568 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



1S83, says: "I consider alfalfa to be the most valuable forage plant 

 that can be used in this section of the country, that is the entire cotton 

 belt, or north of it, if the land is sandy without a clay subsoil too near 

 the surface. Planters are just beginning to find out its merits; and no 

 poverty of stock will ever occur where alfalfa is raised. In the summer 

 of 1881, when everything else was parched here with heat and drought, 

 this alone was prompt in its maturity for the mower. It should be cut 

 for hay when in blossom, and can easily be cut three or four times here, 

 wherever the land is in fairly good condition. 



" Those who do not succeed with it, sow it broadcast aud surrender it 

 to the hogs early in the season. Those who do succeed sow in drills, 

 18 inches apart and cultivate early." 



It will be seen that Mr. Sargent advises drills much wider than we 

 recommend, which I presume is to admit the horse hoe, but a quicker 

 crop undoubtedly would be got at 14 inches apart, and by use of the 

 hand u Universal Wheel Hoe," the work could be done on light soil 

 nearly as quickly as by horse cultivator. 



Alfalfa is extensively grown in Europe, particularly in France and 

 Germany, where it is considered a valuable crop for rotation, and is 

 classed by the French as one of the planies ameliorantes ; for in South- 

 ern France wheat has been successfully raised after six or seven years 

 of alfalfa on ground, which formerly had failed to give good crops of 

 wheat. Although alfalfa may be grown in cold latitudes as well as in 

 warm, as the plant is entirely hardy, yet its value is not so marked in 

 cold climates where it finds competitors in red clover and the grasses; 

 but in light soils, anywhere, particularly in warm climates, its deep- 

 rooting properties make it comparatively independent of moisture ; 

 hence it is the forage plant par excellence for the Southern States; and 

 when it is considered that immense sums are paid annually for baled 

 hay, by the Southern to the Northern States, not only for the hay itself, 

 but to freight it, the wonder is how long they will continue to do so, 

 with the material at hand to produce a better article at probably one- 

 fourth the cost. 



At the date of our writing, thousands in Florida and other Southern 

 States are engaged in the culture of oranges, and other fruits, and veg- 

 etables for the Northern markets — and while in specially favored loca- 

 tions success has attended these enterprises, yet it is doubtful if one in 

 four makes it profitable; while, with the culture of this valuable forage 

 plant, the vast sums paid for Northern hay would not only be saved, 

 but the products of the dairy would assume an importance which now, 

 among most farmers in the extreme Sointhern States, is altogether un- 

 known. 



