except
for the first few days they are turned on. If the animal
is seen in time, it may be relieved by driving around, but
if too bad to be helped in that way, it needs the trocar. I
have had 50 hogs on six acres of pasture this summer,
and have 50 pigs, 3 to 12 weeks old; used two bushels
260 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
of ground wheat and barley each day, and think I could
have had as many more hogs on the pasture. The sod is
very hard to plow, but it can be killed. On a piece of hog
pasture plowed under, I raised 70 bushels of barley to the
acre. My alfalfa seems to do the best on black, sandy
land and on gumbo, with sand or open subsoil below.
J. R. Blackshere, Chase county.—I began with alfalfa
in 1875, by sowing 1% bushels of seed bought in San
Francisco, at the rate of $21 per bushel. As the germi-
nation was defective, or the seed grown so far away was
not adapted to our soil or climatic conditions, a good
stand was not at first obtained, but I now have 700 acres
on Cottonwood river bottom land, having a clay sub-
soil underlaid by a layer of sand 20 feet below, and with
a good portion of gumbo, where the best alfalfa grows.
The soil is not especially moist until water, 20 to 30 feet
below, is reached. My best results have been obtained
on corn land, cutting across the rows with a disk harrow,
leveling with a plank drag, and sowing, after danger of
freezing is past, 20 pounds of seed per acre with a disk
having seeder attachment, being sure to have all the seed
covered. I cut the weeds off with a mower, and leave
them on the ground. After the first year my average
product annually for 10 or 12 years has been about five
tons per acre. That permitted to ripen seed yields three
to five bushels per acre. I do not irrigate. The plant
will thrive on upland having a clay subsoil without a
stratum of hardpan. Grazed closely late in the fall, it is
liable to die out in a dry winter.
Benj. Brown, Osborne county.—I have had four years’
experience with alfalfa growing in this country, and have
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 261
also grown it in England, without any irrigation, and
now have 45 acres. The land is bottom rising to second
bottom, with vegetable loam and some gumbo in the
upper portion, and loam subsoil, similar to surface, but
somewhat paler, for 15 feet down. Well water is found
by digging 11 to 22 feet through the soil, which is
usually moist except in dry weather, when the upper two
or three feet are not. It has been found best to plow six
inches deep, in August or September ; to roll or level with
a heavy float about April 15, then harrow, and broadcast
25 pounds (or drill 20 pounds) of seed to the acre. I
broadcast all of mine, and harrow and roll or level. The
best time for sowing here is April 14 to 30, as it almost
invariably rains here about April 20, and frosts have
never hurt my crop, nor does it winterkill. Mow first
when the weeds are six to nine inches high, and, if worth
hauling, stack; if not, let lie; generally mow again about
July 4 to 20, and stack; there may be one-fourth to one-
half ton of hay per acre. The second season we cut
three times, unless we ripen seed, and obtain from one-
fourth to one ton each cutting; after this it grows about
a foot high by October. For hay, mow as soon as
about half full of flowers, rake the same morning,
and haul in one or two days, as the leaves fall if
dry. It does not heat nor mold here if the sap is half
out and the straw long; I use the “Acme” hay har-
vester, making stacks with rounded ends, nine steps
long by five wide, and top out with straw or hay, taking
care to keep the middle well filled. The total cost of hay
in stack is about $1.50 per ton, the land being valued at
$15 per acre, or $60 with a good stand of alfalfa. The
262 THE BOOK. OF ALFALFA
hay has sold for $4 to $6 per ton during the past four
years. The best crop for seed depends on the weather;
sometimes the first flowers set best, and again the later
ones do better; on my bottom land the plant grows too
large for seed, unless in a dry time. If seed is ripe, cut
only while damp or in the early morning, rake into rows
immediately or early the next morning, haul with a
“Monarch” rake, and use a stacker. Last year and year
before I obtained four bushels of seed to the acre, and it
cost me 60 cents per bushel for cleaning. Used ordinary
threshing outfit, and set hind end of thresher 10 inches
lower than front. The seed has sold here during four
years for $5 to $8 per bushel. Horses and sheep should
not be pastured on the alfalfa, as it pays to mow and haul
it to them, either green or dry. It makes good pasturage
for cattle, but they must not be turned on when the ground
is frozen, nor when they are hungry, as it is necessary to
start them gradually to avoid bloating. Mine never
have bloated, and I feed milch cows in the early spring
and on the fourth crop in the fall. Alfalfa ripened and
threshed has little value, as it breaks up into dust and
chaff. My stand improved every year; was about at its
best the sixth year, and continues about the same for an
indefinite time. If it gets a fair start, and is cut three
times, a good stand can be kept; but if it is pastured, and
the weeds are not eaten, it is apt to thin itself. A neigh-
bor plowed under alfalfa for green manure, but the next
year it grew up as thick and strong as if not plowed.
We do not need manure here. I have seen several pieces
of fairly good alfalfa on high prairie, with some gumbo
in the soil, but it grows best where the subsoil is fairly
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 263
epen. Upland is generally best for seed, as the plants
should grow only one to two feet high, and mine on the
bottom grows 2 to 3% after the second year. I think
there is no other crop here to compare with alfalfa. My
third year’s crop cleared me over $20 per acre. I have
known of nine bushels of seed on one acre, and have
heard of 15 in this county. My bottom lands will grow
three good crops of hay almost without rain, and kill out
all the weeds.
KENTUCKY.
Prof. H. Garman, Botanist Kentucky experiment sta-
tion.—We have grown alfalfa on the experiment farm
for a good many years and have been impressed with
its many good qualities, although we have not found it
as well adapted to our soil and climate as it appears to
be in the western states. In our small experimental plots,
on good soil, it has recently done remarkably well. This
is partly the result of understanding it better than for-
merly, and partly due to the care which these plots re-
ceive. Last year we harvested, from some of them, hay
at the rate of from 6.32 to 10.03 tons per acre. The
same plots are yielding very well this season, but I think
will not produce quite as much hay as last year, though
they look very well at present. Farmers in this state are
becoming interested in alfalfa, stimulated by the reports
made to them at farmers’ institutes, and urged by faliure
to grow Red clover successfully in some parts of the state.
But thus far they have not met with uniform success.
Part of this is due to a lack of acquaintance with the
plant and part may be attributed to our climate. A few
264 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
men have been growing alfalfa successfully for eight or
IO years, and I can see no reason why many others
should not succeed with it. The chief difficulty appears
to come in getting a start. Alfalfa, thoroughly started,
holds its own better than Red clover and yields much
more forage. The value of the forage is recognized by
everybody, and I expect to see in the course of the next
quarter of a century a much larger acreage sown in Ken-
tucky.
LOUISIANA.
Prof. W. R. Dodson, Director Lowisiana experiment
station.—Alfalfa has been grown by the Louisiana sta-
tions since 1887. At the time the stations were estab-
lished there was little or no alfalfa grown in the state.
From the very first experiments conducted by Dr. W. C.
Stubbs, it was apparent that the plant was well suited
to the alluvial lands of the Mississippi and Red rivers.
Dr. Stubbs never lost an opportunity to advocate its cul-
ture, and the great progress made in securing its exten-
sive cultivation is largely due to his efforts. Alfalfa is
now extensively grown in the Red river bottoms, and a
very large percentage of the sugar planters grow it for
soiling and for hay for the plantation mules. We get ~
from four to seven cuttings per year. The average is
about 1% tons for the first three cuttings, but less for the
last cuttings. The station one year secured a harvest of 12
tons of cured hay per acre; six tons in a season is a good
yield. Were it not that one or more of these cuttings will
fall due during a rainy season, when it is difficult to cure
hay, we would go into the business very extensively in _
this state. As to the quality of the hay or forage, there
cis pla. Oana, elk iia
‘PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 265
is no question about its place at the head of the list of
desirable forage crops. The sugar planters find it espe-
cially desirable to mix with their cheap molasses, as the
former is rich in protein and the latter rich in carbohy-
drates. In the southern portion of the state best results
are secured by planting in the fall. In the northern por-
tion good results are secured from early spring planting.
We use from 25 to 30 pounds of seed to the acre. Some
planters use more than this. Land that is least suited for
growing corn in Louisiana, because of its stiffness, is the
very best land for alfalfa. Where the crop has once been
used and the local supply runs short, it is shipped in from
Colorado to supply the demand. It is selling now for $15
aton. No better testimonial need be given of the people’s
estimate of its value.
MASSACHUSETTS.
Prof. William P. Brooks, Director Hatch experiment
station.—Our experiments with alfalfa have been con-
tinued both upon our own grounds and those of a few
selected farms in different parts of the state. We are
bringing to bear upon these experiments information in
regard to successful methods from every possible source.
We find in all cases a distinct benefit from a heavy initial
application of lime. We have used from 2,000 to 3,000
pounds per acre. We are enriching soils already natur-
ally good by heavy applications both of manures and fer-
tilizers, using materials which experience has proved best.
We are also giving the soil a most thorough preparatory
tillage. It has usually been fall-plowed, and in addition
it is plowed in the spring, and repeatedly harrowed to
_destroy weeds which start in the early part of the season.
266 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
We have tried inoculating the soil, both with earth ob-
tained from a field in New York, where alfalfa is suc-
cessfully grown, and with the cultures sent out by the
department of agriculture and prepared by private firms.
We have not attained such degree of success as justifies
us in recommending the crop. We have occasionally got
a fair stand of alfalfa, but in all cases the winters prove
more or less injurious. In the course of a few years the
alfalfa is mostly crowded out by grasses and clovers. The
alfalfa almost every year suffers from leaf spot, which
tends to cut down the yield. We have found a very dis-
tinct benefit from the inoculation with earth from the
New York alfalfa field. We have not found an equally
distinct benefit to follow inoculation with any of the cul-
tures; and, although we are not as yet ready to make
a final report, it should be here remarked that the most
careful experiments on the use of these cultures in steril-
ized soils, under conditions calculated to give accurate
results, indicate that they have little, ifany, value. In our
various experiments alfalfa has been tried on a wide
variety of soils. We have had a quarter of an acre field
upon a coarse-textured soil upon a farm in this neighbor-
hood where there is never any standing water within 50
to 60 feet of the surface. Even on this soil the alfalfa,
although it did fairly well for a year, has been injured
by successive winters, until it is at the present time almost
ruined. In this connection I call attention further to the
fact that D. S. Bliss of the department of agriculture,
who has been making special efforts to promote the intro-
duction of alfalfa into New England, and who has trav-
eled extensively for the purpose of studying the results ob-
:
:
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 267
tained, now speaks very discouragingly as to the outlook
in general. In conclusion, while we are not inclined to
discourage experiments with alfalfa, we do wish most
emphatically to caution against engaging in these experi-
ments upon an extended scale, for we feel that disappoint-
ment is almost inevitable.
MICHIGAN.
Prof. C. D. Smith, Director Michigan experiment
station.—Alfalfa has had and is having a checkered
career. Under favorable conditions it makes a good
stand. Some fields have produced crops for many years,
the ground being occasionally fertilized by manurial salts.
The difficulties that environ the crop are: (1) the severe
winters, which sometimes kill off whole fields, leaving
scarcely a root alive; this has happened to fields two,
three, or four years old. (2) The Blue grass crowds
it out badly; (3) the ignorance of the farmers in regard
to the requirements of the crop and the consequent im-
perfect preparation of the soil in the matter of tillage
or fertilization, has made it difficult to introduce it in a
broad way. Notwithstanding these difficulties and the
farther consideration that alfalfa does not easily lend
itself to a short rotation, the crop is advancing in the state
by leaps and bounds. Hundreds of farmers are experi-
menting with it and are learning how to prepare the
ground, sow it and care for the crop afterwards. Statis-
tics are not at hand to show how many acres of alfalfa
there are in the state, nor can definite figures be given as
to the growth of interest in the crop and its actual acre-
age. When proper strains have been developed, it seems
268 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
fair to presume that alfalfa will be one of the staple crops
in Michigan. On the station grounds at the agricultural
college fields of alfalfa have been continuously maintained
from 1897 to 1904. There are fields here sown in 1903
bearing their three crops each year, yielding from 5 to
7 tons of dry hay annually per acre. There has been some
difficulty in getting pure and vigorous seed.
MINNESOTA.
Prof. W. M. Liggett, Director Minnesota experiment
station.—Our experience with alfalfa has extended over
12 or 15 years. In the early days of this station, it was
not very successfully grown. During the past eight or
10 years, however, the changes in soil due to manures and
cultivation and the discovery of several varieties of alfalfa
which appear to be hardy, have made it possible to grow it
successfully in nearly every part of the state. For the past
five years we have cut three crops of alfalfa hay, yielding
from 4 to 5% tons per acre each year. With the land
properly prepared and some attention given to seeding
at the right time, there is no difficulty in growing it on
the state farm. Occasionally it will winterkill. We were
unfortunate enough to have a heavy, driving rain during
March of the present year which froze as it fell and
smothered the alfalfa crop. We are not discouraged, »
however, as the clover crop in southeastern Minnesota
was killed at the same time and from the same cause. We
regard alfalfa just as sure as Red clover. It is sometimes
a little difficult to get a stand under careless methods of
farming. With the land nicely prepared and with a
good supply of humus in such condition that the plant
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 269
food is readily available, strong, vigorous growth and a
good stand can be secured during any normal year. We
have alfalfa growing at the northwest sub-station at
Crookston, and in several localities in the northwestern
part of the state, where even clover is not supposed to
grow. The outlook at the present time for this crop is
very bright. Dairymen, swine raisers and sheep men unite
_ in praising its merits as stock food.
MISSOURI.
Prof. M. F. Miller, Agronomist, Missouri experiment
station.—Alfalfa is being grown with success on various
types of soil, although many soils are not well adapted
to its growth. A knowledge of the peculiarities of the
plant will ultimately make it possible to extend its culture
to most soil types of the state. Liberal manuring is the
key to successful culture on upland soils. The manure
may be applied before plowing and also as frequent top-
dressings. The value of the crop as a feed’and its high
yield, where favorable conditions are supplied, make it
a particularly desirable one to grow, at least in small areas,
on farms where mixed farming or dairy farming is prac-
ticed. While alfalfa makes a most nutritious pasture
crop, it does not lend itself well to pasturing unless certain
precautions are taken. Where it is grown for hay, diffi-
culty is often experienced in harvesting the first, and some-
times other cuttings, on account of wet weather. The silo
may be used in such cases. The stiff subsoils of the state
are responsible for most failures reported, because it re-
quires some knowledge of the methods of handling the
crop to make it succeed under such conditions. Alfalfa
270 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
is not adapted to our soils, liming, manuring or drainage
being necessary to prepare such for the crop. If sown on
upland soils that have never grown alfalfa or Sweet
clover, it is benefited by inoculation. On bottom lands
or lands that are very fertile, inoculation has little or no
effect. The surest and often the simplest means of inocu-
lation is by means of inoculated soil. The cultures pre-
pared for seed inoculation have in many cases given ex-
cellent results, but they are still in the experimental stage
and some skill is required to handle them properly. The
best preparation of the seedbed is that which allows of an
early plowing and the use of a harrow every time a crust
forms or weeds start before time to sow the seed. The
seedbed should be much like that for wheat—loose above
but firm below. The best time to sow in this state is be-
tween the middle of August and the middle of September,
the last week in August usually giving best results. The
amount of seed to sow is between 15 and 20 pounds, de-
pending upon the quality and the character of the soil.
It is best sown without a nurse crop. It must be clipped
frequently the first and sometimes the second season, espe-
cially on soils to which it is not well adapted. It should
usually be cut when the lower leaves begin to turn yellow.
MONTANA.
Alfred Rasicot, Deer Lodge county.—Alfalfa is the
most valuable crop that is raised in Idaho or Utah for
hay, growing on any kind of land butsthat which is low
and wet, yielding five to seven tons of hay to the acre,
and providing excellent feed for all kinds of farm ani-
mals. For about 20 years I have grown from 20 to 50
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 271
acres on second bottom and upland of heavy clay soil,
with gravel below and water at a depth varying from 16
to 100 feet on different localities. We irrigate from
streams, flooding the land and turning the water off as
soon as the land has been all covered, applying once for
the first cutting and twice for each succeeding cutting,
whenever the ground is dry. The first year on new land
requires fully one-third more water than is needed after-
ward. Before seeding, the ground should be mellow,
then harrowed with the back part of the harrow or
brushed, and seeded with 15 to 20 pounds to the acre,
between the first and middle of April. The plant will
usually run out the weeds, and on that account no special
treatment is needed. The first season will produce a small
crop of hay, but no good seed. Unless water is allowed
to freeze on the land, alfalfa does not winterkill here,
and at two or three years of age it is at its best, continu-
ing vigorous for 10, 20 or 30 years without seeding.
The first cutting of the season yields about 2%4 to 3 tons
to the acre, the second about 2 to 2!4, and the third 1 to
1% tons. The hay is cut when the plant has been in
bloom 8 or 10 days, allowed to lie for 24 to 36 hours,
and treated as Red clover is. The second crop is always
the best for seed here. The cost in the stack, on $25
land, irrigation costing 50 to 75 cents an acre, is $2 a ton.
To put this into 100-pound bales costs $2.50 a ton. On
the ground it sells for $3 to $5 a ton, while the seed
brings $3, $4 and $5 a bushel. An ordinary yield of
seed is 300 pounds to the acre, and this is threshed with
the same machine used for grain, at a cost of about one-
fourth of the seed. The straw is worth about one-fourth
272 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
as mucn as the hay. We consider alfalfa hay, for cattle,
sheep, and hogs, far superior to clover, but for horses
timothy is best. It will keep steers and sheep fat all win-
ter, providing they are under shelter, and is excellent for
milch cows. The pasture for swine and cattle is far bet-
ter than clover, and for work horses and sheep it is good,
but not the best for horses that are driven fast. Cattle
will bloat about as they do on Red clover when turned
onto it after rain, dew, or frost. To rid land of a stand
of alfalfa is very difficult, requiring four stout horses
with a very sharp plow to turn it over, but as a green
manure it has about the same effect as Red clover, pro-
ducing two or three extra crops afterwards.
NEBRASKA.
Olmstead & Olmstead, Furnas county.—A\lfalfa, while
excellent for all other stock, is pre-eminently the feed
for hogs. Its early appearance, its wonderfully rapid
growth, its nutritious properties, its perennial nature
(keeping green until about December), its resistance to
drought, its wonderful fecundity, and, lastly, its adaptabil-
ity as a dry feed, make it, in our opinion, the most profit-
able crop than can be grown. ‘Ten acres of alfalfa will
pasture 150 head of hogs, and give them abundance.
From the 15th of March, or at most not later than the
15th of April, hogs and cattle can be turned on pasture,
and kept there until snow flies. On first bottoms, six
tons per acre can be depended upon as a fair, average
yield, while many fields this year have made as high as
eight. On divide, or high land, where it has been tested
for three years, it averages about two to four tons per
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES ee
acre, but this land gives the best returns for seed, not
growing too rank. Since we have been investigating
and gathering information on this subject, we have
had reported to us a yield as high as eight bushels of seed
per acre, and quite a number as high as nine, and some
eleven. Six bushels an acre on a good stand is an average
yield, while some will fall below that. The seed has
never sold here below $4 per bushel. Last year and this,
all seed grown in this part of the country sold readily at
$5 per bushel, and for the next five years will probably
not go lower than $3. One crop of seed and two of hay
are the average on low land, and one crop less of hay
on high land. The threshed hay is nearly as good for
feed as the unthreshed, There is no waste in feeding this
hay, and horses are especially fond of the coarse stems.
It stands our winters remarkably well, so far, coming
through in excellent condition. There is no stock but eats
alfalfa hay as well or better than clover or timothy.
Young colts and calves will winter in fine condition on
this hay, with little or no grain. If the last cutting is
allowed to stand, with a growth from six to eight inches,
horses and cattle will graze on it through the winter, the
same as on Red clover, doing equally as well. Now, as
to the other side. Will this clover grow in all latitudes
and longitudes as well as Red clover? We think it
doubtful. It requires a dry, porous soil, in which there
is no hardpan nor too much clay, and it does not like too
much water. It does well where the soil is somewhat
sandy, its roots penetrating to a depth of from 15 to 25
feet, thus drawing its nutrition from various strata of
soil. What else against it?- If cattle are turned on after
274 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
a rain, when it is wet, or dew is on, they often bloat and
die; but if turned on in the spring, and kept on continu-
ously, have little danger of gorging themselves or bloat-
ing. No other stock is adversely affected by it. This is
all that can be honestly said against alfalfa, and this is
obviated by a little care by the farmer, while the many
good things said about it must certainly recommend it to
the intelligent husbandman. Thus we can enumerate:
First, its certainty as a crop; second, its enormous yield;
third, its excellent pasturage qualities; fourth, its nutri-
tious qualities, being equally good green or dry; fifth,
its yield and price of seed, which is threshed with an
ordinary grain separator; sixth, its tremendously rapid
growth during the summer season. There are many more
attributes that can be credited to alfalfa.
W. O. Thompson, Lincoln county—I have had 20
years’ experience with alfalfa, on second bottom and
upland. The upland has a clay subsoil; the second
bottom soil is three feet deep, underlaid with a bed of
sand and gravel. Abundant water is found from 8 to
23 feet from the surface. If dry soil is found, it is the
first three feet below the surface. Land should be tilled
several years before seeding, in order to perfectly subdue
the sod. Use about 16 pounds of seed per acre, and pre-
pare the ground the same as for wheat, sowing in the
spring. The first crop will be nearly all weeds; cut and
haul these off the ground. The second crop will produce
about one ton of hay per acre. Alfalfa is liable to winter-
kill if the winter is warm and dry. I irrigate from a
stream two or three times during the season, with suffi-
cient water to flood all the ground. The first year the
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 275
ground is soft and porous, and twice the water is required
as in the following years. From three to four crops are
raised during the season, yielding from 1% to 2 tons
each cutting, or from five to six tons per acre in one sea-
son. Cut when in bloom for hay, and let the seed ripen
before cutting for seed, using either the first or second
crop for this seed. When cutting for seed, it should be
pitched out of the way of the mower after each round;
then let it dry before stacking, but not enough for the
leaves to fall off when handled. Stack in the ordinary
way, but be sure the hay is thoroughly dry in the shock
before stacking. It is more liable to get moldy in the
barn than in the stack. About $2 per ton will cover all
expenses of raising, on land worth $50 per acre. The
expense of baling is about $1.50 per ton, 100-pound bales
being preferred. It should not be baled until perfectly
dry in the stack. About six bushels per acre is the aver-
age yield of seed, and it costs about 75 cents per bushel
to thresh and clean. A clover huller is the most satis-
factory for threshing alfalfa. The hay has sold here at
$3 to $10 per ton, averaging $6. The seed has brought
from $3 to $10 per bushel, averaging $5. One acre
of alfalfa will raise 35 hogs, with the aid of a little grain.
Horses thrive on it, but it is unsafe for sheep and cattle.
Animals which chew the cud will bloat if pastured on
alfalfa. The only way to prevent it is to keep them from
the pasture. The best way to cure it is to insert a tube into
the paunch, to allow the gas to escape. As to the longev-
ity of the plant, I call to mind a patch sown in 1873, on
upland, and it is still growing. Alfalfa attains its best
growth in about two years. I do not think it can
276 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
be profitably raised on high, arid ground, without irriga-
tion. Hogs can be wintered on alfalfa hay and a very
little grain, and cattle can be fattened for the home mar-
ket, but it produces softer flesh, and they could not be
shipped a great distance in the best condition.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Prof. Frederick W. Taylor, Agriculturist New Hamp-
shire experiment station—We have tried to secure a
stand of alfalfa for four consecutive seasons, but so far
our efforts have been unsuccessful. Various types of soil,
from a heavy boulder clay to a light sandy loam, have
been tried, and, contrary to our expectations, the most
promising crop was on the heavy clay soil. Our chief
difficulty has been in having the alfalfa keep ahead of the
weeds and in getting a uniform catch that would with-
stand our winters. From one-fourth to one-half of the
plants have usually wintered over in good condition and
made a vigorous growth the next season, but there has
not been enough of them to say that we have made a
success with alfalfa. We have largely eliminated the seed
question by plowing the ground early and keeping it har-
rowed until about the middle of July, when it is sown.
Our experience seems to indicate that an application of
lime is beneficial, if not absolutely necessary, in this sec-
tion and we have accordingly been using it at the rate of
a ton to the acre. We have also tried inoculation with
the various cultures, but in no case have any benefits been
observed. So far as we know, there have been no suc-
cessful attempts to grow alfalfa on a medium or large
scale in this state, although several farmers in the Connec-
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 277
ticut river valley have reported success on some areas of
an acre or less. When we more thoroughly understand
the plant, and the conditions necessary for its growth, we
believe it can be grown upon some of our soils.
NEW JERSEY.
Dr. E. B. Voorhees, Director New Jersey experiment
station.—The farmers of the state have manifested much
interest in the growing of alfalfa, and many experimental
plots have been seeded in the past two or three years. In
order to obtain accurate information as to the methods
employed, and the results obtained, a circular letter was
sent out during the past summer to 140 growers. De-
tailed replies were obtained from Io1 growers. Of these
there were 57 distributed over 15 counties, which showed
the successful establishment of the crop. The soils upon
which these successful crops are growing vary widely,
both in their physical and chemical character, ranging
from a light, sandy loam, with sandy subsoil, to a medium
heavy clay, with compact clay subsoil, which indicates
clearly that success does not depend so much upon the
character of the soil as upon the methods of seeding, fer-
tilization and after-treatment, though the most successful
stands were, as a rule, obtained upon sandy soils, over-
lying a reasonably open subsoil. Twenty-seven growers
had a more or less satisfactory experience, while 17 were
absolute failures. A study of the reports of failures
shows that in most instances they were due to lack of ob-
servation of the methods recommended for the seeding
and care of the crop, which experience at the station
showed to be essential for success. In most cases the
278 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
land was imperfectly prepared; in many an insufficient
amount of fertilizer or manure was applied. In many
cases, too little seed was used; in others the date of seed-
ing was contrary to all recommendations, or the crop was
not clipped often, and thus choked out by weeds. In
many instances, where lime had not been used for many
years,none was applied at the time of seeding. In the
case of those having more or less success, the recom-
mendations were not fully observed or soil conditions
were imperfect.
D. C. Lewis of Middlesex county, in the summer of |
1903 seeded about 1 1-4 acres with alfalfa, observing
closely all of the recommendations of the experiment sta-
tion in reference to seeding, but did not inoculate the soil.
The seed germinated well, and the crop grew nicely dur-
ing the fall, but entirely disappeared later. In 1904, the
same area, after an oat crop was grown, was seeded again,
on August 10. The soil is a clay loam, with a clay sub-
soil, and in a good state of fertility. The land had been
previously in grass and corn. The corn was manured
and the alfalfa area well limed previous to seeding in
1903. The seed was at the rate of about 25 pounds, and
at time of seeding 800 pounds of Mapes’ fertilizer and an
extra bag of high-grade sulphate of potash were applied,
and the field was inoculated with about 300 pounds of soil,
taken from the old alfalfa patch at the experiment station.
The seed germinated well, and made a rapid and large fall
growth and passed the winter successfully. The yield per
acre was about three tons of hay for the first cutting.
This experiment is strikingly suggestive in showing the
importance of soil inoculation, for while inoculation is not
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 279
apparently essential in all cases, it would seem that where
soils have not been heavily manured that this point should
be carefully observed.
J. P. Nelson of Monmouth county has had a very suc-
cessful experience in the growth of alfalfa, since he has
observed all of the recommendations made as to methods
of seeding and after-treatment. The following is a de-
scription of his method and the results obtained from a
seeding made August 10, 1904. The surface soil is a
medium clay loam, underlaid with a gravelly clay subsoil.
The crops preceding were grass and corn, and the manures
used were barnyard manure and 600 pounds per acre of
ground bone. The corn preceding the alfalfa was limed
at the rate of 1,000 pounds per acre, and 1,400 pounds per
acre were applied just previous to the seeding of alfalfa.
Thirty pounds of seed were used per acre, and lightly
harrowed in and the land rolled. The germination and
early growth were good, and the first crop was harvested
June 1, 1905. The yield was two big, two-horse loads of
cured hay per acre.
E. T. Gill of Camden county has a sandy loam, under-
laid by a subsoil varying from sand to clay. He has an
area of 24 acres, ranging from two to six years in age.
The first seeding of about two acres is still growing
profitable crops, though not uniform in stand. The later
seedings show an excellent stand and large and profitable
crops are annually harvested. Usually four cuts are
made each year, which are used both for soiling and for
hay, with splendid results. The practice on this farm is
to top-dress with manure during the winter at the rate of
about eight tons per acre. Mr. Gill’s experience leads
280 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
him to believe that the stand is often injured, particularly
during the first year, by allowing the crop to reach too
great maturity and then cutting when the plants are just
beginning to bloom, and leaving a stubble of at least three
inches. Mr. Gill did not inoculate the seed or soil at
his first seeding, but did follow this practice with recent
seedings, and believes it to be a wise precaution, especial-
ly on soils that have not been previously heavily manured.
NEW MEXICO.
Thomas J. Clark, Grant county.—I have had 15 years’
experience with alfalfa on first and second bottom land
with gravel soil, dry to within four feet of water, which
is reached at a depth of 15 feet. I irrigate from the Gila
river, and my alfalfa, which is 14 years old, is as good
to-day as at any time since it was sown. The seed is
sown as turnip seed is. I plow the land thoroughly, har-
row it over smoothly, then sow the seed in March, and
harrow lightly once. Then the water is turned on, and
the ground will remain moist until the seeds sprout.
After the alfalfa is six inches high, I cut it to make it
spread and destroy all the large weeds; and there may be
two cuttings of hay that same season. Water will not
injure the plant unless it stands on it in low places. Stag-
nant water standing on the plant, or mineral water so
near the surface that the roots reach it, will kill the plant,
but it is not liable to injury from winter frost. After the
first season there are three or four crops, the first being
usually chosen for seed and not irrigated. For hay it
is cut when in full bloom, and, if the sun is shining,
should cure 24 hours if in June, or 20 in July or August,
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 281
before raking, and then 30 hours in the cock. It must
be thoroughly cured before stacking, and then will not
mold. The most convenient bales weigh 90 to 100
pounds, and the cost of preparing them is $2 a ton. The
total cost of hay in the stack is about $3 a ton, and the
average yield about three tons to the acre each year.
When the burs turn brown the seed is harvested, and
when well cured should be stacked in a dry place. An
average yield is 500 to 600 pounds to the acre, and it
sells for $4 a bushel. The hay makes excellent feed for
farm animals, keeping them in good condition the year
around without grain. The alfalfa pasturage is better
for swine and cattle than clover, and yields more largely;
sheep may be kept on it to advantage also. A good acre
will keep five grown hogs in excellent condition, but will
not make them fat. If they are taken up in October and
fed about 40 days on grain, they will be marketable.
Cattle on the pasture sometimes bloat, but I have had
100 head of cows and calves on mine for two months,
and have had no trouble. The irrigated alfalfa is better
than that grown on land that requires no water. The
straw is about equal to oat straw, but not half so good
as the alfalfa hay. To rid land of the plant requires a
strong team and a sharp 10-inch plow. The roots rot at
ence after plowing, and the land is well fertilized for
other crops. In my opinion, alfalfa is the best forage
plant known in this western country. It is most easily
raised, produces the largest yield, commands the best
price, and can be planted at any time from March to Sep-
tember. Land seeded to it is the most valuable, and the
farmer who has plenty of it is the most prosperous,
<
282 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
Farming here cannot be a success without it, and I take
pleasure in recommending it to my brother farmers.
It will lie dormant all summer if it is dry, and with fall
rains revive and make good pasture. It is the earliest
plant up in the spring, and the last to stay green in the
fall. In other words, it is the best of all.
Hartman & Weil, San Miguel county.—We have been
dealers in alfalfa hay for eight years, and have some
small fields of our own. This is on both bottom and
upland. In the bottom, the subsoil is sand and bowlders;
on the upland, stiff bluish clay, and in some places blue
limestone. Well water is reached on the bottom land
at a depth of 8 to 10 feet, through soil moist all the way;
on the upland, it is necessary to dig 60 to 100 feet, and,
beginning two to four feet from the surface, the ground
is dry. When seed is planted in the spring, the soil
should be well pulverized, moist, and warm, that the seed
may germinate quickly. It should not be put in deeper
than 114 inches, and may be planted in May or June, or
any time in the spring after the soil becomes warm. In
our climate, it is best to sow about 30 pounds of good
seed to the acre, besides just enough oats to shade the
ground and protect the young alfalfa from the hot sun.
Once well started, it will kill out all weeds, and does not
winterkill here. We irrigate from streams. Alfalfa
should not be irrigated when quite young, for, if the
small plant is covered with soil, when watered, it will
not come up again, but, after it gets a good start, it is
not easily killed. There should be about two irrigations
to each crop harvested, or, ordinarily, six in a season.
The heavier the stand the more water is needed. We
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 283
have three cuttings, yielding about 3000 pounds of cured
hay per acre per cutting. When the plant is fairly well
in bloom, it is cut, and is best when cured under large
sheds or in the shade. If left until dry where cut, the
foliage will fall off and pulverize. It is best to stack in
narrow ricks, as it is liable to heat if put in large stacks,
and it should be salted liberally when stacked. The last
cutting is preferred for seed, which is mowed when most
of the pods are well matured; in this case only two crops
should be cut during the year. The straw makes good
feed for stock in winter, having about half the value of
the hay. Each irrigation costs about 50 cents per acre,
and the total cost of hay in the stack is about $3.50 per
ton. Baling costs $1.25 per ton, with 50 cents additional
for wire. The common yield of seed is 6 to 10 bushels
from the acre. “Reeves” clover huller will thresh about
12 bushels per hour. The price of hay, baled, in New
Mexico has averaged about $8 per ton for the past eight
years, and seed for the same time about $5 per bushel.
Our experience indicates that alfalfa hay is a more nutri-
tious food for farm animals than either clover or timothy.
We have found nothing better to feed cattle for market;
it makes good, solid beef, and they take on fat very fast.
The pasturage is excellent for swine, horses, and cattle.
If overfed, animals will sometimes bloat on rank alfalfa,
especially if unaccustomed to it. About the third year
from seeding, the plant has acquired its best yield. It is dif-
ficult to rid land of it, as plowing under is sometimes bene-
ficial, making it come up thicker than before. Success
with it on high prairies depends upon the precipitation
during the growing season, We think four inches of
284 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
rainfall during the time of its growth would make a fair.
crop of hay; or 8 to 12 inches from May to September,
for two or three cuttings.
NEW YORK.
Isaac Zoller, Montgomery county, writes in a recent ar-
ticle in American Agriculturist: “In the spring of
1889, I sowed my first ten acres of alfalfa. The field was
reseeded for the second time in April, 1905. I now have
25 acres. The land was plowed in the fall after being
manured. In the spring, generally during the last two
weeks of April, the surface for five or six inches is made
extra fine and 25 to 30 pounds of the best seed is sown
with three pecks of oats as a nurse crop. By June 1 the
oats are cut three inches above ground and again every
four weeks during the first season. The following June
during the third week the first crop is cut, usually yield-
ing about three tons. The second cutting generally
comes during the Iast week in July when 1 1-2 tons is an
average. By September, the third cutting is made, but I
generally let sheep browse it, but not very close or after it
is frozen. The season of 1905 it was cut and allowed to
wilt, raked with a side delivery rake, allowed to lie a
couple of hours, then rolled overt with the rake and drawn
to the barn. Formerly I used to shock it and allow it to
sweat, but this is too much work. I feed it to sheep and
find it equal, if not superior to Red clover. To be at its
best it must be cut when about one-tenth of the blossoms
are out. The soil in which my alfalfa grows is a heavy,
clay loam and rolling, but is underdrained. The soil
here is apt to heave three or four inches during winter
nad BAT
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 285
and injure clever. But where properly drained, this
does not occur on alfalfa fields. I am certain alfalfa can
be more extensively and economically grown here.”
H. B. Fullerton, Long Island.—As an experiment, an
acre of scrub-oak, waste land was cleared and the brush
and stumps burned in November,1g05. About 2000
pounds of wood ashes were applied and turned under at
once. In early April about ten tons of manure was ap-
plied so that each quarter acre would have about 2,500
pounds. Three weeks later 400 pounds of kainit was
applied and ten days later 200 pounds of Canada wood
ashes. Since the soil, when tested, still showed acidity,
about 400 pounds more of ashes were spread, chiefly be-
cause of its high percentage of vegetable lime, 40 per cent.
The lime of ashes on Long Island soils is considered su-
perior to that of stone or shells. Early in June the test
acre, being considered ready, was finally prepared and
sown to alfalfa in two directions crosswise over each
quarter acre. In less than a week the plants appeared
evenly on all four plots. Showery weather continued
from before seeding until well into June. One of the
quarter acre plots sown with a dressing of 150 pounds of
soil from an old alfalfa field at Fayetteville, N. Y. early
took the lead in color and vigor and about six weeks from
sowing could be readily distinguished at a distance by the
richness of its foliage. It was also in flower before the
other plots, one of which was uninoculated, the other two
sown with inoculated seed. Unfavorable weather pre-
vented cutting until mid-August when all four plots were
cut, the few large weeds were removed and the alfalfa
weighed. The plot inoculated with alfalfa soil yielded
286 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
1673 green pounds which cured to 7o1 dry; the uninocu-
lated plot yielded 726 green and 313 dry, the other two
plots sown with inoculated seed 416 and 377 pounds green
or 189 and 168 pounds dry respectively. These results
point favorably to inoculating the soil from old alfalfa
fields.
NORTH CAROLINA.
Dr. B. W, Kilgore, Director North Carolina experi-
ment station.—Alfalfa has been grown in a small way in
this state, particularly in the section around Hillsboro,
for 75 to 100 years. The soil there has become well in-
oculated and there are some small areas of good alfalfa
grown there. There has been for a number of years past
considerable interest in the production of this crop, but
its cultivation has not been very successful. On our ex-
periment farms in different sections of the state it has
done reasonably well, and there have been put out quite
a large number of small areas during the last few years,
which give hopes of success with the crop. When some
further details regarding the time and method for seeding
and treatment, especially to prevent crab-grass and weeds
from getting the upper hand of the crop during the sum-
mer have been worked out, we believe that alfalfa will be
grown to quite a large extent and be a most valuable addi-
tion to our present forage crops.
NORTH DAKOTA.
Prof. J. H. Shepperd, Dean of the North Dakota Ag-
ricultural college —Alfalfa has not been given a thorough
trial by the people of North Dakota, but the results se-
cured by the experiment station indicate that it is capable
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 287
of producing paying crops here. It will yield two or
more tons of hay per acre annually and will, when sown
on well drained land, continue to live from year to year
as it does in old alfalfa districts. A little growth should
be allowed to stand through the winter season to protect
the roots by catching a covering of snow over the entire
field. Our people are thoroughly awakened and en-
couraged by the results secured at the experiment station,
and its growth is likely to soon be a common practice in
the state.
OHIO.
Prof. Charles E. Thorne, Director Ohio experiment
station—Numerous attempts were made during the lat-
ter half of the nineteenth century to grow alfalfa in Ohio,
but so far as the knowledge of the writer goes, that of
Joseph E. Wing of Mechanicsburg was the first that
could be pronounced a decided success. Mr. Wing had
seen the plant growing in the arid region of the West, and
was fortunately able to make his initial experiments on
the soil formed from the decomposing limestone gravels
of Champaign county, a soil possessing three of the in-
dispensable requisites for alfalfa culture. Plenty of lime,
plenty of humus and good drainage. Other farmers
during recent years have attempted the culture of this
plant, and where experiments have been conducted upon
suitable soils and carried out with sufficient care and per-
sistence, they have been successful. Thus far the most
promising alfalfa fields in the state are to be found either
in such localities as those of Mr. Wing, namely upon the
soils underlaid with limestone gravel which are found
over the western half of the state, or upon such of the
288 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
river bottom lands of the state as are above overflow and
are underlaid with gravel, giving natural drainage. The
experience of Ohio growers of alfalfa has demonstrated
the following points: (1) Alfalfa must have lime. If
the soil is naturally deficient in this substance it must be
added artificially. (2) Alfalfa must have humus. It
is idle to attempt to grow it upon a soil which has been
worn so thin that it will not grow a good crop of corn.
Such soils must be manured before they will successfully
produce alfalfa. In this respect it is very different from
the plant which it so closely resembles in habit of growth,
Sweet clover. (3) Alfalfa will not grow with wet feet,
yet it is a great consumer of water, and the soil must be of
such a character as to hold large stores of water without
being water logged. Hence the value of bottom lands
naturally underdrained by strata of gravel a few feet be-
low the surface. (4) When lime, humus and drainage
are supplied, the bacterial organisms through which at-
mospheric nitrogen is assimilated will gradually appear
upon the alfalfa roots, but their growth may be hastened
by inoculating the land with soil from a field in which
alfalfa or Sweet clover has previously grown. The ex-
periment station has been most successful in getting a
stand of alfalfa where the land was thoroughly prepared
in the spring and then harrowed every week or ten days
until July or August. The seed was then sown and
harrowed in. By this means the weed seeds were germ-
inated and destroyed before the alfalfa was sown.
OREGON
George W. Dunn, Jackson county.—For eight years I
have grown 60 acres of alfalfa on bottom land with
Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba.)
The seed of Sweet clover is an occasional adulterant of alfalfa. The plant is much taller
than any of the species of Medicago. The flowers are white and
borne in rows on elongated flower stems.
Yellow Trefoil (Wedicago lupulina)
A common adulterant of alfalfa. The leaflets are broader and more clover-like than
alfalfa. The flowers are yellow and sparsely scattered in small, hop-like
clusters at tips of long flower-stems.
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 289
granite loam soil, gravelly and sandy. The plant does
not grow well unless the soil is deep and well drained,
and will not grow where there is a clay subsoil or stag-
nant water. Well water is reached at a depth of Io to 12
feet, and the soil, unless cultivated or irrigated, becomes
dry and hard in the summer. As soon as the heavy frosts
in the spring are over, seed may be put in, atter thorough,
deep plowing and pulverizing. I always sow broadcast,
20 to 25 pounds to the acre, then harrow in and clod-
mash or roll. Water for irrigation is obtained from
streams, and it should be applied as quickly as possible,
the best way being to flood the whole field for a few
days, and then take all the water off, as standing water
will kill the plant quicker than anything else. The quan-
tity of water needed the first and later years does not
seem to differ materially. As soon as the young alfalfa
is high enough, it should be mowed. This kills the weeds,
and gives better chance for growth. Then I cut for hay,
but it does not pay much the first year. If land is well
drained, the plant lives through the winter easily, and by
the second or third year is at its best. In ground adapted
to its growth, it is almost everlasting, unless killed by
gophers or hogs. After the first season, there are three
or four cuttings, averaging each from one to three tons
to the acre. For hay, I cut as soon as it begins to bloom
freely, ordinarily raking the next day, and cocking the
third, in this dry atmosphere. The stack does not shed
water well, and the best plan is to put in a good barn.
The hay bales well, and the size of bale is simply a matter
of opinion or convenience, there being no difference in
the keeping quality. The second crop is the one for seed,
290 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
as the first always contains more or less foul stuff, and
the third will not mature seed. I dispose of hay at from
$4 to $10 a ton—the same price as other hay in the same
market—and it is in great demand for milch cows. The
seed costs me from Io to 16 cents a pound. The straw
makes good feed, but of course is not so good as the
hay. For feeding farm animals, alfalfa is superior to
clover or timothy. We produce as fine beef here, by feed-
ing alfalfa alone, as can be done in Kansas or elsewhere
by feeding ordinary hay and corn. The pasturage is
profitable and satisfactory for horses and sheep, and for
hogs it is unsurpassed—they will grow and fatten on it
without other food. Cattle on the pasture sometimes
bloat, but not when they are used to it, or when it is dry.
I keep about 150 head, and in eight years have lost but
two. The roots will grow to, but not into, water, and
thrive in deep gravelly or sandy soil. The plant sends
down a large, straight taproot, which, as it approaches
water, branches and spreads out into numerous small
rootlets.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Prof. George C. Watson, Director Pennsylvania ex-
periment station.—During the past five or six years the
experiment station has received many letters requesting
information pertaining to the growth and cultivation of
alfalfa. From these communications it has been learned
that many farmers have attempted to grow alfalfa on land
that 1s not at all well suited for this purpose, and conse-
quently, many failures have resulted. The first attempts
to grow alfalfa were made wholly by spring seeding,
which, in most instances, has proved quite unsatisfactory.
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 291
As alfalfa starts slowly and exists as a small plant for a
considerable length of time, the weeds have an abundant
opportunity to germinate and outgrow the more delicate
alfalfa plants. Whatever conditions favor the growth of
weeds, particularly in the early part of the growing sea-
son, materially increase the risk of failure with alfalfa.
Largely on account of the weeds and grass, late in sum-
mer or fall seeding has been most satisfactory. While a
drouth at this time may seriously interfere with germina-
tion, yet the injury from insufficient moisture is not like-
ly to be so great as that from a rank growth of weeds
earlier in the season. Land that has been cultivated for
a few weeks during the summer may be sown to alfalfa in
August or September with comparatively little danger
from annual weeds, which are so troublesome in spring
seeding. Land that is infested with noxious perennial
weeds and grass would not, of course, be in suitable con-
dition for seeding after a few weeks of cultivation, no
matter how thorough it may be. The most tenacious
grasses and weeds, like Canada thistles and quack grass,
should be given at least a few months of thorough cul-
tivation before seeding. Experiments indicate that al-
falfa will not survive continued alternate freezing and
thawing if the soil contains very much moisture. Land
that is at all inclined to “heave” is not suited for the
growth of this crop. The soil of the station farm, upon
which most of these experiments have been made, is a
porous limestone clay underlaid with limestone rocks
which afford abundant drainage through the fissures.
Notwithstanding the fact that the soil is naturally well
drained, in some places it seems to hold too much water
292 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
to afford a most congenial home for alfalfa. This crop
will endure severe freezing, provided the soil is sufficient-
ly dry so that it has no tendency to “heave.” Land upon
which clover will “‘heave’’ undoubtedly contains too much
moisture for alfalfa. It seems to be able to endure the
rigors of winter better than clover, provided the moisture
conditions are favorable.
RHODE ISLAND.
Dr. H. J. Wheeler, Director Rhode Island experiment
station.—Alfalfa culture in Rhode Island is a very uncer-
tain undertaking. A few persons have occasionally met
with some success, but the majority of experiments have
been failures because: (1) Most of the soil in this
state is too deficient in carbonate of lime to enable alfalfa
to succeed even if other conditions are favorable. (2)
It is occasionally almost destroyed by clover leaf spot.
(3) The general culture of alfalfa in this state cannot
he made successful even if all of the conditions aside from
the climate are made favorable. Farther north where the
snow falls before the ground freezes and remains until
the opening of spring, this plant can be grown success-
fully. Farther south where the changes are less severe,
the same is true. In Colorado and other places where
irrigation is practiced, if it is desired to get rid of a field
of alfalfa, the ground is flooded after it is frozen and the
freezing of water over the surface accomplishes what is
desired. In Rhode Island it not infrequently happens
that we have in winter a considerable fall of snow. A
warm southeasterly rain may fall which transforms it
very shortly into slush. In a few hours the temperature
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 293
may drop to zero or below. Sometimes rain which falls
freezes over the surface, forming a solid coating. These
conditions in this state destroy the alfalfa just as the
flooding does it in the West, and while alfalfa may be
carried successfully through the winter, if the season is
favorable, I believe the chances are too great to make it a
promising crop. Last winter we carried some through
successfully and have done so once or twice before, but
my advice to Rhode Island farmers is to grow the clovers,
soy beans, and possibly cowpeas rather than attempt to
embark in growing alfalfa until it has been definitely
shown by experiment that the climate and other condi-.
tions can be successfully combated.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
Prof. C. L. Newman, Agriculturist South Carolina
experiment station.—We have, to some extent, had re-
markable success with alfalfa. On the old exposition
grounds at Charleston, over six tons of cured hay were
cut last year on one acre. This year one cutting afford-
ed 4515 pounds of cured hay. In the upper portion of
the state, alfalfa is grown with considerably greater dif-
ficulty. At Anderson, the county seat of Anderson
county, there is an alfalfa field that was sown 65 years
ago and it still affords some return.
SOUTH DAKOTA.
Prof. James W. Wilson, Directar South Dakota ex-
periment station.—Experience shows that a good stand
of alfalfa can be secured, if ordinary care be exercised in
preparing the seedbed. It is not a plant that does well
when sowed on the native prairie sod after disking.. On
294. THE-BOOK OF ALFALFA
the college farm during the spring of 1904 a small area
of native sod was disked five times; part was sowed to
alfalfa and part to clover. The next spring only a few
scattering plants of alfalfa could be found, while a fair
stand of clover was secured. Good results have been ob-
tained with both the Turkestan and the American varie-
ties. Neither has winterkilled during the time, and the
yield per acre in each case has been good. A field sowed
to Turkestan alfalfa in 1899 at Highmore Forage testing
station still produces good yields. The quantity of seed
to sow per acre depends largely on the way it is sowed,
requiring more if broadcast than when drilled. We sug-
gest 20 pounds when drilled and 25 pounds when sown
broadcast. The time to sow depends upon the con-
dition of soil. The soil must be warm and in good con-
dition of tilth. Contrary to what is sometimes supposed,
alfalfa does not require a wet soil, but one that is well
drained, with a loose subsoil. The plants will stand cut-
ting several times during the first year. This method
should be resorted to when sown on a field badly infested
with weeds, in order to secure a stand of alfalfa. In 1902
a field, rented by the college farm, which had been
cropped for several years and become foul with mustard,
was sowed to alfalfa. It was cut three times during the
growing season, and the result was that in 1903 there was
practically no mustard to be seen, but a first class stand of
alfalfa was obtained.
George E. McEathron of Beadle county writes: “I
consider alfalfa and clover culture practicable in this lo-
cality. I do not think it necessary to inoculate soil for
these crops in South Dakota. After the first year I cut
pu
aa ee
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 295
my alfalfa fields three times and secured an average yield
of five tons to the acre. I have never allowed seed to
mature, always cutting for hay. No trouble from winter-
killing has been noticed.”
O. S. Jones of Lake county writes: “I began raising
alfalfa on my place two miles west of Madison five years
ago. The soil is a dark loam with some sand in it, lays
level and has a sand and gravel subsoil. Water is ob-
tained at a depth of eight to ten feet. I have used both
the Turkestan and the common alfalfa, and I consider the
latter the better for my land, as it grows ranker, with
more leaf and better color than the former. I have had
the best success in sowing about the first of May, with-
out a nurse crop. On one four-acre piece seeded three
years ago, I pastured 150 to 175 head of hogs and spring
pigs for two months this year and also cut between 15
and 16 tons of hay in two cuttings. I sowed 12 acres this
year in two six-acre fields, that has been pastured, con-
tinually, with 175 head of hogs and pigs and ten head of
young cattle since early in July, and a great deal if it ma-
tured seed. I could have cut these pieces in August with
profit had I so desired, and then had plenty of growth to
have kept the stock in pasture, changing pastures each
week.”
N. O. P. Synoground of Brown county writes: “I
consider alfalfa and clover culture practicable in this lo-
cality. I also consider the Turkestan variety superior to
the home-grown varieties. Cut the field twice the first
year and received four tons per acre. I have never cut
any for seed. These crops have not winterkilled here.”
296 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
TENNESSEE.
Prof. H. A. Morgan, Director Tennessee experiment
station.—Alfalfa has been known in Tennessee for many
years, but not until the general failure of Red clover, due
to one or more species of Colletotrichum, and the search
for substitutes for Red clover, were any serious efforts
made to grow alfalfa in this state. On alluvial land
along the Mississippi river in west Tennessee, in what is
known as the Central Basin section of middle Tennessee,
and on the richer lands of east Tennessee, alfalfa has
been grown very successfully, and each year larger areas
are being sown to this clover. Mr. L. Donaldson, of
Lake county, gives the following relative to the prepara-
tion of soil, etc., for alfalfa in the alluvial area of west
Tennessee: ‘The land is plowed deep with large mold-
board breaking plows in September or about the first of
March. It is then harrowed until thoroughly pulverized,
and either about October 10 or April 1, two gallons of
seed are sown, by machine or by hand.’ The harrow is
used for covering the seed. We have no more trouble with
the crop after seeding. The plants germinate and take
root rapidly. I have known alfalfa roots to reach a
length of two feet from the last of March to June 25.
We frequently cut the crop five times per year. George
Campbell Brown of Maury county states that he has sown
alfalfa in March using spring barley as nurse crop, and in
September with success. Land sown to alfalfa in 1901
yielded four cuttings per year in 1902, 1903, and 1904,
averaging from 16 to 18 tons per acre in the three years.
Mr. Brown uses soil for inoculating, and believes he has
gotten well-defined results from nitro-culture sent out by
‘sa eel
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 297
United States department of agriculture. At the experi-
ment station at Knoxville, alfalfa has been successfully
grown for many years. Heavy applications of farm-
yard manure and the use of 300 pounds of acid phosphate
and 25 bushels of lime per acre invariably insures large
yields of alfalfa. Crab-grass, Panicum sanguinale, in
summer and chickweed, Stellaria media, in winter are
enemies to alfalfa in this latitude. These pests should be
gotten rid of by the use of clean culture crops prepara-
tory to the sowing of alfalfa. With plenty of stable
manure, lime, and phosphorous, artificial inoculation
seems unnecessary. Any soils of over a few feet deep
may be prepared so as to grow profitable crops of alfalfa.
This preparation is much more expensive on some soils
than others.
TEXAS.
Prof. B. C. Pitiuck, Agriculturist of the Texas experi-
ment station.—Alfalfa should receive the attention of
farmers in every section of Texas where conditions are in
any way favorable to its growth. At present prices,
after it is once established, a yield of one ton of hay per
acre will afford a good profit, while yields of four and six
tons, which are not unusual on favorable soils, make the
investment exceedingly profitable. The present demand
is much greater than the supply and bids fair to increase
in greater proportion during the coming year. Its in-
creasing popularity with the farmer is based upon sound
business principles, as its value does not consist solely in
its market price, but in its value as food for his stock and
food for his soil. It will furnish green pasturage and
hay of the best quality without materially impoverishing
298 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
the soil. Many farmers refrain from planting alfalfa
because some neighbor, far or near, planted on land ap-
parently similar to theirs, and it died of the disease com-
monly known as cotton root rot. It would be far better
for each farmer to test his own land, for alfalfa may be
affected by this fungus at one place and entirely unaffect-
ed on ground only a few rods away. The value of an al-
falfa meadow is such as to warrant a farmer in giving
considerable time, labor and study to the plant, before de-
ciding that natural conditions prohibit him from success-
fully growing it.
UTAH.
Aaron F. Farr, Jr., Cache county.—Fifteen years ago,
when I began raising alfalfa, I had 40 acres, and for the
past eight years I have had about 135 acres, all on heavy
clay soil, containing considerable salt, and underlaid with
very stiff, white clay. The soil is dry on top, but below
a depth of 2% feet is damp, and salty water is found at
a depth of eight feet. Small grain was raised on the new
land for one or two years, after which the ground was
plowed in the fall, and again in the spring, harrowed,
and well pulverized. Seed was put in, 12 pounds to the
acre, two inches deep, with a press drill. The time for
sowing is about the same as for corn, in April or May.
If there is plenty of water, it is well to sow the alfalfa
with oats, and then cut for hay the first season. Some
of my land is irrigated, by flooding, three times in the
season, by means of a large canal from the river. The
more water is used, the more alfalfa there will be, but the
hay from unirrigated land is less sappy than that which
has been watered. The plant is not liable to winterkill
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 299
here, and on sandy loam and gravel soils the full yield is
attained the second year, while, on heavy soils, it requires
three or four years. I have some that is 20 years old, and
cannot say how long it will yet continue vigorous. There
is difficulty in ridding land of the plant, unless it is
flooded in the winter time. We have usually two cut-
tings each season, with an average yield for each of about
two tons to the acre, although some parts of the land
yield four tons at each cutting. I have found it more
profitable to raise seed than hay, and for this purpose I
prefer the second cutting, using the self-rake, allowing
the alfalfa to lie in small piles until dry, then hauling,
stacking, and threshing, the same'as wheat. The hay lies
about 22 hours in the swath, 24 hours in the windrow,
and one or two days in the cock, after which it is stacked
in large ricks with a horse fork. If properly cured, it
will not mold or heat, as it will if damp. On land valued
at $30 an acre, the cost of the alfalfa, in the stack, is
about $1.50 a ton. The cost of baling is about $2 a ton,
the popular weight for bales being about 100 pounds.
An average yield of seed is from 300 to 500 pounds to
the acre. Threshers take one-sixth toll, and can thresh
about 100 bushels in a day. The common machinery
saves only about two-thirds of the seed. A bushel of seed
weighs more than 60 pounds, and we put 175 pounds in
a two-bushel seamless sack. The average selling price of
the seed is about $3.50 a bushel. I have one piece of
land, containing 60 acres, not irrigated, valued at $30
an acre, from which, for ten years, I have cut one crop
of hay, and one of seed, and realized an annual net profit
of $1000 cash. As compared with clover and timothy
500 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
for feeding farm animals, my opinion is that alfalfa will
fatten quicker, but will not go so far. The pasturage is
profitable and satisfactory for horses and sheep; for hogs,
one acre of it is as good as 24%4 of Red clover, and for
cattle, one acre is as good as two of clover, provided the
land is dry. On wet land, the clover is better for cattle,
and, as to bloating, the danger is just the same from the
two plants. In my opinion, the plant will do well on side-
hills, where the drainage is good, if the land is plowed
deep, and the seed drilled in two inches deep and rolled
with a heavy roller. Once started, the plant lives almost
forever, on any soil, unless the wrong kind of a winter
strikes it. I have an alfalfa root, taken up in digging a
well, that is 21 feet long. The roots of alfalfa are sure to
find the water, if anywhere at all within reasonable reach.
John Jones, Utah county.—I have raised alfalfa 20
years, and now have 250 acres, mostly on sandy loam
upland; have some on bottom land, where it grows too
rank for seed. The subsoil is light clay, with water from
15 to 20 feet from the surface. On land with hardpan
subsoil, it declines after a few years, unless irrigated
often. In digging for water, we find the subsoil begins
to get dry at about 18 inches, and continues quite dry for
8 or 10 feet; then moisture increases until water is
reached. We prepare ground by plowing in the fall, drag
very fine in the spring, and sow as early as the season
will permit, in order to catch the spring rains, using 20
to 25 pounds of seed per acre. Our first cutting is made
about June 20, and is a little weedy, but there are fewer
weeds in later cuttings. We get about two tons the first
cutting, if the stand is good, and about the same the
*
ie
" * > ~e
Nig Set 5 a all
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 301
other cuttings that year; have no trouble here about win-
terkilling ; standing water is injurious to the plant. Here
alfalfa on uplands is watered three or four times each
season; some land needs only one or two floodings, while
other lower lands have no irrigation. After getting a
good start from the seed, we begin watering about May
1, from small mountain streams. The first year requires
water about every week; after that, once a month is
sufficient. For hay, we begin cutting with the first bloom,
obtaining 2 to 2% tons from the first cutting, about 2
the second, and from I to 1% the third cutting; let it lie
about two days before hauling to stack, being careful not
to stack too green. For seed, begin cutting when seed is
ripe, the second crop being considered best. The grass-
hoppers have been troubling the second crop to some
extent, and we have on that acount been cutting the first
crop for seed, using a reaper and separating with a thresh-
ing machine. On a basis of 7 per cent interest on $30
per acre, with five tons of hay per acre each year, it has
cost about $1.55 per ton to raise alfalfa. We estimate $1
per ton for cutting and stacking, and 60 cents per acre
for water tax. It costs $2.25 per ton for baling, 100 to
125-pound bale, the size having no effect as to the keep-
ing of properly cured hay. From 8 to ro bushels is a
fair average seed yield, the cost of threshing and clean-
ing being about 40 cents per bushel. Baled hay is worth
(free on board) about $6.50, and loose, about $4 per ton;
seed sells for about 7 cents per pound. Alfalfa hay is
preferable to timothy or clover, ton for ton, for feeding
without grain; with grain, our liverymen prefer timothy.
We find alfalfa with grain equal to timothy for draft
302 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
horses, but for drivers timothy is preferred. Alfalfa is
considered better than clover by our hog raisers;
it makes good pasturage for horses, and is_ better
than Red clover for cattle. If cattle are kept con-
tinually on the alfalfa, they are not very likely to bloat;
the trouble arises from turning hungry animals on it.
We use a gag, made of a stick about three inches in diam-
eter, to force the mouth open, but sometimes have to
make an opening in the paunch with a knife. Irrigation
seems to improve the quantity without increasing the
quality. The early cut hay has at least 20 per cent more
value than the straw from the seed crop; we have had
very good results from feeding the straw, as it always
contains more or less seed. Alfalfa sown on clay soil,
with hardpan subsoil, gradually dies out after two or
three years; also when water is near the surface; when
the roots reach water too near by, the plant dies. Sown
on good sandy loam, it reaches its best yield about the
second year; on heavier soils, about the third year. We
have alfalfa 20 years old, as vigorous and good to yield
as when started. It is preferable to clover for turning
under, as the large roots make more manure, and the tops
are much heavier. We grow alfalfa on our uplands
without irrigation, but it requires two or three years
to get a start; the first year, it makes a growth of 8 or
10 inches, and wilts; second year, it grows a little taller,
thickens up somewhat, and then, apparently, dies; the
third year, it gains in height and strength, and yields
a good crop, or even two crops, according to the subsoil.
If the subsoil is hardpan, I would not predict the result
as worth the effort. I do not see how Utah would get
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 393
along without alfalfa. I have 100 acres, from which are
cut from 2 to 2% tons of hay per acre, and from 800 to
1300 bushels of seed each year, and it has not been irri-
gated for 15 years. Last year the seed yield was 968
bushels, and the grasshoppers damaged it considerably ;
the seed brought 10 cents per pound on the track here.
We make good beef from the hay alone, and have done
so on the threshed straw.
VERMONT.
Prof J. L. Hill, Director Vermont experiment sta-
tion, in Bulletin No. 114 says that popular interest in
the question of alfalfa culture was never so great in Ver-
mont as it is today. The result of 56 trials at as many
Vermont points are summarized: as, permanent successes,
12; temporary successes, ten; success at outset, eight;
seetning success, five; questionable, seven; failure, 14.
Thirty-six per cent of the trials may fairly be said to
have been a success, and 68 per cent of these were located
in the Champlain valley. Only 10 of the 56 alfalfa
growers appear to have sown more than an acre. It
should be noted that success with a fraction of an acre
does not of necessity imply that an equal degree of suc-
cess would be attained with plantings on larger areas.
The preeminence of the Champlain valley in alfalfa grow-
ing seems to be due to the character of the farming in
that section and to the nature of its soil. Failures may
generally be ascribed to one or more of several unfavor-
able soil or weather conditions, to weeds, to disease, or
to seed which either is inferior or from an unsuitable
source. There seems to be a sufficient proportion of
304 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
successes in the state to justify the encouragement of
further trials. It is equally clear, however, that anyone
planting alfalfa for the first time should not only give
careful heed to the needs of the plant and to the methods
of culture outlined later, but should begin by experiment-
ing inasmallway. The most significant thing developed
by the analysis of the returns to date is that the crop seems
to succeed best in the Champlain valley. Why is this?
Probably one factor, not apparent on the surface, is that .
the men who have succeeded in Addison county are
largely sheep breeders who value the crop so highly in
their special industry that they are willing to give more
attention to its culture than are the dairy farmers. It
should be recalled in this connection, however, that the
evidence reviewed indicates practical success with alfalfa
at Plattsburgh and in adjacent Canadian territory.
Without pressing the matter to a definite conclusion, we
consider two things to be at least strongly suggested and
«worthy to be borne in mind in connection with further ex-
periments in alfalfa culture: (1) The chances of per-
manent success with it are probably better in Vermont
than they are farther south and east in New England.
This may be in part attributable to soil conditions and in
part to climate, the latter being associated with greater
remoteness from the seashore. (2) In Vermont the
chances of success in its culture seem to be greater in the
Champlain valley than elsewhere. The reasons suggest-
ed in the above may apply in explanation of this.
The nature of the geological formations is also worthy
of consideration. It seems not unlikely that the rela-
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 305
tive richness of the soil of this region in lime and potash
and its other chemical and physical characters make it
especially favorable to alfalfa growing.
VIRGINIA.
Prof. Andrew M. Soule, Director Virginia experiment
station.—In Bulletin No. 154 from this station we sum-
marize as follows: Alfalfa is being grown with success
in various parts of Virginia and the indications are that
it will do well in humid climates, providing the soil is
brought into suitable condition for its growth. Alfalfa
has many useful qualities. It yields from three to five
tons of cured hay in a year, and remains on the land for
a long period of time when once well established. It
grows best on deep, open, porous soils well supplied with
vegetable matter. The roots of alfalfa are from five to
15 feet in length, enabling it to draw much of its food
from the subsoil. It thus enriches the land for succeed-
ing crops and opens it up to the action of air and water.
Land intended for alfalfa should be made very rich by
plowing under legumes or applying farmyard manure.
In addition, from 200 to 400 pounds of acid phosphate,
Thomas slag or bone meal, with 100 pounds of muriate
of potash, should be applied per acre. If the land is acid,
which may be determined by testing with blue litmus
paper, an application of 25 bushels of lime should be
made. It is generally best to use the unslaked lime,
which may be applied with a manure spreader, a grain
drill or broadcasted over the land and covered with a
harrow. Land intended for alfalfa should be carefully
cultivated in hoed crops or summer fallowed so as to de-
306 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
stroy weeds, the worst enemy of alfalfa during the early
stages of its growth. Alfalfa may be seeded either fall
or spring. When fall sown it can be cut for hay the next
summer, whereas, the spring sown crop should be clipped
several times during the first season and left to mulch the
ground. Alfalfa seed is sometimes infested with dodder,
which grows as a parasite on the plant. The orange-
yellow threadlike appearance of dodder gives warning of
its presence, and it can be easily destroyed by cutting and
burning if taken at the outset. Alfalfa is frequently at-
tacked by leaf spot in the eastern states. The disease is
easily recognized, as its name indicates, and persistent
clipping will generally eradicate it. The amount of seed
to sow varies, but 20 pounds will answer asa rule. Al-
falfa should be cut for hay when coming into bloom, as
it yields more nutrients per acre at that time, and succeed-
ing crops yield better. Alfalfa is not more difficult to make
into hay than is Red clover. It may also be pastured
to advantage, though there is some danger of bloat, and,
owing to the high feeding value of the hay, it is doubtful
whether it would be good practice to graze it in the East,
except with hogs. Alfalfa being a legume has the power
of assimilating atmospheric nitrogen under certain con-
ditions. It is thus a soil improver. Farmers cannot af-
ford to purchase nitrogen when they can gather it from
the air through the action of leguminous plants. Alfalfa
often fails, even though all the physical conditions seem
favorable, because the bacteria which live in the nodules
on its roots are not present in the soil. This deficiency
may be supplied by getting soil from an old alfalfa field
or from fields where Sweet clover or Bur clover pre-
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 307
viously grew with success, or by means of artificial cul-
tures. The Virginia experiment station, realizing the
importance of alfalfa to Virginia farmers and the dif-
ficulty of securing inoculated soil at a reasonable cost, has
undertaken the preparation of pure cultures which it is
distributing at a cost of 25 cents per acre. Soil inocula-
tion through artificial cultures is still in its experimental
stages, but it seems wise that Virginia farmers should be
given an opportunity to test these cultures at a moderate
cost and determine once for all their real value under
field conditions. The high feeding value of alfalfa has
long been recognized. It is admirably adapted to the
needs of all classes of live stock. It has been fed with
profit to horses, cattle, sheep and swine. It can be so
utilized as to largely take the place of wheat bran and
other expensive concentrates. The plats of alfalfa seed-
ed in the spring of 1904, both on the station farm and on
Brush mountain, show the importance of soil inoculation
and the advantages of using lime and phosphates on land
intended for this crop. From a general review of the
situation it appears that there is no reason why alfalfa,
under good management, should not succeed in many
parts of Virginia.
WASHINGTON.
F. M. Lowden, Walla Walla county.—In 22 years I
have had experience with from 1 to 400 acres of alfalfa,
on bottom, second bottom, and upland, with clay, sand
and loam soils, with subsoil of hardpan and strong alkali
from 18 to 20 inches below the surface, and water at
depth of 18 to 20 feet. The soil is seldom moist all the
way down, the dry soil beginning five to eight feet below
308 THE BOQK OF ALFALFA
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, 25 to 30 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 soak the ground for a few days. New
land requires more water than old, but the quantity
needed is about the same every year. At three years the
plant attains its best yields, and with proper care will not
need reseeding. There are usually three cuttings each
season, with an average of 1% tons to the acre, and I
have known five cuttings. It is mowed for hay when it -
commences to bloom, and for seed any time before the
frost comes, the second crop being best for the latter use.
The seed is mowed, threshed and dried as any other clover
is. The hay should lie before raking until it is thor-
oughly wilted, then cure in cock two or three days. We
stack in ricks 16 to 18 feet wide and any desired height
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 a ton,
The yield of seed is 5 to 10 bushels to the acre, and it sells
for $4.50 to $7.50 a bushel, while hay brings $4, formerly
$8. For threshing, a clover huller is better than the com-
mon 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
RAR ope
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 309
timothy, and equal to clover for cattle, but the seed must
form in it to make it valuable 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 that 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 the same way. It is difficult to plow up alfalfa, but
continued cultivation will rid land of it when desired.
Oscar Drumheller, Walla Walla county.—Have grown
alfalfa for six years, and now have I50 acres, part on
bottom, some on clay, and a part on slightly sandy soil;
subsoil is a thin layer of hardpan; below that a sort of
gumbo, and underneath that a white clay. Abundant
water is found at I0 to 18 feet, moist soil reaching to the
water. Our land requires no special preparation for
alfalfa; manure is spread on weak spots; we sow 20
pounds of seed broadcast, about May Ist, and harrow
once to cover. Some cut it the first year; some years the
crop is not worth touching for either hay or seed; there
is no trouble here from winterkilling. We never irrigate.
The first cutting yields about three tons, the second, about
two and one-half tons, the third, about two tons, and the
fourth, one ton. For hay, cutting should begin when in
full. bloom; we never cut for seed, but the first crop is
best. The season must govern the time for curing,
whether 2 days or 10; it will heat and mold if not dry
before stacking; no choice in size of stacks. On land
worth $40 per acre, it costs about $1.50 per ton to grow
and put alfalfa in the stack; baling costs $1.50 to $2 per
BIG) sis THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
ton, the bales weighing 150 pounds, Alfalfa hay sold for
$12 per ton in 1890, and is now selling for $2.50; seed
sells for Io to 12 cents per pound. For cattle, alfalfa
hay leads all others; for work animals, it is a little
“washy,” but we use nothing else; for pasturing hogs,
one acre of alfalfa is worth two of clover, and it is found
satisfactory for horses and sheep; alfalfa will pasture
more cattle than clover, but is more productive of bloat,
especially on windy days. The best remedy for bloat
is to get the foreparts of the animal on high ground
and splash cold water on its back; when all else fails,
apply the knife to the left side. We prefer unirrigated
hay, which seems firmer and less “washy.” Alfalfa
reaches its best yields about the third year, and will last
20 years; it is not difficult to kill; it is similar to Red
clover for turning under for green manure. All cattle
here are fed on alfalfa hay alone. I have fed cattle in
open yards in December, January, and February, and
made them gain 160 pounds per steer in three months.
If beef on the Pacific coast would bring 3 cents, there
would be no better investment than alfalfa. In 1892,
we sold hay for $60 per acre; to-day it will not sell for a
third of that.
WEST VIRGINIA.
Prof. J. H. Stewart, Director West Virginia experi-
ment station.—Very little alfalfa is grown in West Vir-
ginia. Within the past four or five years some stimulus
has been given it by current publications, etc., but exten-
sive growth has not obtained as yet. The attempts to
grow it on our small farm at the experiment station have
in fact been failures. However, there are a few small
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 3iI
tracts that have done well in portions of the state. Hon.
T. B. Davis of Mineral county and E. W. McNeil of
Hardy county are persons who have been successful. I
am frank to say, however, that the experiences and prac-
tice thus far in this state have not proven it to be a de-
pendable crop.
WISCONSIN.
Prof. R.'A. Moore, Agronomist Wisconsin experiment
station.—Alfalfa is receiving great attention in Wisconsin
and dairymen have been quick to perceive its value.
Through the efforts of the experiment station, alfalfa
seed has been disseminated in every county in the state
and crops have been grown which were highly satisfac-
tory. Experiments at the station show that as much
protein can be secured from one acre of alfalfa as from
three acres of clover, nine acres of timothy or 12 of
Brome grass. In this experiment four cuttings of alfalfa
were secured, two cuttings of clover and one cutting each
of timothy and Brome grass. Alfalfa seed should have
its viability tested before the seed is purchased. Seed
that does not give a germination test of 90 per cent or
above should be rejected. We advise selecting high, well-
drained land inclined to be rolling. A clay loam on a
gravelly subsoil is best suited for growths of alfalfa. Sow
in spring as soon as ground works well, putting on about
twice the cultivation necessary for cereal crops. Where
land is inclined to be weedy, sow three pecks of barley per
acre asa nurse crop. If ground is free from weeds, sow
alfalfa seed without nurse crop, using at least 20 pounds
of seed per acre. Several hundred members of the Wis-
consin experiment association have been carrying on tests
212 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
_—
with alfalfa since 1903, and practically all have succeeded
in getting good fields started. Bacteria-laden soil has
been shipped to members of the experiment association,
who are making tests, with directions for scattering on
a small plot, in order to get the proper bacteria estab-
lished in the soil. The sowing of some alfalfa seed with
clover for the purpose of getting a few alfalfa plants
established as bacteria distributers has been followed with
good success. These lands when later sown to alfalfa
result in good catches. Alfalfa should be cut when one-
tenth is in blossom, and not later than the first week in
September. We look for greatly increased acreage from
year to year as our farmers learn the value of this great
forage plant.
WYOMING.
Asil T. Wilson, Fremont county.—For six years I
have been raising alfalfa on first-bench upland, a gravelly
loam, with a cement subsoil of a lime nature. Water is
found at 40 feet; moist soil is encountered at a depth of
12 feet from the surface, and continues until water is
reached. A depth of one inch for seeding is best. Sow
in early spring. If alfalfa and timothy are sown together,
sow 20 pounds of the former to 6 of the latter; if alone,
20 pounds of alfalfa. No weeds will trouble; cut either
crop for hay ; the first crop for seed. Watering after the
last cutting will cause alfalfa to winterkill. Irrigate as
early as possible, if dry, and whenever getting dry, also
about five days before cutting; the soil being moist after
cutting, the next crop will start up quickly. The larger
the quantity of water used the better, if it runs off quickly.
We obtain water from a stream. After the first year I cut
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 313
twice, obtaining two tons each cutting. I cut for hay
just as it comes into bloom, as it is not so woody
and more leaves are saved. The first cutting is prefer-
able for seed. When cutting for seed, wait until the curls
get wet filled and black; put it into cocks and thresh when
dry. Alfalfa hay should be cut one day and raked the
next; then cock, and let it stand two or three days before
stacking ; by so doing all the leaves are saved, and it cures
in the cock so there is no danger of molding in the stack.
My alialfa in stack costs $1 per ton, from land valued at
$5 per acre. Irrigation costs 20 cents per acre. Baling
costs $3 per ton, 150 pounds in bale. Seed yields six
bushels per acre; threshing costs $1 per bushel. Prices
for hay have ranged from $5 to $10 per ton, and $7 per
bushel for seed. Alfalfa hay is equal to clover or timothy
for farm animals. For swine pasturage it is better than
clover ; one acre will pasture 10 head of swine, gaining one
pound per head each day. For horses and sheep it is good,
and as good for cattle as clover, but dangerous, as they
bloat and die. The best yields on upland are from three to
five years after seeding; and, if watered at proper inter-
vals, it willlast 20 years. There is no difficulty in ridding
land of alfalfa; plow it late in the fall, level it down and
mark it, then water, and let it freeze up in winter. Alfalfa
for green manure is as good or better than Red clover.
Without plenty of rain, I would not recommend growing
alfalfa in any locality. Seed raised from alfalfa thin on
the ground is best.
John H. Gordon, Laramie county.—During the past 10
years, I have had from Io to 200 acres of alfalfa on sec-
ond bottom and upland, with sandy loam from two inches
314 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
to six feet deep, and below this soft rock, water being
found at depths of 20 to 200 feet. I plow or break the
soil the first year, and raise a crop of wheat or oats; the
second year plow deep, sow about half a crop of oats,
and when this is well harrowed, sow 20 pounds of alfalfa
seed and cover it about two inches deep. To get the best
results, this seeding is done about April 1st, and there is
no trouble here with weeds. In cutting the grain, the
alfalfa is cut off too, but it does not grow tall enough for
hay the first year. The plant does not winterkill, and
reaches its full yields by the third or fourth year; I have
found no necessity for reseeding any of my land. We
irrigate from streams, the quantity of water used depend-
ing on the season. There are generally three applications
of water, about six inches each time. After the first two
cr three years, only about half the quantity used at first
will be needed. After the first year I cut twice, and
obtain about 1%4 tons to the acre each time. The first
crop is best for seed, and is harvested when the top bolls
are dead ripe, raked the day after cutting, bunched for
two days and then stacked, to be threshed with the com-
mon threshing machinery, putting through twice. Five
bushels to the acre is a common yield of seed, and the
cleaning and threshing cost 50 to 75 cents a bushel. The
hay is cut when the greater part is in bloom, allowed to
lie about a-day before raking, cured about three days,
and then stacked, 14 to 16 feet wide, 60 feet long, and
20 feet high. It does not seem to heat or mold here. The
total cost in the stack is about $1.50 a ton, and baling, in
100-pound bales, costs $2 a ton. Selling price of loose
hay in this section is $5 a ton, and the seed, 10 to 12 cents
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 315
per pound in the market. The straw is worth about as
much as the hay for feed. I am well satisfied with the
general results of growing alfalfa here, and am now pre-
paring 200 acres for seeding. Where it will grow well,
it is the best forage plant ever discovered, being good
feed for cattle, hogs, sheep, fowls, and, in fact, all ani-
mals on the farm, while as a fertilizer it cannot be sur-
passed. But one cannot do anything with it if there is
not sufficient moisture to raise wheat or oats.
INDEX
PAGE
Alabama, alfalfa in ....... 16
Experiments ....c.ce.s.201
Alberta, alfalfa im... 6.662
ACGCHMALON oc. 6 30 6 ea 8,
Acid soil, test for .........
Unfavorable aber 44, 20K
Acreage, too great ........ 87
Address, Professor Spill-
BEDE TE TS) osai'as aceeie-e eee ce lea" ehe
eee, eganietavelere
OD) 00, a7" 39, 40
Africa, oe rea introduced... 2
South, alfalfa in ....... 15
Agricultural Departmen L
bulletin .... woe
Agriculture, Stover’s;, “hay-
ERTS e aheile alate Nees eA Oe
Agrostologist’s | opinion .... 9
Air shaft in mow ........ 95
Alaska, hay for .... eeceee .104
JeOhariboeubace) (6 cae ae een 22
Alfalfa fields 200 years old. 5
Alfalfa, fails ‘there’ ...... 51
PVESCTIPtION: ok s:.ccc es vee
Below sea lével .......
Improves land values ...
Wnizin of Name ... cscs
@bicction: to. oso... 6.-.. 18
Preparations | .s.c6s ss... 182
Is ‘‘queen”
Replaces other legumes.151
SVILOTVINIS er cie sic cee etece ane . 4
BAUEULITY ONS avcta tele cress srooexielsiale one 185
Alfilaria, merits of
Alsike and alfalfa
DANOCOS sass ciclesios cee
ANALYSES COMM a os o'c-scerk wee
SEE | DRE an aR ee ea MERON RE
PML MERE GS! eteve ters 7% cis eiocelcr nels OL
Ware cis sistohetetaisilent
Animals, keep off ‘field Sem Al
Annual manuring ........ 70
Appetizer, alfalfa as an ..125
Apples and alfalfa to-
POCHEM = essere fe deve efals pee:
Arabian seed, imported ... 8
Arapahoe County, Colo-
TOON asi ee . 243
Argentine Republic, ‘alfalta
in eeereeeeeeeeeeseneses
PAGE
Arizona, alfilaria in .......227
Experiments .........8, 233
Army worm
Asiatic seed introduced ...
Assimilative restrictions
Avery, Prof. S.,
TALIM OP Gig avstenetorsrs ahay sa
Bacteria, cowpeas in-
CEBAGGy:, cicul nate siele eres asta
Humus helps ........... 61
In some soils ..........- 61
in MOd nlesis is sis wavcte ens
Introducing ......46, 50, 51
Introducing se CET ees
Lacking, failure result... 66
Need:-nitrogén) o.0 ese.
Not fertilizers .......
ONnCOowDpeds Tass e ee AO
Spread on farm ...
Bale, hollow ....
eeees
te laeiete sie iereeetle
Bales, heating ........ Sie scl OF
Loading. se m Sure eccha twinks 105
Poor. prices: tor) 3sa0 eek 104
Round 22a eens 104
SIZES. Se Haaeiereloseni teres 104
Shipping) <2 isthe eee ok OF
Baling =. RCO Ot 102
New Mexico AR aces
Machine, new ..........105
SPACE Saved. s iciwie cess 105
Rarley as nurse crop ...... 58
Leaves weeds ........... 59
Bare spots restored ....... 71
Barn; Storie sates ccna ke Aa Bs
Beachy = C24 Weiss whe eotee 248
Beadle County, South Da-
Oban ed cite ieeic atone 294
Beak on trefoil seed ...... 39
Beef, balanced ration for ..135
Cheap western ......... 142
MTG oak siete sce eee cheese 138
Yield to acre ......130, 131
Bees and alfalfa ....... 12, 175
Belgium, alfalfa intro-
duced ... Snetevera eis
Berry, J. W., storing stetehe eee
IMO WEE 4.0.55 ok nates cetle want 219
Blackshere, J. R., report. .260
Blake, John, experiments. .233
318
Bliss, D. S., report .... es
Bloat, lambs do) NOt ste...2.eoees
Utah, irrigation’ ..o3.neee
Vermont: 9. ..3.s..005 0p
Virginia. \..'./0. «ane 305
Wyoming, ‘fertilizing
value a) asasal si. toer oye) samen
Bulletins, various hay com- .-
position ...
Buncher Be
Burnett, Prof. E. A., di-
mensions of ton ......229
eeeeteeseese
Burning weeds ........... 69
Bushel weight ........... dL
Butter fat, cost ..... se os «30
Butter, the marketable
product (.:.ic.ceemes wane ae
Buyer’ to blame; > .oeees
- 41
Buying soil, necessity of .. Gt
Dangers of
Not necessary .......... a
Cache County, Utah ......298
California, alfalfa intro-
UCC” < oie jects Se 0) 0; 5) etek
Guttinge: jint) cues PP ntsc,
Eleven cuttings ........ 10
Experiments ........
Feeding alfalfa alone ..
Sheep fattening
nator County, New Jer-
eeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeee eeeeeeee
sey
Canada, alfalfa. in... .c scene
Time tO SOW. «a6. oss
Canadian Northwest yield. 14
Cannula for bloat ........11¢
Cape Colony, alfalfa in.....15
Capons on alfalfa .........187
Carbohydrates and fats in-
terchangeable .......-
Function of.......
Not replace protein .....
In excess...... |
Properies sae sens iste eee
RULES! os cour rye.
Stack o '\'8, © ere conaneheveustaiees Me
IPESE ois tore sae eieioneenht
Wtaharncrocss 0:3 oe een 299
Washington | .s. see ees
Windrow ° .2%.c.ce-smemieereen
Cuscuta Qrvensi8 ..scccccree 42
a epithymum, ....42, 207
Cut for Cows: ©. sm eestcieias eta
Cutting after rainwear
Before or after irriga- oe
THON 1c oe \aile opeioial leiatanetsuaeeaa
Colorado) 2 «<< sire stele eipertpe ne
Dates, Utah is. sen Alecia &
Dificultiesin humid clim-
BEOU. occa teree RR ESPN sc |
Banlyooccmen ’ s. sketejare everelareremeean:
Early, objections seorte .. ‘89
Early, Professor Cottrell
QUOC) ici wrencretoleteterererata
Einsilage first... scenes ou
First, not for seed...... 8&9
For silo .....2+20+ LOK, 102
IST eOQUeNES i cre oyeislvreleleretetens
In), DIOOMM.© © oicisie ctw eivierersvarstenes
Kansas i... scchremishenieeeoe
Montana see. sencrnete sy eeeae
Number of times ...... 89
RULES vorerevs esecctencte oa h ote ha eeoe
Seed time... « scien ieetar oo
2
. experiments
INDEX
PAGE
Cutting, Continued
Second, for seed ....... 92
Third, for seed .... 91
ATION oie istaseleieeyae Us "82, 89
LOER A Bes aiacigine o ters a eDOL
Clover and alfalfa com-
TIAGO GM otc) olsen ayevevcieliels +: $320
Early, most protein in.. 81
Nine @ year ......---
Number in Alabama ....231
Number in California ...
Relative values ........ "127
Six or more under irriga-
tion 42,
Time between
Two preferred .......
bits glomerata with al-
falfa
Damp hay, storing .......
Dampness in mow .....--
Dangers in irrigation .....
Danger from dampness...
Dairy cow, balanced ra-
tion’... Rap oL ets.
Dairy interests enhanced. .2
Products in South ...
MANTICHY ITAITA: ccc cece . 26
Dairying, alfalfa in ....... 143
Davis, Hon. T. B., alfalfa
in West Virginia ..... 3
Dawley, F. E., dodder ...
De Jarnette, J. B., experi-
ments
Pigs, death rate reduced ..155
Deer Lodge County, Mon-
tana Sisi aleve valaters.s
Defective alfalfa seed .... 33
Delaware, experiments ....248
Seed! for. ..c.. he ao
Department of eericulture
. 24
88
eeeeereere
eeeoeeererere 1
eeeeeerceee
eee
esereeee
eeeeeee
. Buying soil . 62
Imports Asiatic seed | See |
Hog raising ............160
Depth Toots! EO .s.ccsces. G
Description of alfalfa .... 5
Desert, alfalfa in Nevada,
eaoerereseeeseseeesese r
Dew on hay, effects ...... 85
Dextrine losses in hay .... 81
Dickson, W. H., experi-
EIVETLUS dictate leis iaieicicnsievsie res
iOS of growing in
@eeesreesesesesene
Reduced by fall pO WIRES
' Digestible matter to acre.
| Digestive restrictions .....
| Dimensions to ton ........229
Diseased soil for inocula-
I
GEO MMe cteeteta le tele afoherers ts avers 62
PISKIME Ww cievasteleccisheorelatee ia 70
After freshets .......... 44
After turnings s¢ sess 6209
BOneHts {Ole ecitre cis sicleisvetens
Each spring ... :
Fields after cutting siaiele
Overcomes failure ...... 71
SpHtS (CrOWNS! Nacd aces
To kill weeds ..... 59
District of Columbia, yield
ET are os aca eee eshe oats 14
Distribution of alfalfa : 13, 14
Dodder, annoying enemy..206
Gut, with scythe cease eto
Destroying, Alabama 1232
Hradicating., vis. mcseee elo
BFS F=3 ce Eh of -cuae inet Rae eee GE) ahd 207
In alfalfa nocd Sidioeie ere 32, 35
WAP EINIAY veloc hetarete eve cietetears 306
Most dreaded beac ebe Rp
Objectionable impurity.. 42
Seed described ......... 41
Seed not adulterant .... 42
Seed removing ......42, 91
SDFeEaAdiney. ..jetmeisars co ajeaeioOO
Toi get rid! Of). 224. 42
Dodson, Prof. W. R., alfal-
fa for Louisiana era & 3
RG6DOFrtaoeten es. Peel slate eee Soe
Donaldson, L., report .....296
“Don ts) | ae. Aa AT
Double compression eos lOe
Downing, Jacob, experi-
WNOUCS veleicialere Sistaleletaiela
Drainage necessary ....... 18
Drenching animals .......122
Drill seeding ees ee ecteae OD
Favored by Spurrier .... 67
Drumheller, Oscar, report.309
‘Pry, lands /alfalfaycisceetc creo
Dry. matter in) cori) 32... 22
Drying out, danger of soil.
Dugegar, Prof. J. F., Ala-
bamia os sas ek oo eoL
Dunn, George W., report..288
Dyeing with alfalfa seed.. 32
DYING (Outs...) ais Picasa ee 221
Earthworms encouraging... 46
322 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
PAGE
Economy of alfalfa .......151
Of alfalfa in dairying ..149
Of balanced ration .....134
Of Mabon. coe ceekee cele 2D
Of Toot. growth) oi<\.5 20 - 6
Hight cuttings in Louis-
LENIN Ag Sroveis eis cvevokesehencioneceretets . 14
Highty feet to ‘water’ are ie (anon a
Elements specially needed 65
Eleven cuttings a year .... 10
Elgin dairyman praises al-
TAIL A reve cvetejess tense nlebeteiod:
PINGMIGS cccce bec cise ee cco aeteeUO
EnSilinige y eeieccstacieiatce aro ecisr20O
FEANSAS ev ievessreievererese Sepa tay |
England, growing in .....261
Alfalfa introduced .....
Examination of soil ......
Example of success ...... 17
Exhibition stalk, large ....
Experiment stations dis-
favor nurse-—~~..2..... 59
Favor inoculation ...... 60
Export alfalfa hay .......104
FIX DOrtS, ISCOGS Laensicle cose 31
Erf, Prof. Oscar, alfalfa for
COWS cacao mae wkeibek Gis 149
Erodium citcutarium ........227
Essentials of growing ..... 44
Cf preparing soil ....... 46
Evaporation in curing .... 88
In VMGWis eerie. Oe 97
Failures, because not cut.. 69
CAUSES OFWs A aictelerars Savarohors 220
DUS CtOrswieeGS) esis viel se arene 48
Ofreseed! Vere aiwsvaete . 80
Overcome by disking ... 71
Redeeming ........ Sie not)
TO? DOVEXPeCtE! ok se) we cies 201
Fairchild, D. G., Arabian
SEEM sn aaitee he ea eS 8
Fall sowing .... . 49, 52, 53
Mannings mill 9.0.60 o5 Saar
Fanning removes dodder .. 42
Farr, Aaron F. Jr., re-
DOTU Soaps aoe ak ke es
Fat and carbohydrates in-
terchangeable ........135
EM COMT Fah taiel tees each cere
ED AY. EG eh arevent dee enaieiaearen iets 76
Not replaceable | by pro-
115) 6 0 Le Ae Bis ate onctohate . 136
Fats in excess ...... Sie LOO
_ Lacking in) alfalfa (2.02. 12125
PAGE
Fattening with corn un-
profitable So. Gn eee
Farming, character altered. 17
Farmers’ Assistant men-
tions! alfalfa. (ii. scat
Farms, fruit, alfalfa on ... 17
Feed, quality. ....\.css smeeae
Value, fodder crops ....126
Values, various ........145
Feeding alfalfa alone ....148
Before pasturing .......110
Colorado © i051 a vesteesicecn eee
Cows economically .....152
Economical western ....142
Experiments for milk ..184
Hogs, Nebraska .......159
Tests Witee s aia oh ated oa eaearae eee
Tests, Hog PN AOI C
Tests, Kansas atte
Tests, Nebraska .......- 139
Tests, various cuttings .. 81
Tests}: Utah.’ .).ishe. tao
Waste: cin’ i268 oe. 3) cto
Value, Arizona
Value, California ....
Value, Colorado .......247
Value, Idaho tice ey
Value; Kansas! jeneeeee 259
Walue, tah * as.
Value, Various cuttings. 88
Value, various crops ...132
Feedstuffs, analysis ...... : 126
Fertility, best means of im-
DOV is aes aera.
Increased by cowpeas... 48
Robbed by nurse crops.. 58
Fertilization by bees ..... 177
Fertilizers, Alabama ..231, 232
Specially needed ....... 65
Fertilizing, Georgia ......250
Mirgeinian: otek Sipe epptanetonetes les
Mong, Island: /..2 50s POG tet
Fescue, meadow yields ... 21
Festuca elatior with al-
falfa: 0's. ch ea cuaraiene ere
Hibers in| Corn eee bic, artoretee
Fields disked after cut-
tings h%
Of alfalfa 200° years. old. . &
Old, in South Carolina... 9
Old; tine West *-5= = cose eee
Fire for weeds .........-. 69
Preventing’ i... sleet Oo
Fires caused by wet hay .. 97
Occur; when vii se eee
ny
INDEX 323
PAGE PAGE
Fires, Continued Graham, Thomas o -» e@X-
Professor Cottrell dis- periments ..... SuheamaebeD
CUSSES' cesesccccccccece Grain and alfalfa “ com-
RAVE. oe ca cciceee ear PATCH ese wannte o> a ee OL
WiGsh sfOrMiine ty ecicietcisleieee DL Encourages weeds ...... 59
Flooding at critical time.. 73
RN ELOCES ie iaieia'o.o ee wleles ule 6 6s
For second crop ....... 72
Floor, loose preferred for
BLOFINE) cc dcieicicisiess cscs
Florida, alfalfa in ........ 15
Fodder corn, feed value...145
Crops, feed value of .....126
Fodders, values of va-
ROIS cote ainsi) shais)s arporcy
Fort Collins lambs .....
Foster, Prof. L., cuttings..128
Foxtail, keeping down ....112
France, alfalfa introduced,
Mee dia eee Wine ee .€ «5.60.06 hy
Oldest fields in ......... 5
PRECdUTEOMDE te oe ccee st eos
Fraser, W. J., aah for
PCOWSE Ts ccetaieressic cs ne
‘Fraud in alfalfa seed | BAS on OO
Freshet, disking after .... 44
Freshets, effect ....... .e. 44
Freezing effect on soil ....
Harm: from (..'..
Freezing soil for seeding <
Fruit farms, alfalfa on ... 17
_ Raising, alfalfa in .....223
Fullerton, H. B., report ..285
Furnas County, Nebraska.272
Garman, Prof. H. report..263
Gaylord Farm Sanatorium,
Georgia, experiments .....250
Germ killed .... deere ek
Germany, seed from ...... 32
Germinability, storing im-
; i Se ee See eee tess
Germination, conditions in-
HTTEMCINE te «teers o te/ein's's
Test seed for ......2..0. 29
Gila River irrigation, 234, 280
Ginther ©. M., report ....254
Gib ts; T., report ........279
Gluten meal, feed composi-
TIT O'S Sotoleis ie cla siaja/eicle;>
SMA CER | hss asa oe es bet Ok
erry al ae eee beer aes Pak)
Gophers injure alfalfa ... "212
Grades and grading hay.. 105
Grange meeting at Mr.
Workers): si cadcale eee le
Grant County, New “Mexico, 's
Grasses ‘and alfalfa com-
DATE Glan wee Sei Scores
Grass, destroying mre fire. “ca
Bin FS So ietotetereints CR ei |
Preceding alfalfa ....... 50
Protein: Vahiewessack sels
Grasses in pastures ......116
With ralfaliay cs... cc bids
Grasshoppers ....... .216
Gravel, alfalfa on ... “V15, 18
Greece, alfalfa taken ‘to. 1
Grinding, time and power
TEQUITEG:! (cc gets cies Se kes
Growth after cutting ..... 21
Delayed by cold water.. 73
From imported seed ... 80
ears soil, alfalfa suc-
eeds Bae
Habitat of ‘alfalfa shee rete:
Influence
Habits altered by locality. - 28
Farm, changed by al-
Falta Vs stectceeo ks wie eerawe
Handling Hay, osernsise cs hale Oo
Little advisable
Manna, ‘SC bloat 2.2.0.6 2d10
Hansen, Prof. N. E. in
AISI tere a dctctatorvece ia ole 7
Harrow, common not disk,
Harrowing after “cutting... 24
To kill weeds .....ceeee. 59
HIATVvOWS ho tis ae AGisleioe ome AO
Hartman and Weil, ‘report, .
Harvest, "dates “Utah Ser aelectee:
Barly for Hogs .......+. 100
Harvester, Acme ........261
Etarvestine « a siccicteieces cemecee eo
BY: SUOGIS flac aclaiele sae seek
Few: ‘and «many i072 odo s<05 83
Humid climates ........ 82
Tike: Jeralne see cee Shoe
Loss of leaves .......... 80
Operations, time be-
EWCCON:: co sssleeas nee S ook
324 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
PAGE
Harvesting, Continued
Seed @eeeeeeeoeoeveeeeeee eevee 89
THING ee dete alas eieipieinieters sole OU
Time to begin ........+. 82
Hawaii, hay for .........104
Hay and silage compared, 102
Association, National,
TACOS, iateve cloister suave
Association, Spillman’ s
BAATESS) | Sekerele ais ctesaietetece
Baling, California |... . 240
Composition depends on
WHALER foreleceisrciceiare) aueyetereie eked
Weed Value pisses aieeiasloted 20
Kirst: Season nyse srcleyere tie Oo
Grades to vetien ie serene OD
Ins omMow, swatch os. .asseOk
In windrows ........... 84
Lying in swath ......... 84
Making, Arizona .......200
Making, losses in ....... 82
Meal cheaper than baled, |
Measuring in stack eenioeees
Noneyaninv i. eicteie cia rineccn vee
Poorly cured, value .... 87
Preserved, color ....-.. 94
Prairie and alfalfa com-
pared ..140, 141, 148, 150
Prairie, composition ....136
Prairie, dimensions of
toni ee. Peau anol
Prairie, feed "value selene p45
WV INTS NOLAN Aeteveds oe, chaversieceters ceOue
Values, Arizona ........200
Various, and alfalfa com-
DATO! Wale overs ele ciciemeries L45
Yield to acre, Utah ..... 78
Hay-caps, advantages ..... 85
OSCTIPSE i ersielele ereve olelatstele
Favor baling ...........103
Humid regions ......e.«.
SIZEMOL Ma civic eleluie/eyal cl cisvet ote 6
WSS MOLY decleiisieleere cus 86, 89
Haying, time between op-
ETATLONS a c.cdoreiwnclieeeeror
Hay-loader, belt ......... 88
Headden, Prof. W. P., stub-
ble Value .cccccccccece
Long TrootS cescocecvcce
Gurnee vacveicis icin evejehorstele poe
Seed estoring c.sicce cee een
Heating, prevent in tran-
sl eeeoeeeveeveeveeeeeeeeeee
__ Seed @eoveveereeseeoeeeseoese 31
PAGH
Heating, Continued
Seed stack ele store's erpielecenstenenen
Stack eeeoereeeeeevev eevee eee 90
Heaving, danger of ...... 5O
Heizht,"normal 2chiaesceceee
Highmore forage testing
SUATION! | se i< ci cicie eterateicrsee
Hill, Prof. J. L. report ...303
Hillman, Prof. F. H., dod-
der . oe eae
Hitchcock, As Se paled al-
falta) ie kiciccsc eee e 104
Feeding alfalfa alone . 148
Quoted on irrigation .... 7
H oer. Gov., brood sows ..155
e eeweeeceoeveeeeeeeaeeee
Rotation! » oi ackijsoes wena
Hoard’s Dairyman, economi-
eal butter side feo .144
Hogs, alfalfa or blue grass
LOT ob diexesstenrn teen
Balanced ration for « areje) oleae
Cut early. for...) 5226 s8eGo
Food for fattening ..... 46
Kansas: ices s .155
Like alfalfa ... /23, 154, 237
Over stocking with .....161
Pastured on surplus
ACTES: | ss, dccticoak aoe
Pasture fOr jee) -foiclee sol Os
Hollingsworth, J. H.
Honey from alfalfa ... ale "178
Hoove, See Bloat.
Hopper dozer ......c....-.n16
KANSAS) ® é civisia ores cre eictareten ee Le
Prof. ‘S.J. Hunter)... cei
Hopkins, Prof. C. G., pot
cWltures © 55.20.28) eee
Report Wilk esc OS oe
Hog raising, Kansas ......161
Horse raising, Ohio ......166
Raising i 2/c's so) 1 OD, Ge
Horses, alfalfa for work ..166
Alfalfa for driving ......167
Cheap feed for ........188
Injure pasture .........109
On ‘pasture, ..2).c5520 ee
OVeEr£e (sie aid y diss sreralneleles
Thrive on pasture .....109
Humus favors bacteria ... 61
Hunter, Prof. S. J., hopper
GOZEN © eis ve is oe eee
BOGS § 6 2)5.5:0. 6 eve csnie aie eee een
Idaho, experiments .......251
Italy, alfalfa introduced .. 1
i
INDEX
PAGE
Illinois, alfalfa in ........ 16
Fixperiments >. c/s cicieiieiee's 200
Feeding cows in
Pot culture experiments,
GSU LOD ie sys ce/eie ceieid cies 20
Imported seed .........30, 31
Impurities in seed .....32, 33
Income, alfalfa, 22, 23, 25, 26
Indiana, experiments .... ‘254
PYG TED heise ease a) sis ayeierersieelieee
PRTOCTS “SOU. -.ois/c csee ce ssa G0
Injuries from lime ........ 66
Inoculation, Alabama ....232
Any method ee --..199
Daneers+OL kas. ts AAGY
Seed not needed
Failures expected
WTINOS) 6..5,.<
. 64
Haseeaeot
seaoihn 254
eo eee
TON ISIANG) ic c's ac. cele ices 23d
Massachusetts .......60. 266
Methods various ........ 63
Necessary ....c.cee000-- 200
Not dike. magic... 6% 3. 202
WIG sEHEOrY <5 kot cc a ccle ended
Soil, not needed ........ 64
Soil, Sweet clover ......202
Unnecessary ......
Mii be 2) (eee ee SAAS
With diseased soil ...... 62
Insects carried by soil .... 63
MM PSCCUS® sre seis cae: welehce hark
Introducing on farm ..... 28
Iowa, experiments ........ 257
eat. spot) in) .22s-a OF Sera |
PAS OTA Ns). ses, caccteleie LOS
SEGUMITON) fatete's:4 2)s 66 che etouee 29
Spring sowing ......
Irish, C. W., depth of root
growth
Irrigation after cutting....
ATTA fa “WNC :.2...osNau
peared. hn
INDEX
PAGE
Mangels, feed value ..126, 145
Protein value ........-.. 133
Manitoba, alfalfa in ....14, 15
Mammoth clover yields ... 21
Manure before seeding ... 64
Manuring: .2...c.0.2cs0s
Wheat land for alfalfa .. 48
Mare, : ini for brood,.
ES OE RIIOe as 5, "169
Marketing Se toiaiaieeed araaierete 137
eee L. W., experi-
RTH IUE SOR eS acct eis sis ais pe aay
a iacd, alfalfa; tn 's.cci sete
S feels Gabife s Oh Peas cee ORI 29
Massachusetts, analyses,
TOV Dare ena. 6 eh alel eye aisle olienae ma
Pxperiments ........- . 265
WratthicGs: SOD cs ccc seca 248
Maximum yield, .irriga-
GION EG ict ava etete's oss) = ove -nliete.e
Maury County, Tennessee. .296
Mayo, Prof. N. S., bloat ..115
i rat end George E., re-
GEtariele's . 294
McNeil, E. w., “succeeds” in
WIEST VATEINIA, “ccs « o\010:s Bil
Meadow fescue and alfalfa
COMPAared ..wcceeesoees
Fescue and alfalfa
elt srd so oicein es eicyettigce © 21
Meal, Prof. ce phcanied opin-
ions. EieDS aife:ts . 183
Superior to hay Paine bs, fed
Sown with seed ........ 56
Meat production in South. 14
Medicago denticulata, bac-
PETIA he sesenaiers SOO OnE oor 60
ef HOVIIUG wtaheta ee ecclciers ath ae!
se media RS 76
es ROL ae alereletalevele ave t
Medicine Hat, yield ...... 14
eee black, an adulter-
eaters, fifty species daiwa,
Meeting at Mr. Worker’s.. 18
Melilotus, bacteria on .... 60
Merrill, Prof. L. A., fed
Liv@igsise og pen Oboe 168
On cuttings ..... Eros Rite 128
Mexican fields, old ....... 5
ete Oe alfalfa introduced
ANA TIE) LOD s)s)e/cl coictsie nate 228
MG WATE pistes ace) crdcis lai 2. 244
Michigan, experiments ....267
327
PAGE
Middlesex County, New
DEVSEV or sare cee wemeteiele
Middlings, food value .....132
Milk, alfalfa in making ...143
Balanced ration ........135
Costlofe2allons weclee over. 150
Flow increased .........152
TNGSES# 2 aitel are bani te lone ierstohegere 143
The marketable product,
Set tate tote oe seatouses Tee arama te 574
Value an acre ...... ...144
Yield increased .........146
Yield, pasture and soil-
ENO ae ea ces bi ite hare cme 123
Miller, Henry, experiments,
Miller, Prof. M. F., report. 269
Millet, alfalfa sown with.. 51
And alfalfa Mare
Ae a a ptt ible tea 146, "148
As preparatory CLOD alo te
Before reseeding ...... hat (2
Best to precede alfalfa.. 49
Between potatoes ant al-
falfa skates
Fed with alfalfa ......
Good to precede
Feed value .......
Protein value ........ Selo
Minimum water to apply.. 77
Minnesota, experiments ...268
Field, Old ...ccccccccces
Seed for ; Rae
Spring sowing .......... 55
"Tinted EG SOW sie e ceoisreiede ats 2
DV ACLG ADS Plate tale jest) eloiein seins 14
Missouri, alfalfa in ...... 16
Experiments ......++- . -269
Wall? SOWANE «ise ais) otsienel ts SB!
Moisture absorbed by straw
Conserved faye seed- pe
adulterated with
With alfalfa: sere crete ccyele . 185
Mold, prevent in stacks... 90
Moldy seed ....-.ceeeeoees 27
Monmouth County,
METSSy tacrestate oh aps cteiete 2.219
Montana, experiments..... 270
Pasturing sheep ........114
Seed .. ae bila
Sheep fattening Beaute ln eADE
Molasses,
328 THE BOOK
PAGE
Moore, Dr. G. T., breeds
DACTEHIAT ccleteeltis oles
Moore, Prof. R. A., report. itl
Morgan, Prof. H. A., re-
DOLE Aes cle tice homeo
Mortgage lifter Pelctiaeirte eters oh eke
IMVOW:, OTITES * S.ltorcte's wis ie Sth eieang 99
SCOT) Vets cere 95
Mower not favored for seed
DATVESEH Soe alee eee oe 90
Mowing, early ....... Heanionte-a
For yellow leaf ........ 67
Improves stand ......... 67
in’ wet) SCASOM! J..s shes 6 OS
May ber wrongs.) so. SalGs
Mulch not needed ........ 68
“Musts’”’
National Hay Association,
erades tab fiat ae eLOG
Neale, Dr. Arthur F., re-
DOLE Ae ce eee sisi weg eee
Nebraska, alfalmo ........185
Alfilarian fOr vase ee eh hoe eLS
Comparative yields ..... a
Curing niarotelaysronareiere teks
Experiments ...2.s-coce 213
Mall (SO WINS ccc cislelevcicis. ace
Feed tests). .../... cE ees 139
Hog feeding test ........159
Hopper dozer <......+.-2i6
Lamb feeding ...... Sic C4
Lands, values increased..204
Profit) :..s- A eer Oey ay
Sand Will's) eo cee Salersiete 15, ay,
Seed erates ees £20
Sheep fattened .... Ti, 205
Soilingr (oe. cciens RAED SCS,
Spring) Sowing |. .'.0... +. 04
Stock feeding ..........103
Work shorses fed) @ 2.5.2 42166
Nebraska Farmer, on cut-
tinge hee beatrovelaterene . 69
Hebraske Farmer, various
fields Biorckatts
Nelson, J. P., report ......279
Nematodes in soil ....... . 62
Nevada, alfalfa in ........ 14
Alfalfa, on eee Eee
LATA) ejeeiete nie Sop als}
Deserts, alfalfa " succeeds
DTA ate Spee nis ave ve wyese erohel eteters
New Brunswick, alfalfa un-
HO WAT DMS cis islet stots aie
New England, cutting .... 89
DOCH SLOLPe cicicie crete eveteloleicie.s
OF ALFALFA
PAGE
New England, Continued
Solling’ i. 0scss. cee eee
Success aa tle lela 's'elela OEE
New Hampshire, experi-
ments. Scscute ovaleteratanaie
New Jersey experiments...277
Hay composition ?..5))9946
Mill bOSte bie: d sic a whore ecient eee
Heed: ‘values! ys... se se needle
Plant food to acre ......192
peed for’ sec eeee
Yields of clover ...... 20
New Mexico, alfilaria for . 1228
Experiments ......... 0
New Milford, Connecticut. '248
Seed, new preferred ...... 30
New York, alfalfa intro-
duced). 3 6.6.).26 ee eee
Alfalfa success 20.2556 ole
Dairymen claim profits. .144
Experiments <. sccle se eee
Lands improved ........ 26
Old ‘field; 2585045 Ree
Seed: for! < 55.0: ofs-etene
Soiling advisable ...... .124
New York Station rota
CLrOpS+ eee snaese 13 6126
Newman, Prof. C. Ts res
DOP Bedi: Sleticonste see
Nitro-cultures :. 22... heecse
Nitrogen from roots ...... 10
HM rom, -soilé 225.44
Gathered). (sci. sea oe
Gathered by cowpeas .. 49
Not néeded 25.0 0...02 2910
Old plants need none 118.3 400
Robbed by nurse crop .. 58
Specially needed ........ 65
Sustains bacteria ....... 60
Nobbe, discovery of bac-
LOPia sae ee oa) bate) oreeede eee
Nodules formed ........ 7s 180)
North Carolina, experi-
MeNtS), -s sisclecs carte eee
North Dakota, experiments
Turkestan alfalfa \.tiaeniee
Nova Scotia, alfalfa un-
KM OW, “usec cis errant
Nurse crop, effects of cut-
ting alfalfa .c.\.sceese aoe
TOWa ss sco sbstoee eels te are neey
Or (NGET Sees eee aos
Nutrient values, various ..145
Oat grass yields .......... 21
Ses) Sta Se hy me Dye te Seine pas:
ae
e
Plier hain Sion a
Cet
wnt
INDEX
PAGE
Oat hay, analysis .........
And alfalfa compared
Feed value ....... Heh RRA 295
Gat straw feed value .....
Protein value 5
Oats, sown with alfalfa ... Ka
And peas, feed value.
@eeeereeceeeeese ee o ots),
TAS SNUTSE | CLOP sec vis 005< 58
Before reseeding ....... 72
Following alfalfa .......
Feed value ......... See
Foster weeds ........
Ohio bulletin, seed ....
Experiments .......
ETE SOW INES tei tic cieeies oo ee
Farmer sows thickly . Se cae
Horse raising ..........166
Pasturing lambs ......
Preliminary seeding .... 51
Requisites in growing
Seed for ..
Oil meal and “alfalfa com-
coe eee eeee
DALeds cis ssc desis cee 140
Oklahoma, cutting ....... 89
PAStUPiNng |. cscs bic wcee ocdlo
Sarah Aaa Spa pe cen ee
BURN Eira cicieiess cia.aiaieiele.s eye's 24
Olmstead ‘and. "Olmstead,
MODOLE | lee « ce/ateaele.s
Ontario, lamb feeding ere etek hes
30 GNA GA OR eer e &: 4
Orchard, alfalfa. in .. fees
Orchard-grass, yields ..... 21
Weed value :i..........145
Protein) Value@sie ciiccicw wcvloo
WAC alo led a clave wile teve el Od:
Oregon, experiments ......288
Osborne County, Kansas ..260
Otterson, James, report ...252
Otis, Prof. D. H., feeding
COWS vole hiv cece gd eve Showers
Pasture for hogs .......
Overfeeding horses .......
Over stocking with hogs..161
Panicum capillare, a weed.
Panicum sanguinale, a
WOE Minnie ce e:5.4a-dielelacie esse 2 OS
Destroying
Parasites in
soil
Pasture, alfalfa in grass... 51
And soiling compared...123
Cattle
eeeeevpeseveeeeee 7
purchased
eoereereeseerece eoeve
Seeereeetessesneesnee 2
329
PAGE
Pasture, Continued
Grasses, feed value .....145
HT OESES) iy clasiersicie. | fs ekele aialseeOes
NGDIE YS Steictoratsctebse cer aerere 48
Only when established. :108
124 (Rs ofareyebensvcveteve toe .. 48
PO OULER Yi yale aire a tek atctoee lars 180
SHEED oie spe ote DPAL . 262
Stoels’) dsc )ti Sis Saeko os ee
WiplanGs gies siciesersnete ere OCF
Pastutin Sh coe weeeicisyete Bese UO }F
Cattles Week iwicla ae Eee pete als:
EL OTSES) Patsy levels isco sic ote Aye 740]
Previous to seeding .... 47
Ralesisfor (see be a eenleteitece 116
Wien (tol Stop sie denetesieves 108
Pennsylvania, alfalfa ‘intro-
GIGEO) Me. ye)s nie a alslafaietointe
Bulletin, curing ........ 83
Experiments) \ac oes seiele' “290
Seed for .... Scalise 20
Soiling advisable aE
Perry, C D., report .......2)8
Physical effects, root
STOWE! cs nescence meee 0
Effects on soil ....... Meza
Phosphoric acid needed... 65
Pig, See Hog.
Pigweed in seed .......... 35
Pinal County, Arizona ....
Pin-clover tisisas cnc
Pittuck, Prof. B. C., report,
EN, ah en aNleis CREO
Plantain in “seed ore Sl evevaroy hale 41
Plants smother in ‘ik land,
Smothered under wind-
rows
Weak with nurse crops. .58
Pliny praised alfalfa ......
Plow, character of tool ...
Plowing, deep, necessary . 46
Difetleyes electors Pee es
Hor “OENEr. CLOPSs ciateree aie
Importance of careful ..195
Proper ... eel 7A |
Recent not good ........ 50
Sodiratewo£l 4... scsi encloo
Stand renewed by ...... 72
Plowingssaved) ....si sce. 2
Pods poorly filled ........ 89
Pork, producing cheap ....
Potash specially needed .. 65
Potatoes following alfalfa.193
Precede alfalfa ......48, 50
ee ee ed
330 THE BOOK
PAGE
Poultry thrive on ........180
Frairie dogs, destroying | ‘j ap
Injure alfalfa ...... ate
Preparation, proper ..... , 220
Soll teeescisene cca BN Stark aches 40
Preparatory crops ......49, 50
Presses for baling ........ 104
Press drills favored ...... 56
Prices received ........ fae 33
Profit reduced in feeding
COWS once hoes Sales 14
Profits .. "22, 23° 25, 144, 147
Protection, WARECID reece . 108
From sun not needed ... 58
Protein, abundance in al-
Pa Pay oak ois cedccbe tele wee aeleo
And carbohydrates not
interchangeable ......136
Digestible .....+seeeeeee 126
Excess in ration ........137
InN CEON OL, acs tetereneretave .134
Highest in first cutting. .129
Tin (ieGlOviers fois sceteiete es oe Bie
Increased by irrigation.. 75
In early cuttings ........ 81
Tar Nay sss saeco ate deer lo
Percentage in leaves .... 79
Values, various feeds ...145
Provence, seed from ...... 32
Prowers County, eae eae
SOM cuCiee rac alah pb belae aoatotarohe 245
Purgatives for bidat 2... 122
Quebec, alfalfa in ........ 15
Quicklime very caustic ... 66
Rain, cutting after ....... 82
HARV CA DS puiveiicies sharsteraess 89
Rain-fall effect on hay .... 75
Influence on seed ....... 28
Raiscot, Alfred, report ....270
Rake Monarch s./ctohse cris 262
Side idelivery. 2% eins deletes 87
Mimeptousta ltt cu lsc/crccculorets 84
Range of soils .........16, 17
Rapervanalyvsis).cee « scent 127
And alfalfa for hogs com-
DALES Fars seer ere at anetehetete 162
Ration, balanced .........134
Balanced, explained ....135
Gostrotitma. et eece elo Lan
Money value ...........138
Unbalanced Wc we doletercte ¢ 134
Receipts | .2). oc csiisleveesn Lo 2D
Recleaning seed, impor-
LANCE wcyerctesese peal ticvainteueiete mene
OF ALFALFA
PAGE
Recioanine to remove dod-
OP: eodie vicne sb eie eee
Redding, Prof. R. J., re-
DOLty sae ec aisohe ep reney
Redtop and alfalfa com-
DATA: si6/cicvexcls ido 2.6 hee eeees
Wiclas: ocd. rn es
Renewing Growth ....--.. 71
Rentals: of Mande & vine sae 26
Reseeding ....... 65, 66, 71, 72
Rhode Island, experiments,
Rib ‘grass in alfalfa seed.. 41
Rice meal, food value ..... "132
Richmond, Indiana .......255
Rick, measuring for es
NIAC Vive ew eteteie. 6 ascuatarehe
Rick preferred .... -100
Roberts, Prof. H. F., “adul-
tErants® | csc sevens ccsronenets “
Robinson, J. W., raises
horses: > heres ai stede ees
Rome, alfalfa taken “to sehen
Roofing for hay sheds .... 99
Root erowth.-s ssc. sateeeea
Growth, physical effect... 6
System ses os sas ercietereroicee renee
Roots, deep ....
Nitrogen in soil from\....0
Spindling, with nurse
crop shevelste vonebereane
Thumb- sized ayevel a favanwreleyere
VialuerOf “icitiec wiclere nse oe
Rot, “POO jisecs ec cae een
Rotation necessary ...... ..194
Roughness supplied by al-
Tichitif: Re A Ce GaiG cir aigvete
Various kinds to feed ...145
Rural New-Yorker, article
UOTE ia.cte cverel's aiers obeeneveimnlan
Rutabagas, fodder value...126
Rye bran, food value.....132
Grass yields ii-::..\ecsseeed
Winter’ cover <.s00ceue 48, 49
Sacramento River, growth. "241
Sagebrush, land for ...... 252
Land, new alfalfa on ... 15
Salas. fuss hss neem sels anal eres
Salt River, irrigation .....236
Salt in storing hay .......100
San Mateo County, Califor-_
WALA bec sl ctesis 1 aretanel here BOD 2
San Miguel County, New
MexICO (is obs costs bere
INDEX 331
PAGE PAGE
Sand hills, Nebraska, al- Seed, Continued
falfa succeeds ......15, 17 New preferred ......... 30
Scott Bros., yield ......22, 23 Northern grown ........ 28
Screened alfalfa seed rec- ENGRTOUS! So ceicie(n wie acid cele Oe:
OMMNICNGER! | 5.0 sche cic wie os Olslah Omg serstcerelcrciero lees
Scrub-oak land for .......285 OIG ce voce eee e Seen
Seed, adulterated ......... 33 Plantain in ...... wecces 41
IGM SS ocak wieececes OO Pods, poorly filled ...... 39
Bed, securing a fine Sons 48 Poor, cause failures ....221
Bees insure fertile ......175 Precautions in buying .. 29
Best costly ....... Ractein c wok: Pure ce Sat tet hetets ceeete 28
Best from Provence .... 32 Purest in third cutting .. 91
Buckhorn® ines. 5.....s02 41 Quality 7Gf tio cee ee 27
Bur clover’ in) jeseen se 39 Quantity sowed ......24, 56
Busheltiweizht~iocsc0. ses OL Raising, dry climate .... 28
Characteristics ......... ir¢ Raising humid climates
HEA Dag sercss te baer ois Li ee’. ty SR eee eye es ee ee eae CnaeeeeLoe
Conditions pauacnee Raising, Kansas ........ 90
SOPUNNAtiON! )e:) cc eben Ot
TINE CELINE, Scere'ere's owe sie OO
REE TE DY Bara, et co's css eee sets QT
Dodder described ....... 41
Dodder' in’ $5.5... Dh Rees 24
Exports and imports . Seas Ok
Failures, imported ...... 380
Farmer to blame _ for
poor bought <...2... . 41
First cutting not for ... 89
eprein OS” ocieccesec0 6 29.
I PRPEON A bc c:c10 leo ce'ss'e 29
Hor "Ohio * oa... SPS Daa eet
For Pennsylvania _ So ates 29
Formation, bees ok in. meige
GOOGMCOSTLY* Sia. o% sos
Good, essential ......... 3
Harvesting eee te ee Sodexict OO
_ Importance of pure ..... 35
WIMPUPILLESS ccc ce cheerios kOe
Imported, Department of
(AP PIC WIEN TO) e:c, cic. o.ciele rete
Increased by bees ......179
Influences affecting ..... 28
Injuries by storing ..... 30
Inoculation not needed... 64
METIS CCE OEY, sche cu) ao elavarerss cere 31
Introduced from Europe =
RUIUSASS Vortaie o/ey el oie
Kept several years ...... 30
Kind 't0. Duy sos clerc eae se 020
Large and small ....... 38
Losses in stored ........ 30
Moldy eeeeeeee ee eseseee rare
INO PASKS teow abies ices ela ee,
Necessity of drying .... 90
Removing infertile ..... 91
Removing weed ........ 91
Returns). ccs oss Shans Oo ies
RAD PrASS lie Ca Neewiente eave 41
Roberts on pure ....... 35
Selection (iss Jace b eele eo
Sifting to remove dodder, io
Size of Bur. clover cipie as ako
S1ZGy 1OLs ivoreteie aercheteseterelerereke 38
Storing: mpieciacoctete arte pane:
Substitution of trefoil | BPRS 14
Test before buying ..... 29
Third crop self sown.... 72
Third cutting for ...... 91
Mypes: Of. 3 vinci SS acisae ON:
Utah vs. imported ...... 30
Value in Arizona .......235
Vitality injured in stack. 90
Weed in alfalfa ........ 34
BG (2) (a Oe pees ec bie o.bia ctalelotes OL
Wield): “Arizonde saioseceaecou
Seegiion smecenee Le ewe 4
After disking unneces-
SAT: Gis. wiclelaielels uate brelerei ts
AVR aINTeay S cal ete tet bio ere: ciuyefetoaen:
APIZONGN F oarslatets Fe Sa ciciastere Oe
California’ -GoscsseecceecoS
Goloradotca.ens LPS eine
Drill or broadcast ...... 55
eM tape tet eke © tha cetatevste a eee
Importance. Of ¢scseteccs fo
July eeeepeeveeeeeeeeee eee 66
Kansas Caulk ee Me slatdemeste eae
Manure before ..e.seee-
Pennsylvania ..e.eccocees29l
Preliminary ys ais ewe oletatieis
332
PAGE
Seeding, Continued
Soaking soil before ..... 73
Seeder, ‘Cahoon, .siccccs 234
Gem Pie eae ees ee bee oe
Seeders, various aeiordieieienr 200
Secdsidead hi acueaiccudcesm el
WMertile ) Lew! \eletesie ca eatsys
Seedsmen to blame for bad
SOOM Vearcicker et ctate wieinia betes 1
Selection of seed ...... 27, 28
Self sowing third crop Rekeirs sae
Self-binder, harvesting with
In seed harvest ares Oe 90
Selling inoculated soil .... 61
Separator, J. I. Case ..... 237
Separators in threshing
SOSA! M55 sisietcvedaietavare axeverate 91
Sheds hays sh ele ot acieale 99
Sheep, dangers to, from
pasturing ........109, 113
Fiat) PINGWeed ! cick esl veer 219
Fort Collins abd canola
Losses from bloat ......113
Old, kept off pasture ...114
Shepperd, Prof. J. H., re-
MOTE Wes Seaileteiaee a eetel oe
Sifting out dodder ........ 42
Silage for Cows ........--.152
Storing as .... Sel Oili
Superior to hay ........151
Silo, advantages of using..151
Cost of 152
eceesreeoeeeenes
WOr Alfalla is o.cic wale woe OU
Siloing suggestions .......102
Slings in stacking ........ 94
Smead, Dr. D. C., horse
TOCOINE Meiers atenclelets wlelciecsters
Smith, Prof. C. D., report. .267
Smith, Prof. H. R., feed
LGSE? bs ieinitia Hid malaise LOe
Smothering under wind-
TOWS 3 ae eo a ciate ies coke al Oe
Ty cWiet wlaAniG. vers interes wees 44
Snake River irrigation ...251
Soaking soil before seed-
DNS eek apasganesveeset era ees
Sod, preatie: for alfalfa. 50
Hard ito!) plow (aieereleis'sic 5 1195
Soil acid, unfavorable .... 44
Acidity determined ..... 45
PTODG i leharciocidsermele es siieeoe
And seeding ............ 44
Baked. AVOid rgaca. cence
THE BOOK OF ALFALFA
PAGE
Soil, Continued
Bur clover for inoculat-
ing eeoseereeeesesees 60
Buying inoculated ... 60, 61
Buying not necessary ... 61
Buying infected Pe kl)
Buying, objections to ... 61
Character affects irriga-
tion
Conditions demanded ... 52
Conditions essential .... 46
Depleted, improved ..... 16
Diseased, for inoculation. 62
HOY, a) fal Fay incee slo verte eee Sy
Gumbo: %.6 5 sii. stene eee 261
TWArapAN Wsie vee 18
ae
Improved by alfalfa. AG, 190
Improve-nent due to al-
PANEA! lie csvare-svetemseeiere 3 cael
Inoculated for sale ..... 61
Inoculated, quantity to
CLC eos sys seusuelotetae arene -
TNoOCUIALION |s ..1c eheiee
Inoculation, dangers of.. 62
Inoculation, meal or hay
for «ip ls: @ @ajelelere cratiale 65
Inoculation, not. " neces-
BOTY eo side late ore (oe ew elelanis OCT
Tisted) case RAIS
Never work we et sletsisierate 46
Not exhausted by alfalfa,
Preparation .... 46, 296
Preparing, Arizona, "993" 236
Preparing, Colorado ... 243
Preparation, Washington,
Restrictions, obsolete oe. 44
Robbed of lime ........
ROCKY ajc os) 5.0 clots s ees
Sugar tree land MP iis eo
Waxy, . ose 0 er etahenehes
Wet makes’ failures soe pee
Soiling ces hath card tele "429
Advised in Bast ........124
And pasturing compared,
Nebraska i acd ole ote te in atone ees
PIGS. sieve ible’ Srecete es erenererenlaee
Sorghum analysis ..i3..e0o0
Bad to precede alfalfa .. 49
Consumes moisture ..... 4
Fails to increase milk
HOW: bio e ee cee wie a\e 6) afer nen etes
Fed with alfalfa ....cc 1125
INDEX
PAGE
Sorghum, Continued
Feed value ......-+++++-145
Hay, feed composition ..136
Protein value ..csceccse-
Soule, Prof. Andrew M., re-
WOM by Gareve wale acueleees eee OUD
South Africa, alfalfa in ... 15
South Carolina, Experi-
PAVE TICS OAT “els oie/cieie c/o eb 016
Old field
South Sota experiments,
eeerteeeeseeeees
ing
Land values increased - 205
Sowing time .... G
Southern farms, self sup-
Media eee ruicres vale wsisde Le
Southern Seed: oi. cslesceses 29
DOWALe GALES 05's 6 wclelciele sachs
AWlelecidcclele sss cicisie cs tay Oo
eeeeeeeeoeeeeeuses
eeeeeee
FOOL ATG is eve olei ele late ele
Spring disadvantages ..
Spring vor) Talli?) scuccse Oe
Sead on wheat ground,
Time, South ........... 47
Time, Central States .... 47
Sows, brood, “euminasouee 2155
pce salfalfay < .:6 os as ares 1154
Soy beans, feed value . 145
Feed composition ....... 137
Spain, alfalfa introduced, 1, 2
Takes oan to America,
Ce ee)
Spina,” " Prof. Wrertde,
QUINTON: “sie e's e's ers'ase :
Spontaneous combustion,
See Fire.
Spb eleaiea on scpeie ec sehetsieveziare 211
Spots, bare, in lodged nurse
GLODEP cichoictaiuhas selecatobie bre
Restoring bare elorecateatergt ls
Spotted leaf, mowing for.. 67
Spring or fall sowing? .... 5
Spring sowing, disadvan-
PACS stelelele,sceia.aleialeie(ere s
Sowing favored ......... 5d
Sowing, importance of
early .... sclale eve aya een
Spurrier on alfalfa sietelaiatate
Havors Arills