AUGUST 15, 1913 



587 



them were even further ahead. It is a little 

 sad, however, to fiiul all over our country 

 (hat the expert and progressive farmers are 

 in the minoiity. It is so down in Florida, 

 and it is so all the way from Florida to 

 Ohio, and all through Ohio. Here and there 

 we find men who are able to " do things," 

 and who shoot up ahead of the rest. I have 

 faith to believe, however, that the coming- 

 generation are catching on to the state of 

 atfairs, and are making better. Surely our 

 agricultural colleges and our experiment 

 stations where boj'S are taught " sense and 

 science," ought to be producing some satis- 

 factory results by this time. 



In times past I have frequenth' mention- 

 ed my friend James Hilbert. Ten years or 

 more ago I began to urge Mr. Hilbert to 

 test alfalfa. In fact, there was a small field 

 of alfalfa between his place and mine; but 

 he had so many different hobbies — straw- 

 l^erries, raspberries, peaches, cherries, etc., 

 that 1 could not get him interested. On this 

 visit, however, T was most happily surpris- 

 ed to see beautiful green fields of alfalfa 

 growing with surprising vigor — about ten 

 acres in all: and as the fields of it dotted 

 over his farm in different places it was a 

 magnificent sight — at least to me. His first 

 field is now about tlu'ee years old, and it 

 has given him an enormous amount of feed ; 

 and the plants .seem to be getting stronger 

 and more vigorous year bj^ year. He suc- 

 ceeded in pulling up a plant, but where it 

 broke off, about three feet down, it was 

 almost the size of one's little finger. 



The great, secret of alfalfa holding out 

 through protracted drouth is that it sends 

 I lie vigorous tap-roots far down to perma- 

 nent moistme. There are some stories to 

 the effect of the roots going down into a 

 well thirty or forty feet. Mr. Hilbert says 

 one great reason why there is not moi'e 

 alfalfa grown in the Grand Traverse region 

 is that the farmers must learn the secret of 

 getting a stand or a " catch," as it is called. 

 The field should be in good fertility, and as 

 free as possible from weeds. In that region 

 seed is usuallj' sown in June or July, and 

 you want the nitrogen bacteria. You may 

 have seen something advertised in tlie jour- 

 nals called formagen ; and they are sending 

 a little bottle of the bacteria-forming ma- 

 terial for $2.00. This is enough for an acre. 

 Xow. the Michigan Agricultural College has 

 taken hold of the matter, and issued a 

 liamphlet on alfalfa, agreeing to furnish 

 enough of this material for inoculating soil 

 for 25 cents instead of $2.00. And that is 

 characteristic, I believe, of the Michigan 

 station. I am in hopes that the experiment 

 stations of other States are doing a like 

 praiseworthy work for the farmers. 



Mr. Hilbert bought one lot of alfalfa 



s?ed that was, a considerable part of it, 

 sweet-clover seed, and where there was a 

 good stand of alfalfa in full bloom, and 

 forming seed rapidly, there is also a pretty 

 fair stand of sweet clover, about as high as 

 one's head, also in full bloom. Mr. Hilbert 

 says that, although he got something he did 

 not exjDect and did not order, he is well 

 pleased with the sweet clover. Very likely 

 it will be a great help in getting in the 

 bacteria for the alfalfa, after the sweet 

 clover is gone. He proposes to cut and 

 thrash for seed, both crops at once. Wlule 

 he is not prepared to say that good alfalfa 

 hay entirely cuts out the necessity for grain, 

 he says it comes pretty near it. A progres- 

 sive neighbor of his, I am told, has forty 

 acres, and others are reported as getting the 

 alfalfa fever. 



I found a young friend of mine, whose 

 farm joins my own forty acres, sowing al- 

 falfa through his cornfields after the last 

 cultivating. This is something of an ex- 

 periment, it is true; but it may turn out all 

 right. 



They have been having very opportune 

 rains all summer up there, which accounts 

 largely for the general prosperity. The 

 beautiful soil on the sandy hills enables 

 them to grow nicer potatoes up there quick- 

 er than we get them here in Ohio, for I 

 found new potatoes at about every place 

 T stopped. 



Now for a glimpse of the premises around 

 the cabin in the woods. It had been two 

 years since I set foot on the place, and five 

 or six years since I gave my young fruit- 

 trees any care. What is the result? The 

 peach trees are mostly dead or dying. They 

 would, perhaps, have survived the cold win- 

 ter of 1911 and '12 had they been properly 

 pruned, mulched, etc. The apple trees, how- 

 ever, are doing fairly well; and a Yellow 

 Transparent tree was so loaded down with 

 fruit that some of the branches were lying 

 in the grass. The atpples were just begin- 

 ning to ripen. It was somewhat a c|uestion 

 of what things would survive such neglect. 

 About ten years ago I planted fourteen dif- 

 ferent kinds of currants — a bush of each 

 kind. Almost every currant-bush lived in 

 spite of grass and weeds, and most of them 

 were beaiing fair crops, some of them hea- 

 vily loaded. A row of asparagus-plants 

 were looking as thrifty, almost, as if they 

 had had cultivation. A widow has the place 

 in charge ; but she was so busy with her 

 own farm a good deal of the stuff was never 

 gathered. A grapevine had climbed into a 

 mulbeiry tree, and some beautiful clusters 

 of grapes were growing side by side with 

 the mulberries. The tame raspberries I 



