SEPTEMBER 1, 1912 



569 



of an alfalfa plant should be held as sacred 

 as the heart of an oak tree. 



7. Alfalfa plants in this spring's demonstrations 

 were set two feet apart in the rows, with rows 

 three feet eight inches apart, so that the common 

 corn-cultivator can be used. My opinion is that 

 they should be given cultivation one way just 

 like fodder corn. But perhaps check-row ma- 

 chines will be devised to make feasible cross- 

 cultivation in early spring and after each cutting, 



8. AKalfa is a very poor fighter the first year, 

 as the main strength goes below ground, hence 

 it is often choked out by weeds which make more 

 top than root. But by setting out a goodsized 

 alfalfa plant, often as big as your middle finger, 

 they can hold their own better against the weeds. 



9. Over 1200 farmers are co-operating with me 

 in testing these new alfalfas. Some report ob- 

 taining 7000 to 8000 seeds per plant the first 

 year, and one North Dakota farmer reports rais- 

 ing one pound of seed in 1911 from eight plants 

 set in the spring of 1910, which means 25,000 

 seeds per plant. The variety was the Cossack. 



10. The plants should be raised the first year 

 in good garden soil that is well inoculated. They 

 may be transplanted in the autumn of the first 

 year; but the bulk of them should be kept in out- 

 door cellars, such as are used for storing potatoes 

 or trees, or they may be heeled in close together 

 in furrows made with a plow. In 1910, at this 

 station, on a piece of good garden soil 60 by 165 

 feet, 50,000 Orenburg alfalfa plants were raised, 

 which is about 220,000 plants per acre. Probably 

 much more could be done if no cut-worms, etc., 

 appear. These were raised in drills, much like 

 carrots and beets. 



11. The plants are dug with a tree-digger, 

 cutting under the roots, which is better than 

 the plow, as the plants are easier to find. This 

 implement is much used by nurserymen. Some 

 of the cheapest cost as low as twenty dollars, and 

 can be made by a good blacksmith. The roots 

 are shortened by using a meat-cleaver on a block 

 of wood, being careful to avoid bending the roots. 

 It is better to shorten the roots than to bend 

 them, so that the new roots, when they form, 

 will go straight down. When set, the roots are 

 covered entirely with earth, thus preventing evap- 

 oration until established. 



12. I believe that the method will very greatly 

 hasten the spread of the hardy Russian and 

 Siberian alfalfas throughout the prairie Northwest. 



On my alfalfa-planting tour I found in almost 

 every place, men from Wisconsin and other States 

 who had worked on these tobacco-transplanters, 

 and knew that they are a commercial success in 

 transplanting almost any thing in the plant line. 

 We found that one barrel of water is sufficient 

 for 5000 plants. — Prof. N. E. Hanson, South 

 Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic 

 Arts, Brookings, South Dakota. 



Please notice in the above the amount 

 of seeds wasted when sown broadcast or 

 even drilled in. This wasteful broadcast- 

 ing would use a thousand seeds where only 

 one is needed. Suppose a farmer should 

 undertake to raise a crop of corn by such 

 a wasteful method; and from what experi- 

 ence I have had with both alfalfa and 

 sweet clover that came up in the garden, 

 and thus secured the benefits of cultivation, 

 1 honestly believe it will j^ay to grow your 

 plants and set them out and cultivate the 

 alfalfa one way, and possibly both ways, 

 just as we do with corn. The additional 

 fact that you get rid of dodder and all 

 other pernicious seeds is a matter well 

 worth considering. 



Now, shall we not, every one of us, get 

 to work and grow some alfalfa in our gar- 

 den in order to learn how? When you 

 have grown a square rod successfully you 



are ready to grow an acre. Professor 

 Thorne, of our Ohio Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, recently told me we could get 

 inoculated soil wherever we can find a rank 

 growth of sweet clover. 



Let me add, in closing, that good whole- 

 some bread is now being made in Cali- 

 fornia from alfalfa meal; and I suppose 

 this meal is chiefly of alfalfa leaves. Now is 

 the time to sow the seed, just after you 

 dig your early potatoes, or where seeds 

 have been removed from your garden; but 

 whatever you do, give your soil a good 

 liming. An excess of lime can not do any 

 harm, and lime will always be a benefit, 

 more or less, with sweet clover. 



'^WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?" 



In connection with the topic discussed 

 in Our Homes in this issue is another mat- 

 ter. While discussing natural-hen incubat- 

 ors, page 391, June 15, I neglected to men- 

 tion that the vender of the single sheet of 

 paper, for which he charges $1.00, wrote me 

 a very nice and kind letter, telling me how- 

 much he appreciated this department of 

 our journal, hoping I would see my way 

 clear to use my widespread influence in 

 helping him introduce his discovei-y, etc. 

 Now, I confess it is pretty hard to show 

 up a man as a fraud when he writes so 

 kindly; but where does my duty lie? Shall 

 I favor this one individual who writes a 

 kind letter, or should I protect the honest, 

 hard-working people scattered all over our 

 land? Who is my neighbor? I think I 

 can almost hear the voices of thousands, 

 telling me to go on exposing frauds. Well, 

 just now I stand face to face with another 

 thing along this very line. A good friend 

 of Gleanings sends me a clipping from 

 one of the poultry journals. It reads : 



Blanchard's new system of corn raising increases 

 your yield 10 to 25 bushels per acre. 



Furthermore he says: 



You can have confidential use of this information 

 for $1.00; and as long as my supply lasts I will 

 mail you one ear of corn, perfectly tipped, to show 

 what I have accomplished. You can use this for 

 seed. Book and corn come together. The biggest 

 dollar's worth on earth. 



W. J. Blanchaed, Abington, Mass. 



After I sent the dollar, another pleasant 

 letter came, saying that the writer, years 

 ago, took our journal, has the ABC book, 

 etc. He says he vei-y much enjoyed read- 

 ing my sermons, etc. With the letter he 

 sent four beautiful ears of corn, the kernels 

 gTowing clear up over the tip. Now, inas- 

 much as friend Blanchard has treated v.e 

 very handsomely, perhaps I ought not to 

 complain, or at least not complain very 

 much. The four ears of corn, on which 

 he paid 21 cents postage, are very likely 



