58 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



limestone soils that are not acid. For the quickest and 

 best results on these limestone soils, use one hundred 

 pounds acid phosphate and nine hundred pounds untreated 

 phosphate rock per acre. The untreated phosphate will 

 absorb acid from the acid phosphate, and the combination 

 will bring the quickest results of any form of phosphate 

 which can be applied. Also, applied in this way, the 

 superfluous acidity being taken up by the raw phosphate, 

 there will be no danger of making your land sour. Good 

 barnyard manure as a fertilizer for alfalfa cannot be 

 beaten ; it should, however, go hand in hand with the phos- 

 phate; neither is complete without the other. They should 

 be applied at the same time for best results. 



Good seed is of great importance. Alfalfa seed com- 

 ing from Arizona, South America, or Arabia, will grow 

 all right the first year, and then will probably winter-kill 

 the first winter, especially in any of the northern states. 

 We find that the very best seed in the world, that which 

 is freest from dangerous weeds and which possesses the 

 greatest vitality, is produced in our own United States, 

 particularly in the northwestern part. Also it is better if 

 grown on non-irrigated soil. 



In some of the far southern states, an enemy con- 

 stantly to be fought is the Johnson grass. In some of 

 these states alfalfa seed is produced, and is very 

 likely to be mixed with this pest. 



The poultryman will find great profit from hav- 

 ing a run of alfalfa. This should not be too small 

 a space, but large enough so that the poultry can 

 forage at will without injuring the plants, and so 

 that he may cut the hay regularly and save it for 

 winter feeding. Poultry thrive upon a diet com- 

 posed chiefly of alfalfa, with some grain in addition. 



No other food forms so good a basis for the 

 ration of a dairy cow as alfalfa, the reason being its 

 extreme richness in protein, and its easy digestibil- 

 ity, and the additional reason that the cows love it 

 so, and eat it so greedily. Alfalfa growing countries 

 have a great advantage over other countries in the 

 dairy business, so that it is well for the dairyman, 

 wherever he is situated, to begin to consider how 

 he may make his own soil an alfalfa-growing soil. 

 It has been found that the cost of milk production 

 can be cut square in two by the use of home-grown 

 alfalfa. A ton of alfalfa hay, early cut and nicely 

 cured, as food for the dairy cow is worth as much, 

 pound for pound, as the best wheat bran. In order 

 to get its full feeding value, it should be ground. 

 Even ordinary alfalfa hay is worth nearly as much 

 as wheat bran; so that it is clear to the eastern l ^ = 

 dairyman, who must pay $25.00 a ton for wheat 

 bran, a field of alfalfa yielding no more than three 

 or four tons per acre is a veritable gold mine. 

 Governor Hoard has found that with alfalfa in the dairy 

 ration, it is necessary to use only about half the amount 

 of grain that must be fed when other forage is provided. 

 In truth, with alfalfa hay and corn silage, little or no feed 

 is needed to keep the dairy cow in the most profitable 

 producing condition. We thus emphasize the importance 

 of alfalfa to the dairyman, because among the many 

 thousands of eastern dairymen, the margin between cost 

 of production and selling price of their products is so 

 small that they are in a rather discouraged condition, and 

 this condition, alfalfa will relieve better and more easily 

 than any other thing. There was a time, only a few years 

 ago, when it would have seemed not worth while thus to 

 attempt to raise the hopes of the dairyman, for then it 

 had not been demonstrated that alfalfa could be grown 

 away from the "alfalfa belt." But since then we have 

 learned the few simple requirements of the alfalfa plant. 

 and we do not hesitate to affirm that we can grow alfalfa 

 anywhere, upon any farm in the United States not at too 

 high an altitude, if the few simple but essential conditions 

 are complied with. 



We usually cut it when about one-fifth of the plants 

 begin to show bloom. A somewhat better way of ascer- 

 taining the proper time is to watch for the buds at the 

 base of the plants and cut when they appear above the 

 ground. These buds are the beginning of new stalks, and 

 their appearance indicates that the plant is ready to make 

 another crop. 



It is especially adapted to being de-pastured by horses 

 and hogs, and perhaps the greatest profit conies from such 

 use. The practical difficulty with de-pasturing alfalfa with 

 sheep and cows is that, being a clover, it sometimes causes 

 bloat, similar to clover bloat. The best preventive of 

 bloat is to have the alfalfa mixed with grasses in the 

 pasture. When this is done, the animals eating the two 

 together are very much less apt to bloat. The best grass 

 to mix with alfalfa for pasture is brome grass (bromus 

 inermis). 



In pasturing alfalfa, to get the best results, one should 

 not turn stock on it before the plants have grown nearly 

 to the blossoming stage; furthermore, the pasture should 

 be so large that the animals will not eat it down close. It 

 should be mown at least twice during the season and made 

 into hay. It will not do, however, to pasture the field 

 with sheep or cattle immediately after it has been 

 mown, this being the surest known method of inviting 

 disaster. After alfalfa is mown, it is not safe to turn 

 stock onto it until the plants have reached the woody 

 stage. Thus treated, alfalfa pastures will last for years, 

 and afford an astonishing amount of nourishment. 



All stock should be taken off of alfalfa pastures by 

 the first of October, or, in the eastern states, at the be- 



A Heavy Crop of Alfalfa. 



ginning of hard frosts; this, both for the good of the 

 alfalfa and for the good of the animals themselves. It is 

 dangerous to de-pasture frozen alfalfa, and it is not even 

 wise to cut it for hay. A profitable scheme sometimes 

 practiced, is to break an old blue grass pasture, plow it 

 rather deep, fertilize it well, and seed it down to alfalfa. 

 A good stand of alfalfa is almost assured by this method, 

 while the blue grass comes up immediately and fills in 

 between the alfalfa plants; within a few years, the amount 

 of combined herbage yielded by this practice is almost 

 incredibly great, the grass itself yielding more than it did 

 before the alfalfa was sown upon it. Alfalfa thus sown 

 will not last as long as when the grass is absent, but while 

 it is there, it is extremely profitable. 



In any of the states east of the Missouri, we think 

 that farmers who pasture alfalfa with cattle and sheep 

 may be reasonably sure to have some losses, no matter 

 how careful they are. We have never succeeded in pastur- 

 ing it ourselves without some losses, but we believe it is 

 sometimes more profitable to pasture alfalfa and lose a 

 few sheep or perhaps a steer, than it is to handle our stock 

 on other feed without this loss. 



All legumes have tiny bacteria that work on their 

 roots, forming "nodules." These bacteria draw nitrogen 

 from the air, and both supply the plants with it and also 

 add it directly to the soil. Without these bacteria the 

 legumes will soon perish, although most of the legumes 

 seem to find their proper bacteria in almost any soil. 

 (Continued on page 71. 1 



