490 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



fill valley, where C. E. Buek owns a large tract 

 called Kensington Farm. Mr. Buek is a manufac- 

 turer of iron; the farm is a side-issue. I had the 

 pleasure of helping establish alfalfa on this place, 

 through the cordial co-operation of Mr. Buek and 

 his efficient manager, C. E. Huffman. I have never 

 in the world seen finer alfalfa than grows on part 

 of Kensington Farm. We think that in the end we 

 will make it all as, fine. I learned quite a good many 

 things in helping establish alfalfa at Kensington. 

 The land, naturally fertile, had been kept in quite 

 good heart by the use of manure from a large dairy. 



It was all deficient in lime. We set up a lime- 

 grinding plant and ground the flinty limestone into 

 coarse powder, some of it as coarse as cornmeal. 

 We decided that large amounts of coarse stuff ap- 

 plied would give more permanent results than lesser 

 amounts of finely-ground material. To grind the 

 limestone and spread it on the soil cost, the manager 

 estimates, 90 cents per ton, not taking account of 

 depreciation in the plant. We applied from 7 to 

 about 20 tons to the acre of this material. Where 

 we used the limedust most liberally we got the 

 strongest, cleanest alfalfa. The grinding was ac- 

 complished by using first a jaw crusher and next a 

 swing-hammer pulverizer. Little breakage or delay 

 was experienced in grinding up some 1,500 tons, al- 

 though the hammers had to be renewed in the pul- 

 verizer. 



The general scheme of alfalfa seeding at Kensing 

 ton has been to let alfalfa follow cowpeas. The 



