1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
679 
CLOVER VS. ALFALFA FOR HOG PASTURE. 
Great Value of Alfalfa. 
A good many years ago it was my custom to pasture 
hogs on clover for other farmers who did not have the 
clover. Then the hog owners would turn their hogs 
out of the Winter feed lots on to the clover, till the 
stubble fields after harvest were ready for gleaning; 
if no stubble gleanings for them, they were allowed the 
run of the clover fields till new corn was ready for 
feeding. Often the hogs went out of the feed lots in 
excellent flesh and came back to corn with no added 
weight; they had exchanged flesh for muscular de¬ 
velopment. As a rule, then, the farmers were satisfied 
with this result, but from a business point of view 
there was nothing in it. Nor was there much in it for 
the pasture owner. Four hogs were considered suffi¬ 
cient for an acre, so the five months of the pasture 
season gave for the pasture $5. But the farmer 
thought this good land rent taken in connection with 
the beneficial results of the clover to the land. But 
now, with the increased land values, it is far from be¬ 
ing satisfactory, and the only way to get a paying re¬ 
turn is to feed the hogs grain while they are on the 
clover. 
Since the growing of Alfalfa comes in as a farm 
crop, attention has been turned to its value as swine 
pasture. Its wonderful drought-resisting powers make 
it particularly valuable for this purpose. In July and 
August, when the clover pastures are too often burned 
out and dried up and the hogs most need pasture, there 
is but a scanty supply for them. With the Alfalfa it is 
different. After the plants are two years old and 
have a strong hold on the soil droughty weather has 
but little influence on its growth. Coburn, in his work, 
says that 10 to 15 shotes weighing 30 to 60 pounds can 
be turned on an acre of Alfalfa in the Spring and 
should ordinarily during the season gain 100 pounds 
each, and that this will not keep the Alfalfa down, but 
that it will be better for mowing the same as for hay, 
as it will start up fresh and green after the mowing. 
As compared with clover, this appears to be an ex¬ 
aggerated showing. , 
In this part of southern central Ohio Alfalfa is rap¬ 
idly coming into favor and use, both for hay and 
pasture. A near neighbor has six or seven acres that I 
think has been sown four years. While it was sown 
mainly for hay, this last Spring it was necessary to use 
it for swine and horse pasture. At the opening of the 
pasture season 70 Spring pigs, with some half dozen of 
their dams, 12 horses and three calves were turned on 
the field. The horses—a part of them—were in daily 
use for work on the farm. They were kept on the 
Alfalfa for their pasture ration till after wheat har¬ 
vest, when they could go out on the stubble fields. I 
saw the Alfalfa soon after horses were taken off. It 
then had about a four-inch growth and did not appear 
to be at all injured by carrying such a large number 
of animals. The shotes were slopped and fed a small 
quantity of grain in a pen adjoining the field. The 
continued tramping going in and out the field had de¬ 
stroyed the plants on but a very small area. Now that 
the horses have been on the field for a few weeks the 
Alfalfa is growing away from the 
shotes, some of them now weighing 
140 pounds each. The last few days of 
June I visited another neighbor who 
has a field of three-year-old Alfalfa. 
The last of March he turned on this 
field 90 early pigs with their dams. Later 
he turned on 28 more pigs. At the time 
I saw them they would average 50 to 60 
pounds. The dams had been removed 
at weaning time from the pigs. The 
118 shotes at the time of my visit were 
being fed two bushels of corn per day 
and were in fine growing condition. 
Recently the owner told me that he 
thought the Alfalfa would carry them 
till September 1. At the lime I saw the 
i eld the end next the feeding place was 
grazed very close, but as distance in¬ 
creased from this place the Alfalfa im¬ 
proved so much that the end farthest 
away, one-half to three-fourths of an 
acre, would mow a good swath. For 
the good of the Alfalfa the number of hogs was too 
great, but as the farm passes into other hands March 
1 next, the present manager has no further interest 
m the Alfalfa, than to get all he can from it this 
season. 
Another farmer adjoining this one has four acres, 
Tom which he cut two crops of hay this season, and 
then turned on 40 hogs; he assured me that he thought 
he would get another cutting of hay. This field was 
sown one year ago last Spring. Allowing that hogs 
or shotes the size mentioned by Mr. Coburn will gain 
100 pounds each during the season, and we cut the 
number to 10 per acre, we have 1,000 pounds of pork 
from an acre, which at present price of live hogs on 
the farm, six cents per pound, will give a return of 
$60 per acre. Another grower, five miles distant, claims 
that this estimate is not excessive, but practicable. 
Ross Co., Ohio. john m. jamison. 
TWO WATER PROBLEMS CONSIDERED. 
The spring on the hillside is connected with the water- 
box in barnyard at a distance of 200 feet by half-inch gal¬ 
vanized pipe. The fall is probably 20 feet. Pipe two years 
old. First year no trouble: now we have to use force pump 
at the water-box end to force the water back every other 
day in order to get a flow, which is good and strong while 
it lasts. Where is the trouble, and how rectified? 
New Jersey. H. M. G. 
It is difficult, from the information given by H. M. 
Gi, to say just what may be the difficulty in his case. 
If the pipe has begun rusting on the inside there might 
possibly be some irregularity, at some point in the 
LARGE PURPLE FRINGED ORCHIS. FiG. 288. 
See Ruralisms, Page 682. 
pipe, which allows the rust to collect and ultimately 
stop the flow, but if this is true the character of the 
water should indicate the fact; that is, the water should 
be turbid with rust, at least after each time of forcing 
water back from the lower end. It sometimes happens 
that a fungus growth develops in spring water, form¬ 
ing on the inside of the walls of the pipe and ulti¬ 
mately clogging them. If this were the case the only 
way to clear it out, without taking it up, would be to 
slip a hose over the upper end of the pipe and pour 
through it a very strong solution of caustic soda or 
concentrated lye. This is very soluble, and would en¬ 
tirely wash out, so as to leave no permanent effect on 
the water. If the pipe is practically straight from 
INTERIOR OF A LARGE MOGHOUSE. Fig. 289. 
end to end, or only very gentle bends in it, it is possi¬ 
ble that a rather stiff wire could be run through it, 
and then, by taking hold of the two ends, it could be 
sawed back and forth so as to clear out some possible 
accumulation of sediment .or other obstruction which 
would restore the original flow and leave it perma¬ 
nent, or comparatively so. The statements of your 
correspondent make it appear that somewhere in the 
pipe an obstruction has occurred which allows the 
water to escape from below it faster than it can pass 
above it. If this is true, and especially if the lower 
end of the pipe is under water, the tendency would 
be for it to act like a long siphon, and under the di¬ 
minished pressure permit the air which is carried by 
the water gradually to escape from it and collect below 
It has been my strong belief for many 
years that lime was one of the essen¬ 
tial things for the farmer to use. I vis¬ 
ited’ a farm several months ago where 
the owner has a lime kiln on the farm. 
Last Winter he was drawing and com¬ 
pletely covered the ground with freshly 
burned lime. I do not think that was 
the best thing to .do. In the year 1901, 
about the first of May, we put on two 
tons of lime per acre except about two 
acres in the center of a field. In the 
Spring of 1901 the lime was spread on sod. We let it 
lie for one year, then plowed and planted to corn; 1903 
planted potatoes; 1904 oats, and seeded in the Fall with 
Timothy. Red-top and clover. Plots 2 and 3 were 
mowed July 12, and by actual measurement and weight 
the results were: Plot No. 2 gave 4,060 pounds (no 
lime) per acre; No. 3 (limed) gave 9,792 per acre; 
difference in favor of No. 3, 5,732, or nearly three tons 
in favor of limed land. These plots were in the same 
field side bv side, no difference in cultivation, fertilizer 
or care. The above hay was weighed July 14, dry and 
in fine condition to house, as it was put in our new 
stone barn, which is the largest stone barn in the United 
States. J. v. b. 
Rhinebeck, N. Y, 
GOOD RESULTS FROM LIME. 
Hay Crop Improved. 
the obstruction until the flow is entirely cut off, on the 
same principle of air collecting in the bend of the 
siphon. If this is the case the obstruction might possi¬ 
bly be removed by drawing a wire through the pipe. 
If this cannot be done it might be well, immediately 
after the flow is started again, to reduce the rate of 
discharge by introducing, at the lower end, an ob¬ 
struction and see whether, under this condition, the 
flow would not continue for a longer period. It ought 
to continue for a longer period if the siphon principle 
is the difficulty. If the difficulty is from rusting in the 
pipe I know of no remedy other than substituting a 
larger pipe or replacing this with lead. The pipe is 
so short that it seems likely that water would not re¬ 
main in it long enough to injure the water in any 
way from any action which is likely to take place on 
the lead if a lead pipe were substituted. 
What can be done with a well 23 feet deep, stoned tip, 
that fills with quicksand to the depth of three or four feet 
so that water cannot be drawn? The well is near the 
edge of the old river bank, which Is between 30 and 4o 
feet high, with a cove at the foot of the bank, and the 
present river one-fourth mile away. The soil is a grifvelly 
loam. Wells have been dug farther back with the same 
trouble as regards quicksand. Is it best to drive from the 
bottom of the well, or can it be fixed in some way? 
Wimoosky, Vt. H. E. C. 
If there is a water-bearing stratum of coarser tex¬ 
ture than the layer of quicksand which gives trouble the 
proper treatment would be to shut off the quicksand 
by a curbing, and either deepen the well sufficiently to 
give the desired amount of water, or drive down from 
the bottom of the well one or more drive-points until 
the desired amount of water is secured. If, as is quite 
possible and even probable, the stratum of quicksand is 
the only water-bearing layer within easy reach, the 
proper treatment would be to clean out the well to the 
underlying hardpan, and provide a curbing in the form 
of a perforated galvanized iron cylinder small enough 
in diameter to leave six or eight inches of space be¬ 
tween it and the walls of the well, and then fill this 
space with comparatively fine sand containing a good 
deal of gravel coarse enough so that they cannot be 
washed through the perforations into the well, the 
object being to provide a strainer which will hold 
back the quicksand. This statement is made on the 
supposition that in stoning up the well, the quicksand 
had been entirely passed through and the stone laid on 
the hardpan beneath. The perforations may be best 
made with a sharp tool having a cutting edge, making 
the perforations in the form of slits one or more inches 
long, the slits being vertical and cut from the inside of 
the cylinder. Care should be taken that the slits are 
not open too widely. The rows of slits need not be 
nearer together than V/ 2 to two inches. If the quick¬ 
sand is not too fine it is possible that a number of 
strainer points might be driven into the quicksand 
and all of them connected with the suction pipe, but 
where the sand is very fine it is not practicable to pro¬ 
vide strainer cloth having fine enough mesh to hold 
the sand back under the suction required to supply an 
ordinary pump working at the usual rate. Where there 
are several points which may supply a single suction 
pipe the pressure on the individual points is propor¬ 
tionally less when a given quantity of 
water is to be supplied. It must be re¬ 
membered, however, that drive points 
are never very satisfactory except when 
they are sunk in comparatively coarse 
material. f. h. king. 
