FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 387 



ALFALFA ON ILJJNOIS CORN LAND. 



J. P. McWilUams in Breeders' Gazette. 



To secure the best results for the money invested in alfalfa seed, 

 fall plow the ground. The latter part of April, if the ground is not too 

 wet, pulverize thoroughly and drag as fine as possible. Then sow your 

 seed on top one half bushel to the acre and drag twice. 



The first year you will lose money if you let it grow high enough 

 to make hay, as it is far better to Iveep it mowed (not too low if dry), 

 as often as it gets high enough to cut with the mower. The object is 

 three-fold: First to kill all weeds, second to increase the growth of the 

 root, third to increase the number of stalks to grow from the one root 

 for the second year, or the first hay crop. The root of the alfalfa does 

 not spread out, but goes straight down, but every time the stalk is 

 mowed off it sends up many stalks in place of the one mowed off. I 

 have counted twenty-four good large stalks of alfalfa, and several 

 smaller ones, from one root thirty inches long, just thirteen months 

 after the seed was planted. 



Alfalfa will not do) as well on poor, worn-out ground. Give it good 

 rich soil. If in too wet ground it will drown out the same as timothy 

 or clover. A dry year is more favorable for seeding than a wet year 

 like 1902. The seed sown in 1901 made the first year more than twice 

 the growth in root that seed sown this wet year made. 



Last year we moved our first crop of the 1901 seeding the last week 

 in May, one month before any other hay crop was fit to cut. It pro- 

 duced two tons to the acre. The second crop was cut just before 

 oat harvest, yielding two tons per acre. The third crop was cut the 

 last of August and produced one and one half tons per acre. The second 

 week in October we cut the fourth cr*op, which produced one and one 

 half tons to the acre. This is on the very best ground and six tons per 

 acre is no small crop. What was sold brought $7 per ton in the 

 field and could have been retailed and delivered in town at $9 and $10. 

 per ton. 



Western growers claim that timothy hay is more nutritious and 

 better for driving and hard working horses, and I believe they are cor- 

 rect. But all animals get to love it upon short acquaintance. There is 

 no waste to alfalfa, as both horses and cows eat the stalks as well as 

 the leaves. I have never found its equal as a feed. In addition to the 

 above field I put in small patches on five other farms the same year. 

 After the work horses on all six farms had used the alfalfa hay one 

 week they would at all times, morning, noon and night, eat their al- 

 falfa hay and leave the corn and oats until the alfalfa was all cleaned 

 up, not evening leaving a stalk in the manger. Alfalfa is a laxative and 

 must be fed with caution until the animals get accustomed to it. For 

 some cows and some horses it is too laxative for steady diet. 



I sold the hay to four different teamsters and they were all eager 

 to buy four times the quantity I had to sell. One teamster did com- 

 plain that I had spoiled his team, as he could not get them to eat any 



