1908. 
WESTERN MEN ON ALFALFA. 
All Right in Kansas. 
In answer to F. M. C., Plainfield, N. J., page 40, 
will say I have been experimenting with Alfalfa in 
eastern Kansas for eight or 10 years. Three years 
ago I sowed about one acre in September; had a good 
stand except a few yards square on one corner, which 
was almost a total failure. I did not see any reason 
for the failure. I had a little more than a pint of seed 
left after seeding in Fall. Some time about first of 
April I scattered this seed over this corner without 
any preparation of soil; did not work seed into soil in 
any way, and got a good stand. Weather conditions 
were ideal for success of the experiment; sufficient 
moisture to keep young plants healthy and growing, 
not enough to make rank growth of grass and weeds, 
which would have been fatal. In eastern Kansas 
weather conditions at that time of year are usually 
on extremes, so in the great majority of cases it would 
fail; in fact I have never succeeded in getting a stand 
sown in Spring. I have sown as late as first of Oc¬ 
tober and got a good stand. I prefer sowing last of 
August or first of September; best stand I ever got 
was sown in July. I have a plot now that is not as 
thick as I want it. I intend to disk it first of Septem¬ 
ber and reseed. One of Coburn’s “don’ts” is don’t 
graze it. I have found this is wise. If I lived where 
it was difficult to get a stand and succeeded in getting 
stand would not graze, but for soiling crop or hay it 
is a gold mine. B. e. p. 
Hillsdale, Kan. 
Nebraska Tests It Hard. 
I see on page 40 F. M. C., Plainfield, N. J., wants 
some Alfalfa advice. I live out here in Nebraska 
where Alfalfa is at its best; that is, proves its real 
worth, more so than farther east, as it will stand so 
much more dry weather than clover or other legumes. 
I infer from F. M. C.’s writing that he has a good 
stand, but doesn’t know it, thinking it ought to be 
as thick as Blue grass. Alfalfa is a great deal like 
wheat in some respects. It is very small and tender 
when it first comes up, but it stools out like smaIR 
grain. In a year or so it will have become a great 
plant with big long roots extending 10 or 15 feet deep, 
sometimes deeper, depending a great deal on the kind 
of soil and climate. If it is dry it will root deeper, 
so as to be able to live through the dry spells. It is 
different from clover. It takes about two years for it 
to get to its'best, but it will remain that way if treated 
right. If F. M. C. would do as he suggests he would 
lose his seed and nobody would pay him for his work 
either. The seed would sprout the first warm spell 
and then freeze down, as it is very tender when young. 
It breathes through, its leaves when small, before it 
roots much, the same as people do through their lungs, 
and if they are frozen or cut off the plant will die. 
Care has to be taken when it is mown 
the first time (I refer to Spring sow¬ 
ing) after sowing as the cutter bar 
may be run too low, thereby clipping 
it too short. After it gets a start this 
does not bother, as there are more 
leaf buds close to the ground. My 
advice would be to let it alone for a 
year and then disk. This will thicken 
it by sp'.itting the crowns and making 
two or three plants where one for¬ 
merly grew. After Alfalfa is thor¬ 
oughly set it cannot be hurt with a 
disk. It looks as though it was all 
gone, but in a day or two it shoots up 
stronger than ever. Disking also cul¬ 
tivates the ground, loosening the soil 
up and letting in the air and sun, also 
rain when it comes. Alfalfa is hard 
to get started sometimes, but after it 
is started it is the best money-making 
crop here when handled right. It can¬ 
not be excelled as a milk producer'. 
Everything likes it. from the' old cow 
or horse down to the six-weeks-old 
pig or the old rooster. If one reallyi 
wants to know all about Alfalfa get F. 
D. Coburn’s work on it. Every local¬ 
ity presents some special problem, 
which calls for study of conditions. w. R. jones. 
THE R.UHA.L NEW-YORKER 
constantly needing repairs. Can a concrete roof be suc¬ 
cessfully placed upon such a building? s. s. 
New Jersey. 
1 here is, of course, a strong temptation to build 
icehouses of concrete, brick or stone, on account of 
the rapid deterioration of a frame building when used 
for this purpose; but it is impracticable to build an 
icehouse of materials which are such good conductors 
of heat. You could, of course, fill your 10-inch air 
space with some material like mill shavings, dry saw¬ 
dust or cut straw, but even then the inside wall being 
of concrete and a good conductor of heat would bring 
WHERE JACK FROST DREW THE LINE. Fig. 59. 
the heat up from the ground and also down from the 
top of the building, and it would not give as good 
protection as would a frame constructed building. 
The meltage of ice in a house constructed as pro¬ 
posed with a 10-inch air space would be at least double 
what it should be in a well constructed frame build¬ 
ing, and it might be more than this. If the air space 
was filled with some insulating material as suggested 
the efficiency would be greatly increased, but it is 
probable that the insulating material would deteriorate 
rapidly by absorption of moisture unless extreme care 
was taken in constructing the concrete wall. 
Concrete blocks such as are used for house build¬ 
ing would be no better than the double walls of con- 
GOOD WEATHER FOR THICK OVERCOATS. Fig. 60. 
A CONCRETE ICEHOUSE. 
Would an icehouse 18x20, 16 high (four feet of which 
would he under ground-, constructed of two four-inch con¬ 
crete walls above the foundation with a 10-inch air space, 
prove to lie as good an ice saver as one properly con¬ 
structed of wood? Would the hollow concrete blocks, 
8x8x16 inches, such are ordinarily used in house building, 
make a good icehouse? These would only give a dead-air 
space of four inches, and that space would be half occupied 
by the blocks themselves. We can, however, get all the 
sawdust we need, thus enabling us to stack the ice any dis¬ 
tance lrom the walls of the building we may wlsb. If pos¬ 
sible, we wisli to avoid lining with boards, as they are 
cretc with an air space between. In fact they would 
not be as good, except from a structural standpoint, 
as they would stand up better and make a more sub¬ 
stantial job of construction. Neither of the construc¬ 
tions suggested is of any considerable insulating 
value, and if either of them is adopted dependence 
must be placed entirely on the packing or covering 
material used on the ice. As plenty of sawdust is 
available it is suggested that a solid concrete wall six 
to eight inches in thickness be built, not depending on 
this wall in any way for insulation, but wholly on the 
sawdust used in packing the ice; 18 inches of saw¬ 
dust should be used on the ground and from two to 
119 
three feet on the sides and the same quantity on the 
top of the ice. This, of course, reduces the amount 
of ice to be stored and makes the difficulty of remov¬ 
ing the ice from the house much greater. 
A concrete roof on such a building is hardly prac¬ 
ticable except at an expense which would be almost 
prohibitive, and unless a very exceptional job of con¬ 
crete work was secured, there would be no assurance 
that it would be tight. There is no great advantage 
of making the roof of concrete as the deterioration to 
the roof of an ice storage house is not essentially 
greater than to the roof of any other building, pro¬ 
vided it is properly constructed and properly ven¬ 
tilated. Icehouse construction has been so thoroughly 
treated in various publications that it is unnecessary 
to go into details of same. As a suggestion, it may 
be stated that the modern way of constructing ice 
storage rooms is to insulate the floor, side walls and 
ceiling thoroughly, and not to use any packing mater¬ 
ial around or on the ice. To do this a very tight and 
well-constructed building is necessary and a wall of 
from 12 to 18 inches in thickness, and carefully filled 
with mill shavings or dry sawdust, protected on the 
outside and inside by the best grades of insulating 
paper, if necessary. It is also necessary to provide 
doors to the icehouse which must be kept closed at 
all times. Ventilation from the ice is not necessary 
or desirable, but the space between ceiling and roof 
should be arranged for a free circulation of air. The 
advantage of this style of house over the old style is 
ease of filling and convenience in removing ice. 
Watertown, N. Y. madison cooper. 
WHY CLOVER FAILS IN TENNESSEE. 
The various causes of clover failure, such as soil 
acidity, or deficiency of humus, or mineral elements, 
have been often discussed in the agricultural press, 
but the thought of “clover sickness” as a real disease 
is rarely mentioned, and I think that few have ever 
looked this way for the cause. Tennessee farmers 
have for years been puzzled by failures, in spite of 
lime, fertilizers or other conditions necessary to the 
growth of clover. I have known cases where the 
early growth of clover was very rank, proving the soil 
conditions to be right, in which the second crop was 
a dead mass of stems by the time the seed should have 
been ripe. As the result -of investigation by the 
Tennessee Experiment Station, it has been found that 
the trouble is caused by a fungus disease, or an- 
thracnose. It attacks the plants at any age, but is 
at its worst during the hot months from June to 
August. The affected leaf turns a grayish color on the 
under side, then blackens, and the stem dies and falls. 
The crown sometimes lives till the following season, 
but often the entire plant dies in a short time. It is 
of course worse on land that has grown clover, but 
often attacks sowings on land newly cleared. Lime does 
not check it, and stable manure often favors its spread, 
as manure furnishes an excellent breed¬ 
ing ground for fungi. It affects Al¬ 
falfa also to some extent, but not as 
seriously as Red clover. The extent 
of infected territory has not yet been 
determined, but it has been found m 
Arkansas, Kentucky and both Vir¬ 
ginias, and it is more than likely to be 
responsible for trouble farther north. 
Thus far no practical method of 
fighting the disease has been found, 
but experiments are now being carried 
on with a view to breeding a re¬ 
sistant variety of clover. It was 
noticed that occasional plants in af¬ 
fected fields survived the attacks of 
disease and the idea was formed that 
seed saved from these plants and sown 
and re-selected would give a resistant 
variety. The past season’s work has 
given promise of success, but at best 
it will be some years before an 
immune clover will be grown in suffi¬ 
cient quantity to give practical relief. 
Until then our only recourse is to look 
for the best substitute. The only 
legume that answers the purpose well 
and fits in the same rotation is Alsike. 
This has been found to thrive on in¬ 
fected soil, and may be considered immune to the an- 
thracnose. It is not as rank a grower as the Red 
clover, but is rather more nutritious, and makes a fine 
quality of hay, while for pasturing it is probably su¬ 
perior to Red clover. Alsike, like Red clover, will not 
thrive on acid soils, and responds to the use of lime 
in such conditions. I would advise all farmers who 
are having trouble with clover to get in touch with 
their State experiment station and determine the true 
cause, and if the anthracnose is found they will prob¬ 
ably find that Alsike will go far toward solving the 
difficulty. C. R. SPANGLER. 
Monroe Co., Tenn. 
