1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
21 I 
ALFALFA IN KANSAS. 
Suggestions for Eastern Growers. 
I notice wkat you have to say, page 
133 of The R. N.-Y., on Alfalfa growing 
in the Bast. I think you will find that 
in many cases a modification of the 
methods suggested will bring better re¬ 
sults. In the dry regions of western 
Kansas, Spring seeding of Alfalfa is all 
right, but it usually results in a total 
failure in the eastern part of the State, 
where the rainfall is greater and the 
land older and well seeded with weeds. 
The conditions 'in eastern Kansas are 
similar to those in the Eastern States, 
and for both sections Fall seeding is 
usually advisable. When Alfalfa is 
seeded in the Spring on old lands re¬ 
ceiving a good rainfall it comes up 
thickly, and for a few weeks makes a 
vigorous growth. Then the weeds be¬ 
gin to bother. Repeated mowings will 
hold the weeds in check, but they will 
starve and kill many of the Alfalfa 
plants. The roots make a good growth, 
and if the weeds are kept well in hand 
the plants are in good condition at the 
beginning of Winter. The ground be¬ 
gins to heave under the action of the 
frost, the roots in this part of the soil 
rise with it, while the lower part of the 
roots remain stationary. The result is 
that the roots are torn in two, the plants 
killed, and in the Spring one can take 
hold of the tops and easily pull the 
plants out of the ground. 
Under usual eastern conditions I 
would advise Fall seeding. Plant some 
early maturii g crop on the land intend¬ 
ed for Alfalfa, and remove this crop as 
early in the season as possible, imme¬ 
diately plow the ground and thoroughly 
till it every 10 days through the Sum¬ 
mer. This tillage does two things for 
the Alfalfa—it destroys successive crops 
of weeds, making the land clean, and it 
stimulates the work of the nitrifying 
bacteria in the soil, supplying a large 
amount of available nitrogen. Young 
Alfalfa must have an easily available 
supply.of nitrogen; the older plants are 
gross feeders, and get their nitrogen 
from the air. Any time between August 
10 and September 10, after a good rain, 
sow the Alfalfa. It will grow until the 
ground freezes; the growth will not be 
hampered by weeds, and when the 
ground does freeze, the roots will not 
be of sufficient length to be torn apari 
by the heaving. The next year two to 
three crops of hay may be expected. 
Alfalfa is not suitable for most east¬ 
ern soils, but there are thousands of 
acres in the East on which it could be 
grown to great advantage. Last year 
our chemical department made diges¬ 
tion experiments with steers, taking 
the Alfalfa hay out of the mows where 
u was cured in regular field work, and 
found that it contained 15 per cent di¬ 
gestible protein, about 25 per cent more 
than is found in bran. Think what 
this means! On a farm in eastern Kan¬ 
sas, where the conditions are similar to 
those in the Middle and New England 
States, 40 tons of Alfalfa hay were har¬ 
vested from seven acres, feed equal in 
flesh and meat-producing value to 52 
tons of bran. It seems to me that every 
eastern farmer who can, should give 
Alfalfa a trial. It will not grow on 
wet undrained soils, but will probably 
give good returns on your loose well- 
drained soils, especially those that are 
somewhat sandy. I think the higher 
fields around Mr. Francisco’s farm at 
Montclair would be suited to Alfalfa, and 
there is considerable light land near 
Rhinebeck and Staatsburg, N. Y., that 
is adapted to this crop. 
Manhattan, Kan. h. m. cottkell. 
Wyoming now has a regular sheep boom, 
and this is causing much agitation con¬ 
cerning sheep-grazing on public lands. The 
cattlemen oppose it, and strife over the 
use of these ranges is bound to occur. The 
sheep boom is not due only to the rise in 
wool, but also to the increasing demand for 
mutton. People eat more mutton than they 
used to, and this is perhaps due in great 
part to the improvement in the quality of 
the meat, and the admirable way in which 
it is dressed and shipped. 
Tennessee Dairy Notes. 
I know from experience that the Jer¬ 
sey and Guernsey cattle will make, at 
all times, higher-colored butter than 
made from any other breed of dairy 
cattle. No feed that I have tried will 
make as yellow butter in Winter as in 
May or June—possibly cut-up clover 
hay, mixed with corn meal and bran, 
and some silage, will come nearer mak¬ 
ing yellow butter than other feeds. In 
our section, we graze on Winter barley, 
wheat or rye. This will make the yel¬ 
lowest butter, nearly like Summer but¬ 
ter. The market requires the butter to 
be as yellow in Winter as in Summer, 
and in consequence, most of the butter 
here in the Winter is colored. The 
greatest trouble our dairies here have 
is the butterine or oleomargarine sold. 
We have a city here of about 120,000 
people, and during this Winter 1,000 
pounds per day were sold in Nashville, 
the prices being for the best 20 cents, 
second quality 15 cents. 
I have a breeding herd of Jerseys, 
limited to 40 cows. I make about 13,000 
pounds of butter per year, selling the 
year around at 25 cents. It is retailed 
for 30 cents for eight months in the 
year, and for 25 cents during four 
months. There are two large dairies 
here, one makes about 20,000 pounds per 
year, at 20 cents; the other makes 
about 25,000 pounds per year, selling for 
25 cents the year through. Nashville 
gets its milk supply from about 150 
dairies, hauled in in milk wagons to 
the city. These milk from 20 to 75 cows 
each—mostly grade Jerseys. Many of 
them are delivering bottled milk, sell¬ 
ing for five and six cents per quart. 
We have a strict milk inspection in the 
city. Tennessee is destined to be a 
great dairy State, with practically only 
about three months of Winter—with 
best of Blue grass, hay and corn, and 
fine springs. m. m. Gardner. 
Peas and Oats tor Catch Crops 
Several Readers.—The Hope Farm man re¬ 
cently told of following corn in the Fall 
with a mixture of peas and oats to hold the 
ground during the Winter. Tell us more 
about It. How much seed is used? 
We have not yet tried this plan. We 
saw the crop growing on the farm of 
John Gould, in Ohio, two years ago. Mr. 
Gould tells the story as follows: 
Several years ago I became con¬ 
vinced that the cornfields should not 
remain bare all the Fall and Winter, 
leaching out and wasting good fertility, 
so began a series of experiments to see 
What would be best to put on in north¬ 
ern Ohio after corn. I have tried many 
things, and now think Canada peas and 
oats the best crop I can use, if they can 
be seeded by September 15, possibly as 
late as September 20. My plan is to sow 
as quickly as the corn is off the field, or 
in shocks, five pecks or Canada peas and 
iy 2 bushel of oats, broadcast, to the 
acre, and turn them 'in with a right-lap 
Cutaway harrow; though I suppose any 
deep-working harrow or disc would do, 
using a smoothing harrow afterwards. 
The best features of these grains are that 
frost injures neither one, and it takes 
killing freezes to stop their growth. If 
the weather is good, they make great 
growth in the Fall, the peas getting into 
blossom. As the peas are a legume 
crop, during their growth they are nitro¬ 
gen catchers, as well as taking up the 
surplus nitrates of the soil, of which 
corn leaves much unappropriated. This 
the peas and oats quickly take up and 
hold until Spring, when they liberate it 
in the humus decay. 
Even if killed down by midwinter, 
ihe peas and oats make a nice mulch 
upon the ground, and still prevent 
washing ot the soil, and in the Spring 
we have little trouble in incorporating 
it with the soil. I like them better than 
rye, as the latter is a starch-maker, not 
a legume, and does not add so much to 
the soil in plant food as do the oats and 
peas. At least, such is my belief. This 
Winter I have found several who sow 
common Red clover in the corn at the 
last working, and report it a great suc¬ 
cess, even if the land is needed for a 
crop the year following, the clover hav¬ 
ing added a large store oi fertility. Our 
oats and peas have, owing to our open 
Ohio Winter, made a brave fight, and 
were a green mass upon the ground 
February 1. 
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