THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



11 



Thus, wet bulb. M', dry bulb, .W, differ- 

 ence, o . From 50" in left hand column run 

 across to column headed " Diff., 5 ,'" and we 

 have relative humidity <)8.1. 



Lindsay, Canada, 



Colorado, Its Soil, Climate and Alfalfa Farm- 

 ing, and how the Latter Furnishes Honey. 



C. AIKIN. 



yRIEND Hutch- 

 1' inson. — When 

 I read your editor- 

 ial on Alfalfa farm- 

 ing, ( )etober Re- 

 view, page 205, I 

 felt that I would 

 write you some 

 facts in regard to 

 Alfalfa. Later I 

 received your re- 

 quest to review the 

 article referred to 

 in the Cosmopolitan, atid I comply with 

 pleasure. In the main, the article is no 

 doubt true, but to those unacquainted with 

 Colorado and the West, it is misleading. 



The statement that Alfalfa "is a clover," 

 and that "it sends its roots down twenty 

 feet " into the ground, is true : and, as it has 

 a large, penetrating root reaching down- 

 ward, so 'tis true that •' with the eight or ten 

 inches of soil near the surface, it has little 

 to do." 



It is also true that it "resists drouth," 

 does not exhaust the soil, is " a rich vegetable 

 fertilizer," and that "it grows luxuriantly 

 in the rich soil below the foot hills of the 



Rocky mountains." It resists drouth be- 

 cause of its depth and extent of roots. I 

 have often noticed that peculiar, penetrating 

 root in the few varieties of plants that are 

 growing wild on the arid lands. The shallow 

 feeder could not possibly live on such lands. 



The soil is very rich in most of the arid 

 regions. Why not. when for years and years, 

 probably for ,iges, no ve .fetation to speak of 

 has been upon it. nor water sufficient to 

 leach out its fertility ? 



The statements in regard to "deep plow- 

 ing " and ttij n^ca^sity for careful work are 

 good enough. Those princiule.s are appli- 

 cable to farming in general, and to other 

 pursuits as well; "work well done is twice 

 done " is the old adage. 



The writer in the Cosmopolitan leaves the 

 impression that the seeding is done on new 

 ground and without other crop. 'Tis not so 

 here ; it is usually seeded with wheat after 

 being cropped to get the ground in good 

 shape, much as clover is seeded in the East. 



The illustrations of scenes in the hay field 

 are fair, and easily comprehended, because 

 such scenes are familiar to most people. 

 However, much of the hay here is hauled in 

 and stacked by machinery and horse power, 

 and not pitched on to wagons or stacks by 

 hand forks ; but the illustrations represent- 

 ing irrigation, viz.: "Opening the Sluices;" 

 "Hillside Irrigation:" "A Main Supply 

 Ditch," etc., serve mainly to help color the 

 article. They give one but a faint idea of 

 the reality. 



But now for the mam points I want to 

 criticise : He says, " Along in February 

 heavy ploughs were breaking the soil eight 

 and ten and, where possible, eleven inches 

 deep — this fine loam of Colorado rolling over 

 as if it had been broken every year for half 

 a century," etc., leading one to believe that 

 Colorado soil was a fine, mellow bed, about 

 ready for the seed. Some of it is, but much 

 is not. Colorado has thousands and thous- 

 ands of acres of pure sand, where 'tis noth- 

 ing but sand, and in some places, hills piled 

 100 to 200 feet high. Then it has the " sandy 

 loam," the clay, the adobe, of which brick is 

 made, sun dried and used without burning, 

 and which cannot be plowed as represented. 

 Much of the State is the " Rockies." Again, 

 the plains in east Colorado have a very rich 

 sandy soil. It is one of the most beautiful 

 countries a man ever looked at, but water 

 can be had, excellent water, only at a depth 

 of from 100 to 300 feet. And, alas, neither 



