390 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ALFALFA IN NORTHWESTERN IOWA. 



L. D. Hall in Breeders' Gazette. 



Alfalfa is adapted to northwestern Iowa. 'Its value to the agricul- 

 ture of this locality has been thoroughly demonstrated by several 

 j'ears of successful experience. While the crop is not yet grown to 

 a great extent here, a great many farmers have by small ventures 

 satisfied themselves of its reliability, and men who were but yesterday 

 skeptical on the subject, are now alfalfa enthusiasts. This movement 

 is due in no small degree to the persistence of the Gazette in spread- 

 ing abroad weekly so much interest in and information concerning 

 this w^onderful legume. 



What is the best way to get a catch? is the first question com- 

 monly asked. Of course the truth is there are several good ways, but 

 whatever plan of seeding alfalfa be adopted, it is necessary to hit the 

 thing squarely between the eyes every time. Thoroughness is more 

 than desirable; it is indispensable. Sowing in April with beardless 

 barley has proved a dependable method here. The field is disked 

 two or three times and harrowed until a fine tilth is secured. Twelve 

 pounds of alfalfa and a bushel of barley per acre have given good 

 results. 



A fact that is of evident value to the feeders and farmers of this 

 portion of the State, where the native prairie is still used as pasture 

 land to some extent, is that newly broken prairie can be successfully 

 and profitably seeded to alfalfa. The difference between the produc- 

 ing capacity of a prairie pasture and that of a field of alfalfa is easily 

 calculated. A seventy-acre piece here sown in that w^ay five years 

 ago, has been steadily producing three crops of hay yearly, yielding as 

 much per acre as adjoining fields in which stubble and cornstalk 

 ground was sown to alfalfa at the same time. Last year we broke ? 

 fifty-acre native pasture in June and sowed twelve pounds of alfalfa 

 per acre after disking the ground three times. It is true that a fine 

 seed bed was not secured in this way, but weeds do not thrive on our 

 newly broken prairie, and our experience has been that the amount 

 of preparation of the se'ed bed may be regulated about in proportion 

 to the extent to which weed enemies must be combated. The field re- 

 ferred to now shows a fair stand, and is improving with each cutting, 

 of which there are three here, the alfalfa usually being ready to mow 

 about .June 10th, July 10th and August 20th. 



One of the best stands of alfalfa I have ever seen here was se- 

 cured after oats. The stubble was plowed in August, 1900, turning un- 

 der a lot of fertility in the form of green after-growth. The field was 

 harrowed immediately after plowing and barley was sown with alfalfa 

 the following April. 



Alfalfa and bromus inermis have grown well together here and we 

 are certain of the value of the combination as a pasture crop. Judg- 

 ing from a five-year-old field of the mixture we think ihe alfalfa pre- 



