For the Southern States. 93 



weather, to cure for liay. Meanwliile a portion has been cut 

 almost daily for feeding- gie^ni, or soiling, IJsed in the latter way 

 {for under no circumstauces must it ever be pastured), I am able to 

 give my stor'k fresh, green food, fully four weeks before the na- 

 tive wild grasses commeoce to put out. I deem it best to cut the 

 day before, what is fed greeo, in order to let it become thoroughly 

 wilted before using. Aftf^r a large number of experiments with 

 horses, Diales, 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 preference to Alfalfa over every kind 

 of grass (also soiled) kDOwu in this region. And, while Alfalfa 

 makes a sweet and nutritious hay eagerly eaten by all kinds of 

 slock, it is <ns a forage plant for soiling, which is available lor at 

 least nine months in the year, that I esteem it so bigWy. The hay 

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

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

 morning, sunned for -mi 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 d y or two of hot sunshine. 



It has b^en my habit to precede the Alfalfa with a clean crop 

 — usually Eutabagas, after which I sow clay peas, to be turned 

 in about the last of July. About the middle of September or 

 later 1 have the land plowed, the turo-plow being followed by a 

 deep sub-soil plow or sc^ooter. After this the land is fertilized and 

 harrowed until it is thoroughly pulverized aud all lumps broken 

 up. The fertilizers employed by me are 500 lbs. fine bone-dust 

 (phosphate of lime) ami 1000 lbs. cottoii seed hull ashes per acre. 

 These ashes are very rich in potash aod j>hosphates, containing 

 nearly 45 i)er cent, of the pho8[fhat3 of lime — the two articles best 

 adapted to the wants of this plan:. I sow all my Alfalfa with the 

 Matthew's Seed Drill, in rows 10 inches apart. Broad-cast would 

 be preferable, if the land was perfectly free from grass and 

 weeds; bat, as it takes several years of clean culture to put the 

 land in this condition, sowing" in dribs is v>ractically the best. No 

 seed sower known to me can be compared with the Matthew's 

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

 rapidity that is astonishing; for ic opens the drill to any desired 

 depth, drops the vseed, covers and rolls them, and marks the line 

 for the next drill at one operation. I^ is simple and durable in its 

 structure, and is the gi eaters t labor- saving machine of its kind 

 ever devised for band- work. 



When my Alfalfa is about three inches liigh, I work it with the 

 M^itthew^s Hand Cultivator. First, the front tooth of the culti- 

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

 the grass cut ou^ close to the plant ; then the front tootii being 

 replaced, the cultivatoj- is passed between the rows, completely 

 cleaning the middles of all fou! growth. As often as required to 

 keep down grass, until the Alfalfa is large enough to cut, the 

 Matthew's Hand Cultivator is x>assed betweeu the rows. 



Alfalfa require* three years to reach perfection, out even the 

 first year the yield is larger tiian movst forage plants, and after 

 the second it is enormous. The land must, however, be made 



