92 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the area of his alfalfa land until some day, if that man 

 has faith and keeps on, some day he may sweep the 

 poverty altogether off his farm and find it redeemed, 

 glorious in beauty in summer time and yielding him a 

 steady and very great profit. Alfalfa is a clover, and 

 enriches soils in the same manner that all clovers do by 

 the growth upon its roots of bacteria, that have the 

 power to fix nitrogen from the air. Then by its very 

 deep roots it feeds upon the lower depths of the soil and 

 draws up the stores of fertility that are down there. This 

 may not be so well understood by readers who, living 

 in the arid west, find all of their land ready to take 

 alfalfa, but in the older clays of the rainy east, little land 

 is now naturally in condition to take the seed until it 

 has been first enriched. 



Naturally the ways of sowing alfalfa vary with the 

 location and climates. In the arid West is is a simple 

 matter. The land is usually plowed in winter or early 

 spring, worked down to a good seedbed and the seed 

 sown alone in middle spring time. It is irrigated oc- 

 casionally according to the nature of the soil, and crops 

 are often taken from it the same year, though it is not 

 at its best until the third year, but it will yield very 

 heavy crops the second year. In some countries it is 

 a practice to sow a light seeding of oats with the alfalfa, 

 in other regions this will not do since the oats will lodge 

 or bed down and smother the slender alfalfa plants. In 

 general the better practice in the arid region is to sow 

 the alfalfa alone. 



The amount of seed to the acre varies between four 

 and thirty pounds. The smaller amount of seed is some- 

 times sown when seed is desired from it, as it seeds better 

 not to be thick. There are 14,448,000 seeds in a bushel 

 of alfalfa seed. Therefore to sow half a bushel to the 

 acre would put 166 seeds to the square foot. To sow 

 fifteen pounds would put on eighty-three seeds. Seeing 

 that this is true, it is evident that it is more essential 

 to have good seed and good distribution of the seed than 

 to use a great amount of seed. About twelve to sixteen 

 plants to the square foot are all that will ever stand, and 

 on rich, deep soils they will not long endure even that 

 much crowding. 



Weeds often come up to crowd the young alfalfa. 

 To destroy these weeds clip the field with the mower, 

 setting it to run as close to the ground as possible. There 

 may come a yellowish rust that attacks the leaves. To 

 destroy this clip close with the mower. Therefore when 

 preparing land for alfalfa, see to it that the field is left 

 as smooth as practicable, so that the mower may run 

 over it in security. This trouble of the leaf rust will not 

 be so much in evidence in western lands as in the lands 

 east of the Mississippi river. 



It is not well to allow any animals to graze upon a 

 young alfalfa meadow. They will likely do far more 

 damage than the good they will get will pay for. When 

 it is time for the alfalfa to be clipped, take the mower 

 to it, and if there is enough stuff on the ground to be 

 worth while, rake it up and take it away. After the first 

 season, pasturing may be resorted to if it is thought de- 

 sirable, and little bad results will be seen if the field is 

 not over stocked. 



In the region from the Mississippi river to the 

 western limit of the rain belt, alfalfa thrives well, but 

 more care is needed to get stands than in the arid region 

 proper. Spring sowings are usual, without a nurse crop. 

 A better plan is to plow the land early in spring or 

 during the winter, and to work it up with disk or harrow 

 as soon as the growing season has started weed life, 

 and thereafter to harrow it after every rain until some 

 time in late May or June, when the seed may be sown 

 with confidence that it will not be choked with weeds, 

 and that there will be enough moisture stored in the soil 

 to carry it triumphantly through the hot summer. The 

 essential thing in this plan is, however, to be certain to 

 harrow thoroughly after every rain, not only to destroy 

 germinating weeds, but to conserve all of the moisture. 

 When the seed is sown it should be sown if possible 

 with a drill, about one and one-half or two inches deep. 

 Earlier in the season it is not necessary to sow it so 

 deep. The depth that alfalfa seed may be sown varies 

 according to the soil, but in most of this region the soils 

 are black, loose and loamy. 



A method that has given very fine results for the 



past few years has been practiced in Iowa; it is the sow- 

 ing after a crop of wheat or oats in mid-summer. To 

 accomplish this the crop of wheat or oats is removed 

 as early as possible and at once the land is plowed. 

 Each day what is plowed is prepared with care to permit 

 the escape of as little moisture as possible. The alfalfa 

 seed is sown alone. It needs no clipping that year, goes 

 safely through the winter and the next year gives three 

 large crops of hay. The advantage of this method is that 

 there is no loss of land and no trouble with weeds or 

 foxtail grass, the great pest of alfalfa growers in the 

 corn belt. Should the late summer prove unsually dry, 

 this method might not be successful, and in case it is to 

 be sown on clay that naturally freezes and thaws often 

 during the winter and heaves badly, the young alfalfa 

 roots might not be strong enough to resist. Thus far, 

 however, it has given excellent results at the Iowa ex- 

 periment station and is being adopted in other parts of 

 that state. It is probably a system adapted to Illinois 

 conditions, especially in the northern part. 



The soils of this region are black and quite rich. 

 And yet for many years they refused to grow profitable 

 crops of alfalfa. It was found to be very difficult to 

 grow alfalfa upon them. When it did grow it seemed 

 often to be without nodules upon the roots, and there- 

 fore devoid of bacteria. A few years ago it was dis- 

 covered that when stable manure was spread upon that 

 seemingly fat, black land, alfalfa was easily established 

 upon it and inoculation came naturally and abundantly. 

 Now on all the soils of this region when well enough 

 drained, alfalfa may be very profitably grown if care is 

 taken first to liberally distribute over the fields stable 

 or yard manure, working it into the soil to create there 

 the ferment or yeast needed in that soil to start the bac- 

 terial life, and after it is once established it will endure 

 profitably for a number of years; how long it is not yet 

 possible to say. 



The best method of sowing seems to be to break 

 the land, after having thoroughly well manured and 

 drained it, and plant one year to corn, keeping the corn 

 clean of weeds and fox tail grass. The next year it 

 should be again plowed as easily in winter or spring as 

 it can be and deeper than ever before. After danger of 

 hard freezing is over, say in late April, the seed is sown 

 upon a nicely pulverized seedbed, at the rate of from 

 ten to fifteen pounds per acre. At the same time a 

 bushel of beardless spring barley is sown for a nurse 

 crop. Oats are not admissible, since on this well manured 

 land, they usually lodge and destroy the young plants 

 beneath. The barley is taken off when ripe for grain and 

 the young alfalfa is clipped at the same time. It may 

 need one or two subsequent clippings, and it may not. 

 The safe rule is to let it alone as long as it continues 

 to grow thriftily. When it rusts and stops growing, or 

 when fox tail grass or weeds crowd it, it should be 

 mowed off close. The object of the barley is to dis- 

 courage that marauder, fox tail grass, which it does quite 

 effectually. Thus you will gain also the crop of barley 

 for the use of the land. It is not usual to get much 

 alfalfa after the first year of sowing. If any of the 

 clippings make hay enough to be worth raking off, save 

 them. Keep all animals off the field the first season. 



It is sure death to the crowns to be tramped upon 

 in cold weather, especially in the eastern states. Neither 

 should wagons ever pass over the meadows in winter. 



The time to cut alfalfa is when it has begun to 

 bloom, the lower leaves to turn yellow and drop off, 

 and buds to start out from the base of the stems. Cut 

 then, for it has in its the greatest amount of nutrients. 

 Allowed to stand longer, the stems become woody, some 

 of the leaves are lost, and the hay is not so palatable, 

 nutritious, nor digestible. If cut too soon, before the 

 buds have set on the stems, sometimes the succeeding 

 crop is seriously injured, for what reason is not yet 

 known. 



If possible, all of one crop should be cut down within 

 a week, seeing that it is all ready at one time. Thus the 

 hay is secured in best condition and the following crop 

 is benefited by being given the space in which to grow. 

 Wide cut mowers are convenient things in the alfalfa 

 field. After the hay is laid down the haymakers should 

 keep close watch, and as soon as it shows signs of dry- 

 ing and before the leaves will fall from the stems, it 



