FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



117 



Transplanting Forks, (Steel) $0 35 



(Malleablel ron) 20c. and 25 



English Bill or Briar Hooks 1 25 



Lang's Hand Weeder 25 



Toy Spades 40 



Toy Shovels 50 



Fork Handles 15 



Hoe Handles 10c. and 20 



Rake Handles 15 



Spade and Shovel Handles 20 



Trowbridge's Grafting Wax per lb. 40c. ; per 4 lb 15 



Scotch Whetstones .' 20 



American Indian Pond Whetstones 10 



American Berea Whetstone 10 



Darby Creek Whetstone 10 



French Whetstone IS 



Hammer and Anvil for beating French Scythes 1 50 



Rafiia, (for tymg) per 4 lb. 10c. ; per lb., 30 



Having received many enquiries on the culture of Alfalfa, I reprint the following letter, 

 written by E. M. Hudson, Esq., a close observer on the subject, to give information thereon: 



ViniiA Feiedheum, 

 Mobile County, Ala., September hh, 1878. 



Mr. R. Fbotscher, New Orleans, La. 



Dear Sir: — Your letter of the 3d inst. has 

 just reached me, and I cheerfully comply with 

 your request to give you the results of my ex- 

 periments with Lucerne or Alfalfa, and my 

 opinion of it as a forage plant for the South. 



I preface my statement with the observation 

 that my experiments have been conducted on 

 a naturally poor, piney woods soil (which 

 would be classed as a sandj^ soil, varying in 

 depth from six inches to one foot. But I have 

 good red clay sub-soil, which enables the soil 

 to retain the fertilizers applied to it, thus ren- 

 dering it susceptible of permanent enrichiag. 



Three years since, when my attention was 

 fli*st directed to Alfalfa, I sought the advice of 

 the editor of the Journal of Progress, Professor 

 SteUe, who informed me that, after attempt- 

 ing for several years to cultivate it, he had de- 

 sisted. He stated that the plant, at Citronelle, 

 in this county, died out every summer, not 

 being able to withstand the hot suns of our 

 climate. Discouraged, but not dismayed, I 

 determined to test the matter on a small scale 

 at first. Having procured some seeds in March, 

 1876, I planted them on a border in my gar- 

 den, and gave neither manure nor work that 

 season. The early summer here that year was 

 very dry; there was no rain whatever from 

 the firstof June to the 23d of July, and from 

 the 2d of August to the 15th of November 

 not a drop of rain fell on my place. Yet, dur- 

 ing all this time, my Alfalfa i-emained fresh, 

 bloomed, and was cut two or three times. On 

 the 1st of November I dug some of it to exam- 

 ine the habit of root growth, and to my aston- 

 ishment found it necessary to go twenty-two 

 inches below the surface to reach anything 

 like the end of the top roots. At once it was 

 apparent that the plant was, by its very habit 

 of growth, adapted to hot and dry climates. It 

 is indeed a "child of the sun." 



Encouraged by this experiment, in which I 

 purposely refraiaed from giviag the Alfalfa 



any care beyond cutting it occasionally, last 

 year I proceeded on a larger scale, planting 

 both spring and fall, as I have done again this 

 year, to ascertain the best season for putting 

 in the seed. My experience teaches that ther« 

 is no jjreference to be given to spring sowings 

 over those of autumn, provided only, there b© 

 enough moisture in the soil to make the seed 

 germinate, which they do more quickly and 

 more surely than the best turnips. Two win- 

 ters have proved to me that the Alfalfa re- 

 mains green throughout the winter in this 

 latitude, twenty-five miles north of Mobile, 

 and at an altitude of 400 feet above tide-water. 

 Therefore I should prefer fall sowkig, which 

 will give the first cutting from the 1st of March 

 to the 1st of April following. This season my 

 first cutting was made on the 1st of Apiil; and 

 I have cut it since regularly every four or six 

 weeks, according to the weather, to cure for 

 hay. Meanwhile a portion has been cut al- 

 most daily for feeding green, or soiling. Used 

 in the latter way {for under no circumstances 

 must it ever be pastured), I am able to give 

 my stock fiesh, green food, fully four weeks 

 before the native wild grasses commence to 

 put out. I deem it best to cut the day before, 

 what is fed green, in order to let it become 

 thoroughly wilted before using. Mter a large 

 number of experiments with horses, mules, 

 cattle and swine, I can aver that in no in- 

 staace, from March to November, have I 

 found a case when any of these animals would 

 not give the preference to Alfalfa over every 

 kind of grass (also soiled) known ia this re- 

 gion. And, while Alfalfa makes a sweet and 

 nutritious hay eagerly eaten by all kinds of 

 stock, it is as a forage plant for soiling, which 

 is available for at least nine months in the 

 year, that I esteem it so highly. The hay w 

 easily cured, if that which is cut in the fore- 

 noon is thrown into small cocks at noon, then 

 spread out after the dew is off next morning, 



