12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



Id any one shipping or delivering within the regions 

 iidnied any such food so adulterated. Adulterations 

 ill the bill are defined as follows: 



In the case of drugs, if sold under a name recog- 

 nized in the United States pharmacopeia, and the drug 

 differs from the standards of strength, quality ot puri- 

 ty, as determined by the test laid down in such phar- 

 macopeia at the time of the investigation, so that its 

 strength or purity falls below the professed standard 

 Under which it is sold; if it be an imitation of or of- 

 fered for sale under the name of another article, and 

 in the case of a confectionery, if it contain terra alba, 

 barytes, talc, chrome yellow, or other mineral sub- 

 ?>tances, or poisonous colors or flavors. 



In the case of food, when any substance is mixed 

 with it so as to lower or injuriously affect its quality 

 or strength so that such product when offered for 

 sale shall tend to deceive the purchaser. 



If it is falsely labeled as a foreign product, or imita- 

 tion of another substance of a previously established 

 name, or which has been trade-marked or patented. 

 If it consists in whole or in part of a filthy, decompos- 

 ed, or putrid animal or vegetable substance, or any 

 portion of an animal unfit for food, or if it is the proci- 

 uct of a diseased animal or one that has died otherwise 

 than by slaughter. 



GROWING alfalfa; ITS FOOD VALUE; IS IT 

 A FACT THAT IT IS MORE PROFITABLE 

 FOR THE RANCHER TO CUT THE ALFAL- 

 FA BEFORE OR JUST AS IT BLOOMS THAN 

 AFTER IT HAS GOT INTO FULL BLOOM? 



Bulletin No. 114 of the Kansas State 

 Agricultural Colleg-e Experiment Station 

 has reached my desk. It contains a great 

 deal of valuable information on the subject 

 of alfalfa-growing, and I only wish that I 

 could publish the entire text of it. As it is, 

 I find it possible to place before our read- 

 ers only a few paragraphs from it. 

 :«j In some of my late articles I have spok- 

 en of the value of alfalfa hay as a food for 

 stock. In one case I mentioned that 110 

 pounds of alfalfa hay was equal to 100 

 pounds of bran for nutritive value. On 

 page 80 of the bulletin above mentioned 

 there is a paragraph that bears directly 

 upon this point, and here it is: 



COMPOSITION OF ALFALFA. 



The^foUowing table, compiled from Bulletin 103, 

 'ssued'by the chemical department of this Station, 

 shows the per cent of digestible matter found in vari- 

 ous feeds. The percentage is calculated on the mate- 

 rial in the condition it would be found when fed: 



Feed Tested. i. ^ ^ ^ 



di U.a Eh 



Alfalfa hay, cut 10 per cent in bloom. 13.24 39.26 0.89 



Alfalfa hay, cut half in bloom. . . 11.90 40.26 0.39 



Alfalfa hav, cut in full bloom . . . 10.43 43 17 0.69 



Red-clover'hay 6.58 35.35 1.66 



Timothy hay 2.89 43.72 1.43 



Prairie hay 0.61 46.90 1,97 



Corn-fodder 1.98 33.16 0.57 



Kafir-corn fodder 3.22 48.72 1 15 



Wheat bran 12.01 4123 287 



The digestibility of alfalfa hay, prairie hay, and Kaf- 

 ir-corn fodder was determined in feeding experiments 

 made at this Station by the chemical department. 



This table shows that in protein, the most valuable 

 part of our feeds, alfalfa hay cut when one-tenth in 

 bloom is worth ten per cent more than bran. In other 

 words, a ton of good Kansas alfalfa hay will supply 

 as much of the material needed to make growth of 

 lean meat, milk, and blood as 2z00 Ujs. of wheat bran. 

 The reader can easily make comparisons with other 

 feeds. Kansas alfalfa can be rai.sed, cut, and cured 

 and put in the feed-racks on the average farm for two 

 dollars per ton. The large yield has already been 

 shown in this bulletin. A consideration of the yield, 

 the composition, and the cheapness of alfalfa should 

 be a strong inducement to Kansas farmers to increase 



their acreage and handle their seedings of alfalfa in 

 .such a way as to secure the largest yield and prolong 

 the life of the plants. 



It has often been asked how to prepare 

 the soil, how much seed to sow, etc. The 

 following covers the matter quite fully, at 

 least for the region of Kansas, and it would 

 probably apply to all the territory in the 

 semi-arid regions from Iowa down to Tex- 

 as: 



If the soil and the air are moist, the most even stand 

 is secured by sowing the seed broadcast. Cover light- 

 ly with a harrow and then roll, unless there is danger 

 from blowing. If the weather is dry or there is much 

 wind, broadcast seeding is a failure. The seed ger- 

 minates close to the surface of the ground, and the 

 wind dries out the soil and kills the young plants al- 

 most as fast as they start. 



Generally the best way to sow alfalfa is with a 

 press-drill. Mix the seed with equal parts by measure 

 of coarse corn chop, bran, or fine sawdust; drill anil 

 cross-drill, sowing half the seed each way. If eithtr 

 a hoe or disk drill is used, care must be taken not to 

 get the seed too deep; about twelve times the diame- 

 ter of the seed is the proper depth, if this places the 

 seed in moist soil. The press wheels pack the moist 

 soil closely around the seed, causing quick germina- 

 tion. Occasionally a heavy beating rain will fill up 

 the drill furrows before the seed has germinated, and 

 bury it so deeply that the young plants die before 

 they can get to the surface. In the fall of 1901 this 

 Station lost 12 acres from this cause. This difficulty is 

 not common. 



Alfalfa should be sown alone. It does not want a 

 nurse crop. Sometimes a good stand is secured when 

 alfalfa is .seeded with some other crop, but many 

 times it fails utterly. Young alfalfa is a delicate 

 plant, and it needs all the moisture, plant-food, and 

 sunshine available; and usually, when it has to share 

 these with another crop, it dies. 



But the all-absorbing question, the one 

 that is i'}Hporta7tt arid vital to the bee-keeper 

 located in the alfalfa regions, is whether 

 it is good practice for the rancher to cut his 

 alfalfa as or just before it cotnes into bloom. 

 Two or three of our correspondents have 

 said of late that there was no cause for 

 alarm, that it was not profitable to cut at 

 such a time. But the statements made in 

 this bulletin would seem to indicate that it 

 is profitable to cut it just as the plant first 

 comes into bloom; and that means then that 

 the bees will not get very much benefit out 

 of it. The melancholy facts (melancholy 

 to bee-keepers at least) are thus stated on 

 page 65 : 



WHEN TO CUT ALFALFA FOR HAY. 



Alfalfa should be cut when not more than one- 

 tenth of the plants have come in bloom. Cut at this 

 early stage, the yield of hay for the season will be 

 much greater than if the alfalfa is cut near maturity, 

 and every pound of hay secured will be worth more 

 for feed. 



We cut a strip through a field of alfalfa when one- 

 tenth was in bloom; another strip was cut after full 

 bloom had passed. The strip cut early was nearly 

 ready to cut the second time when that cut after full 

 bloom was being harvested the first time. The strip 

 cut early grew vigorously through the season, and 

 made three cuttings and a good aftermath. The strip 

 cut after full bloom gave a low yield the first cutting, 

 and did not grow sufficiently to yield a good second 

 cutting. Early cutting invigorates the plant. 



The late cutting of the first crop seems to injure the 

 plant more than at any other time, and we have 

 found it profitable to cut alfalfa the first time as soon 

 as one-tenth was in bloom, even though the weather 

 was bad and we knew that the crop would spoil in 

 curing. The increased yield from succeeding cut- 

 tings over that cut late much more than makes up for 

 the loss of the first crop. 



Successful clover-growers the first time they try al- 

 falfa often ruin the stand, so that it has to be plowed 

 up, by waiting to cut until it reaches the stage at 

 which clover is usually cut. 



The great value of alfalfa is the large amount of 



