For the Southern States. 137 



daily for fo3din,q- green, or soiling. Used in the latter way (for under 

 no circumstances must it ever-be pastured), I am able to give my stock 

 fresh, green food, fully four weeks before the native wild grasses com- 

 mence 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. After 

 a large number of experiments with horses, mules, cattle and swine, I 

 can aver that in no instance, from March to November, have I found 

 a case when any of these animals would not give the prefercnre to Al- 

 falfa over every kind of grass (also soiled) known in this region. And, 

 while Alfalfa makes a sweet and nutritious hay eagerly eaten by all 

 kinds of st03k, 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 

 is easily cured, if that which is cut in the forenoon is thrown into small 

 cocks at noon, then spread out after the dew is off next morning- 

 sunned for an hour, and at once hauled into the barn. By this method 

 the leaves do not fall off, which is sure to be the case, if the Alfalfa is 

 exposed to a day or two of hot sunshine. 



It has been my habit to precede the Alfalfa, with a clean crop — 

 usually Rutabagas, after which I sow clay peas, to be turned in about 

 the last of July. About the middle of September or later I have the 

 land plowed, the turn-plow being followed by a deep sub-soil plow or 

 scooter. After this the land is fertilized and harrowed until it is thor- 

 oughly pulverized and all lumps broken up. The fertilizers employed 

 by me are 500 lbs, fine bone-dust (phosphate of lime) and 1000 lbs. cot- 

 ton seed hull ashes per acre. These ashes are very rich in potash 

 and phosphates, containing nearly 45 percent, of the phosphate of lime 

 — the two articles best adapted to the wants of this plant. I sow all 

 my Alfalfa with the Matthews' Seed Drill, in row^s 10 inches apart. 

 Broad-cast would be preferable, if the land was perfectly free from 

 grass and weeds ; but, as it takes several years of clean culture to put 

 the land in this condition, sowing in drills is practically the best. No 

 seed sower known to me can be compared with the Matthews' 3(?ed 

 Drill. Its work is evenly and regularly done, and with a rapidity 

 that is astonishing; for it opens the drill to any desired depth, drops 

 the seed, covers and rolls them, and marks the line for the next drill 

 at one operation. It is simple-and durable in its structure, and is the 

 greatest labor-saving machine of its kind over devised for hand-work. 



When my Alfalfa is about three inches high, I work it with the Mat- 

 thews' Hand Cultivator. First, the front tooth of the cultivator is 

 taken out, by which means the row is straddled and all the grass cut 

 out close to the plant ; then the front tooth being replaced, the culti- 

 vator is passed betw-een the rows, completely cleaning the middles of 

 all foul growth. As often as reiiuired to keep down grass, until the 

 Alfalfa is large enough to cut, the Matthews' Hand (^ultivator is 

 passed between the rows. 



Alfalfa requires three years to roach perfection, but even the first 

 year the yield is larger than most forage plants, and after the second 

 it is enormous. The land must, however, be made rich at first; atop- 

 dressing every three years is all that will thereafter be required. The 

 seed must be very lightly covered, and should be rolled, or brushed 

 in, if not sowed with a Matthews' Seed Sower. 



