502 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



We sold the alfalfa hay for $20 a ton in the field 

 and mowed it five or six times a year, although the 

 midsummer cuttings might yield little hay because 

 of heat and drouth. Through an accident Mr. Blair 

 was unable to continue the administration and C. E. 

 Speed carried on the work. We disked and har- 

 rowed the alfalfa twice or more during the year and 

 it retained its thrift perfectly. , We plowed some 

 alfalfa sod and planted it to corn. That yielded 

 more than 80 bushels to the acre. 



Alfalfa had shown the way to soil redemption of 

 all of this vast delta region, shown the way to peo- 

 ple the land with intelligent, home-making farmers. 

 Under Mr. Speed's administration we grew alfalfa, 

 peanuts, corn, soy beans, cowpeas, pigs, goats and 

 cattle. He made the place pay handsomely until 

 the Scots sold it to go into rice planting. I know 

 of no more splendid illustration of what alfalfa can 

 do in the way of soil restoration than this, but there 

 are few soils with enough lime, potash and phos- 

 phorus already in them. I have nowhere else seen 

 a soil that would not smile when tickled with stable 

 manure and alfalfa roots. For such things this soil 

 seemed ungrateful. 



There was much sandy loam on a neighboring 

 plantation. This was reputed to be unfit for alfalfa. 

 We learned that it was not naturally inoculated, so 

 we had an Italian tenant inoculate and sow a field. 

 The result was magnificent and the alfalfa grew 

 taller than usual on our so-called buckshot soil. 

 Later my friend, Mrs. Vinyard Scott, sowed alfalfa 



