1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
123 
WHAT AILED THE ALFALFA? 
A Consultation of Soil Doctors. 
On page 59 W. H. Heaton of Rhode Island told of his 
HYorts to obtain a stand of Alfalfa. lie asked for advice, 
and it is corning in large measure. The following samples 
are reliable. It would cost a fat sum of money to obtain 
equally reliable experience on a legal or medical problem. 
It is supposed, and I presume rightly,, that it will injure 
the crop to permit it to go to seed, but I believe that it 
is equally important to allow it to, at least, approach 
maturity. When the field begins to bloom, say 30 
per cent of its plants blooming, yellow leaves will ap¬ 
pear near the ground, and a general suggestion of 
maturity will show throughout. Then is the time to 
trying Alfalfa on soil that lacks humus. If you can 
succeed in forcing Alfalfa ahead of the accompanying 
weed growth to a condition approaching maturity there 
is no doubt of success; but don’t clip it until it is ma¬ 
ture—weeds or no weeds. faucon. 
Clarksville, Mo. 
“WHAT IS HOME WITHOUT A MOTHER?” Fig. 53. 
It Was Clipped Too Early. 
I made my first sowing of Alfalfa in the Spring of 
1S93, and since that time have seeded many new pieces. 
I have made a close study of the Alfalfa crop, as we 
find it in our locality. My observation has taught me 
that the plant is one that must be treated in certain 
ways to succeed. Perhaps some of my observations 
might help H. W. Heaton to understand why his 
Alfalfa failed. In the first place, I notice that he says 
about the middle of June it was mowed, and that the 
plants were eight to 12 inches high; as it was sown 
in the last of April it would be not over six weeks from 
seeding. I discovered several years ago that in using 
the Alfalfa for soiling, where we began to mow it off 
early in the season before the plants had attained 
sufficient maturity, it would act as he describes; 
that is, it would seem to be weakened and would 
never afterward make a good growth, and would finally 
run out. In this case we had a good chance for com¬ 
parison, as we mowed small areas every day. We 
found that after a certain stage of maturity was reached 
it was not injured, but seemed to be improved by 
cutting. In this case we had the strips mown early and 
injured standing by the side of that cut later and doing 
well. This seemed to me very strong evidence that 
it would not do to mow off the Alfalfa crop until it 
had reached sufficient age. Then, again, ill cutting Al¬ 
falfa for hay we have found that there is a right time 
to cut it to get the best growth of the following crop. 
That is, if it is allowed to stand beyond a certain 
time the growth of the succeeding crops will be very 
much reduced, so if you would get the best crops pos¬ 
sible, each one must be cut when in the best condition. 
You may ask how can you keep down the weeds until 
the Alfalfa gets a start. I will give you the plan which 
I have adopted, and I have never yet failed to get a 
good stand of Alfalfa. I sow broadcast three pecks 
of oats per acre, and work them into the soil before 
seeding with the Alfalfa, which is sown when the soil 
is in the finest condition possible, and lightly covered. 
When the oats have reached the milky stage the Al¬ 
falfa will be 15 or 20 inches high. At this time we mow 
and cure for hay, which gives a nice crop of hay the 
first season. In our climate this one mowing is all that 
is necessary; the Alfalfa makes a good growth after¬ 
wards, and goes into the Winter in good shape. We 
always cut three crops the second season, 
and it will improve in yield for three or 
four years. d. r. pease. 
Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
Try Again on Same Field. 
I have been watching the spread of this 
most valuable plant, in a cultural wav, 
from the Pacific to the Atlantic in this 
country. Alfalfa cannot stand our acid soil. 
Most of the soil in New England is no 
doubt too strongly acid, according to au¬ 
thentic reports. Our correspondent plowed 
under the lime he applied. There were no 
root nodules. I suggest that he try again 
on the same piece of land. Put on more 
lime, using a carbonate preferably; wood 
ashes will furnish this. Then proceed 
otherwise as before. The method followed 
is certainly correct in the main. The 
writer has a half acre plot of Alfalfa on 
trial on the farm of W. A. Henry & Son. 
near Wallingford, Connecticut. It is too 
early to make any statements indicating 
success, but the Alfalfa plants have an 
abundance of fine large nodules on the 
roots—as large as I ever saw anywhere. 
We used inoculated soil obtained from 
F. E. Dawley, Onondaga Co., N. Y., just 
as your correspondent did. I deem it vital 
to neutralize the acidity of the soil, to 
supply the proper germs to the roots, to 
have the soil rich in lime, phosphorus 
and potassium, and use a large amount of 
good seed on a given area. Alfalfa grow¬ 
ing is not difficult in parts of New York 
State, as the fine fields about Syracuse 
show. I have seen only one good and one fair piece 
of Alfalfa in Connecticut. There have been many 
failures there. I still believe Alfalfa can be grown in 
New England, but if it is success will only come 
through close attention to all factors in the problem. 
iWis. Experiment Station. w. a. henry. 
A Missouri Man Shows How. 
My own experience leads lge to believe that Mr. 
Heaton killed hi? crop when he clipped it the fir?! time 
FROM THE LAND WHERE SFONGES GROW. Fig. 52. 
cut and not before. The experimenters tell you to clip 
the crop to keep down the weed growth. There is noth¬ 
ing in that. The second crop of weeds will come just 
as rapidly as the second crop of Alfalfa, and you have 
hurt the Alfalfa far more than the weeds, because it is 
more tender. Let it mature along with the weeds and 
take its chances with them. This year I purpose plant¬ 
ing cow peas, and in late August or September get rid 
of them and sow Alfalfa. I hope by this means to get rid 
of a lot of the weed growth, though I fear I shall have 
the worst of all Alfalfa foes to contend against—Fox-tail. 
My experience further leads me to believe that the right 
sort of inoculation for Alfalfa is the inoculation of 
the manure pile. I have tried the Government yeast 
and formula, but found no benefit whatever. My crop 
was choked out by weeds and Fox-tail. My best Al¬ 
falfa field, one that yields an annual crop of six tons 
per acre, is on land so sour • that blue litmus paper 
turns pink when it thinks of testing it. I am satisfied 
that securing a stand of Alfalfa is dependent solely upon 
physical and not upon chemical conditions—given rich 
land to start with Pon’t waste time and money by 
THE SPONGE INDUSTRY IN FLORIDA. 
Tarpon Springs, Fla., is now the seat of the larg¬ 
est sponge industry in the world. Fifteen years ago 
the business was started here, attaining its present 
importance at the time of the Spanish-American War, 
when, for safety, almost the entire Key West sponge 
fleet made this their headquarters, and here they 
have remained. There are now seven large packing 
houses here, and the business foots up $500,000 annu¬ 
ally, employing 3,000 men and nearly 200 vessels. The 
cleansed sponges are sold first hand piled on the 
shore in bunches, bringing from $6 to $12 per bunch, 
according to quality, each bunch weighing from two 
to two and one-half pounds. The Rock Island sheep’s- 
wool sponge here obtained is the most durable wool 
sponge in the world. The large sponges of this sort 
seen in the hands of the men in the picture, Fig. 52, 
bleached, retail iii the Tampa drug stores for $2.50 
each. The demand for sponges far exceeds the sup¬ 
ply, and prices of the higher grades have about doubled, 
so that although the “catch” is not one-half what it 
has been the net financial results are about the same. 
Sponge planting has been successfully established here 
scientifically, but as yet has not proved commercially 
profitable. 
The waters of the Gulf of Mexico are so clear 
that the spongers hook, the sponge from the surface, 
working in water 50 feet in depth. Greek divers have 
been introduced, and have proved so apt in every 
respect that already native American divers are being 
broken in to displace them. They expect to be able 
to operate in their diving suits in 100 feet of water, 
and to discover new fields. Though all farmers, liv¬ 
erymen and automobilists, use sponges, it may be said 
that the subject is but little understood. One encyclo¬ 
pedia gives 17 columns to the topic. It is claimed that 
the animals have sense-organs. Speaking with an in¬ 
telligent American diver just up from the bottom, who 
receives $200 per month, and found, for four hours’ 
daily work, he said he believed sponges had sense- 
organs. for he had noticed that if for any reason after 
touching the sponge he delayed tearing it away it seemed 
actually to resist being pulled, making it harder to 
separate it from the rock. It seems improbable that 
anything will be invented that will satisfactorily take the 
place of the sponge. The so-called rubber sponge does not. 
The streets of Tarpon Springs are littered 
with sponge refuse, which has no fertilizing 
value, being a form of silica or sand. It may 
be used to a limited extent as a mulch for 
fruit trees, but too much of it is dangerous 
on account of the salt contained therein. 
J. YATES PEEK. 
DAIRY NOTES ABOUT ICE. 
There are many dairy farmers who regard 
an icehouse as a luxury. There ought to 
be on every farm an icehouse large enough 
for the needs of the farm. An unused 
building can be converted into one at little 
expense. If you are going to build one 
select a handy spot, that is, to where you 
wish to use the ice. The ground should 
be well drained. Build with 2x6 stud¬ 
ding, covering inside and out with matched 
stuff or use straight edge boards and 
fill the space with sawdust, tanbark or sim¬ 
ilar material. Have a ventilator in the top, 
that warm air rising may pass out. Cut 
your ice in rectangular cakes, but so that 
you can break joints with every layer, and 
the ice will keep much better. Trim the 
edges straight and have them fit like brick¬ 
work. Fill cracks with snow or pounded 
ice and cover top well with sawdust or 
bog hay. In a small house it is better to 
keep the ice six inches from the walls oil 
all sides and fill in with sawdust. Plan for 
a building a little larger than you think you 
need, as it is very convenient to have 
plenty of ice, and it costs but little to put 
in in the Winter. 
Get your ice from a dam or lake if possible, supplied 
from running springs or brooks. Avoid stagnant water. 
If you want to have fresh meat equal to any out 
of the butchers’ cooler, have a galvanized can made, 
say one foot wide by two feet high with cover. Cut 
up a quarter of beef or more, put in this can. Have the 
can in a tub a little higher than the can and two feet 
in diameter. Set can in center and pack crushed jgq 
around it. Cover with thick sack? and renew fee every 
two day?, drawing pff the. water, h, ci, Manchester, 
