1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
445 
SUCCESSFUL CALIFORNIA ALFALFA 
I see so many inquiries in The R. N-Y., 
concerning the growing of Alfalfa that I 
thought I would give some of my ex¬ 
perience. When I came here three years 
ago from New Mexico, I was told Alfalfa 
grew here to perfection, but when I came 
to put up the hay, I found I got about two- 
thirds as much hay at five cuttings as I did 
in New Mexico at three, and I thought 
different. Upon examination of the roots 
I found small bunches which I suppose 
were the bacteria, but they were not very 
plentiful, and after the weather became 
hot and the rains ceased, I could not find 
any. I was told that a top-dressing of 
gypsum (land plaster) would increase the 
yield, but it seemed to me a joke to talk 
about fertilizing Alfalfa, as in New 
Mexico all we needed do to a piece of 
poor land was to run it in Alfalfa two 
or three years to put it in- shape to grow 
anything. But I thought I would try it 
anyway, so I got a ton and spread it on 
different parts of the field from 150 to 
500 pounds per acre, and the result was 
about three times as much hay of a much 
better color and quality than on the parts 
not treated. Now I am satisfied the bac¬ 
teria are present in the soil, for those 
who have used nitrogen on their seed 
have had no good results so far as I can 
learn. Gypsum costs here $6.50 per ton, 
and 200 pounds per acre seems to be 
about the right amount to apply. I have 
never seen any Alfalfa do well on shal¬ 
low soil, or where water stood near the 
surface, nor where any water could stand 
and freeze in winter. s. E. k. 
Dinuba, California. 
R. N-Y.—The action of land plaster or 
sulphate of lime in the soil should be ex¬ 
plained frequently so that farmers will 
not class it with fertilizers which add 
plant food to the soil. While lime and 
sulphur, which the plaster contains, are 
needed by plants, most soils contain 
ample supplies. We do not use plaster 
for its plant food, but because it acts 
upon the soil to make potash available. 
Potash is present in the soil in the form 
of silicate, that is, in combination with 
silica. The plaster acts to some extent 
to break up these combinations and set 
the potash free so that plants can utilize 
it. Thus 'in this 'California Alfalfa field 
the plaster made more potash available 
and thus indirectly helped the Alfalfa. 
Probably plaster also acts to some extent 
to free phosphoric acid in much the same 
way. It is now thought that the former 
extensive use of plaster, especially upon 
clover, was based on this action. Farmers 
merely saw that the plaster helped the 
clover, but did not know why or how. 
Naturally they thought the plaster acted 
directly as plant food. Really it was part 
of a fertilizer factory in the soil, and 
helped mostly by setting potash free. 
Why then not use more of it and thus 
obtain cheap potash from the soil ? All 
old farmers know that after a time plas¬ 
ter failed to give these striking results. 
Why? Because the combinations of pot- j 
ash which the plaster could unlock were 
exhausted—thus continued use of it failed ! 
to show results. We can easily see how j 
on that California soil plaster is all that 
is needed now. It will not always be 
so and farmers on other soil should not 
think it will do the same for them. 
Concrete for Well Curbing. 
S. F. H., Tuscaloosa, Ala .—IIow would 
concrete do for well 30 feet deep, instead of 
bricks, to wall It up? How thick should the 
coating be to make it as safe as bricks? I 
want to dig about that depth, and make It 
a driven well by driving pipe about 15 feet 
more to the water. What difficulty might 1 
encounter in doing this? 
Ans.— Concrete makes an ideal curb¬ 
ing for a well where there are no diffi¬ 
culties of installing it, and if the well is 
circular in section and of the ordinary 
diameter, a thickness of four inches will 
give ample strength. If there are no 
rocks or large stones encountered, there 
should be no difficulty in driving a well 
point 15 or more feet to water. In the 
use of a well point it should be remem¬ 
bered that where they must obtain their 
supply of water from comparatively fine 
sand capacity of well must be small. 
Where the material is coarse enough to 
permit a No. 50 strainer to be used, an 
18-inch drive point would supply about a 
pailful of water per minute under a water 
pressure of eight feet. If a No. 80 
strainer would have to be used the rate 
of supply would be less than 10 pounds of 
water per minute; while if a No. 90 
strainer must be used the supply could 
only be less than three pounds. More 
exactly stated, the ratio of the three sizes 
would be, under eight feet of water pres¬ 
sure: 26.4 pounds per minute for No. 
50, 8.8 pounds for No. 80, 2.3 pounds for 
No. 90. Doubling the length of the drive 
well point would about double the ca¬ 
pacity of the well point provided the full 
length of the well point was in the water 
bearing stratum of the same degree of 
coarseness. f. n. king. 
Maple Orchard is Not “ Wood.” 
W. M. Wilton, N. II .—If I buy the wood 
on a wood lot at auction and on one side of 
the lot (and joining it) there is a maple 
sugar orchard, can I cut it down, the same 
as the other wood? Nothing said about it 
at the auction. 
Ans.— In answering the enclosed in¬ 
quiry it would be my judgment that a 
maple orchard would not naturally be in¬ 
cluded. If the latter was to be included it 
should have been mentioned. Of course, 
technical points like this are likely to 
arise and the general understanding of 
the parties might have been clear when 
the transaction was made, but one can¬ 
not be any too careful in plainly setting 
forth the exact conditions. Had the sale 
been made of "all the wood on a farm,” I 
doubt not that the sugar grove would 
come in under this head. f. wm, rane. 
For the land’s sake use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers.—They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
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THE SEPARATOR THAT 
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Randolph & ('anal Sts* 
CHICAGO 
1213 & 1 1 15 Filbert St, 
PHILADELPHIA 
Drtinim & Sacramento Sts. 
SAN FRANCISCO 
General Offices: 
74 Cortland St. 
NEW YORK. 
173-177 William Street 
MONTREAL 
11 Sc 10 Prlneen. Street 
WINNIPEG 
107 First Street 
PORTLAND,OREC. 
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THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS HARNESS HORSE FARM 
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THOMAS & SMITH) 
t 
HUBBARD S FERTILIZERS SUIT I 
as evinced by many 
letters which this from 
a customer in Rhode 
Island is a fair example 
Send for 1907 Almanac and Prices. 
THE ROGERS 
Fertilizer Manufacturers 
IT’S A PLEASURE TO HUSK THE CORN. 
Tub Kou.krs & Hubbard Co. t Middletown, Conn. 
Gentlemen:—This is my second vear with Hubbard’s 
Fertilizers, and I am obliged to say that I cannot find any 
fault with them. 
I am raising an elegant crop of Corn on pasture land 
with Hubbard's Soluble Corn and General Crops Manure. 
I find ittoo strong to use in the hill, but when broadcasted 
: he Corn comes up, and then it grows and matures ears that 
make husking a pleasure. 
I have as fine a crop of Potatoes this vear on brush land 
as I would wish to sue. raised with 800 lbs. per ucre of 
Hubbard’s Market Garden Phosphate. 
& HUBBARD CO. 
_MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
