Vou LXVII No. 3063 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 10, 1908. 
NOTES ON ALFALFA. 
The Great Need of Lime. 
I have been much Interested In Mr. C. B. Wing’s article, 
page 709, on “Alfalfa and Limestone.” lie appears to 
be thoroughly conversant with the value of various con 
ditions of lime. I would like to know whether lie con¬ 
siders useful for application to soil the lime residue left 
after the manufacture of acetylene gas from the calcium 
carbide. ,r. t. 
Connecticut. 
The lime residue left from making acetvlene is sim¬ 
ply slaked lime, nothing more. As such it is as use¬ 
ful as any burned lime, though owing to its wetness 
it is harder to apply to the soil. If it is available in 
any large amounts it might perhaps be dried and then 
roughly ground in some way, so that it could be dis¬ 
tributed evenly through the soil. Personally 1 favor 
the application of unburned ground limestone; that is 
nature’s way of building soils, 
and no amount that can be ap¬ 
plied will do the soil any in¬ 
jury. Soil to do its best in 
any crop rotation ought to 
have in it at least V/ 2 per cent 
of carbonate of lime in the 
top foot. That would mean 
about .35 tons to the acre. Most 
soils have already lime in them, 
but many soils in the Eastern 
States have less than one-half 
of one per cent. So if one 
puts on unburned ground lime¬ 
stone lie can put on as much 
as be pleases and fear no dam¬ 
age. In Kentucky and Ten¬ 
nessee, where often lime ledges 
are found on the farms 
(though the soils above the 
ledges are deficient in . lime 
to-day) several enterprising 
men are installing on their 
own farms limestone crushers 
and grinders to make their 
own lime dust. These plants 
are semi-portable, and can be 
used around the neighborhood. 
A machine that will take rock 
and grind it to dust at the rate 
of 12 tons a day costs about 
$050, and larger machines up_ 
to $2500 or more. 
There is more than Alfalfa 
interested in lime in the soil, 
though Alfalfa needs it worst 
of all plants, perhaps. You 
must not forget that carbonate 
of lime (that is unburned 
lime) is necessary for the 
formation of humus in the 
soil and for the arrest of fleeing fertility. Plants 
decay in the soil, making nitric acid. This is soluble, 
and if the plants do not again immediately take it up 
it leaches away and is lost. But if it comes in con¬ 
tact with a particle of carbonate of lime it is changed 
to calcium nitrate and stays in the soil. It is a won¬ 
derful thought how old New England and the neigh¬ 
bor States may by use of lime and legumes be made 
fertile, more fertile by far than ever before in their 
history. 
And now I am going to give you the secret of 
Alfalfa growing in a nutshell. There’s nothing easier 
than growing it. Just follow these rules: First get 
the water out of your soil and the air in. Next put 
at least 100 pounds of lime dust to each square rod 
of soil and work that in. Put on more if you can 
get it cheap enough; 100 pounds of lime dust dis- 
• • ' ‘4* *'iwtik /*•! t-v 
tributed through 281 cubic feet of earth is not much, 
is it? It is less than half a pound to a cubic foot, 
only about a third of a pound. Having limed then 
add humus in some manner, by growing a green crop 
and turning under, or by use of manure. Then add 
bone, abundantly. Then good seed, preferably with 
inoculation, and at the right time. Having done thisi 
Alfalfa is absolutely sure to follow. 
Champaign Co., Ohio. Charles b. wing. 
STARVING OUT THE BLUE GRASS. 
Nine and a half years ago I became so impressed 
with the value of Alfalfa that I started a series of 
experiments to sec whether it could be grown on our 
deep sandy soil. I knew that surface-rooted plants 
always suffered severely at some time during the 
growing season for the want of water, but I reasoned 
that a deep-rooted plant like Alfalfa might prove to 
be the ideal forage plant and, if so, thousands of 
acres that are now selling for $10 an acre or less 
could be made more valuable than even our best 
bottom lands for the production of this most valuable 
of all Winter feeds. A small plot that was well 
fertilized with stable manure and planted in the 
Spring of 1899 started to grow, and the Blue grass 
started at the same time. From the first it was evi¬ 
dent that the Alfalfa was not bolding its own against 
the Blue grass, and before the season was over it 
was so choked out that it was not worth retaining for 
another year. 
In the Spring of 1900 the same patch was heavily 
manured again and well plowed, and the Alfalfa was 
sown in rows and the intervening ground was cul¬ 
tivated clean. The Blue grass in the rows, however, 
seemed to enjoy the cultivation as well as the Alfalfa, 
,i; JVtcOfure L r -• * 
and the result was the same as during the previous 
year. A small part of one row was weeded by band, 
and the Alfalfa under these circumstances did very 
well, which seemed to indicate that there was nothing 
lacking in the soil to produce Alfalfa, the only 
trouble being that the soil was also very attractive 
and stimulating to all the weeds that would compete 
wih the Alfalfa for an existence, and the weeds got 
the upper hand. 
I he next year I decided that it was entirely hope¬ 
less to raise Alfalfa in this way, although some of 
the Alfalfa roots that we pulled up were seven or 
eight feet long, and were broken off at the ends, 
showing that these plants must have been drawing 
moisture and fertility from a depth of eight or ten 
feet or more. 1 his caused us to wonder if we were 
doing the right thing when we fertilized the surface 
of the ground to stimulate the compet’tors of the 
Alfalfa, instead of fertilizing 
the part of the ground that 
the Alfalfa was drawing its 
nourishment from. We there¬ 
fore added some lime and 
phosphate to a piece of sandy 
land that was so poor it would 
not grow corn at all. We 
then plowed the land just as 
deep as it was possible to 
plow it, our endeavor being to 
have at least a couple of 
inches of soil on the surface 
that would be so poor that 
Blue grass would not grow on 
it. We then gave the surface 
of the ground another light 
dressing of lime and phos¬ 
phate, and sowed our Alfalfa 
seed the latter part of August 
at the rate of 20 pounds to the 
acre. I think there were a 
good many plants that died 
before the roots got down to 
where there was enough fer¬ 
tility to supply their require¬ 
ments, but there was a fairly 
good growth, and the next 
year it was cut three times, 
and has been cut three or four 
times every year since, and 
was heavier this year than at 
any previous time; but the 
surface of the ground is now 
beginning to support a rank 
growth of Blue grass, and it 
is only a question of a few 
years before it will be neces¬ 
sary to plow up this field and 
start over again. We have 
sown several other patches in 
this way without failure. 
We arc very particular to add no nitrogenous 
matter of any kind to the field on which we are go¬ 
ing to grow Alfalfa. Stable manure will stimulate 
the growth of competing weeds without being any 
great benefit to the Alfalfa, and the result will in¬ 
variably he a failure. We know that our methods 
are not in accordance with instructions that have been 
given from time to time, but we have had many proofs 
of the correctness of our theory. For example, we 
sowed Alfalfa broadcast on a sandy knoll that was 
growing up to pines, poplars and wintergreen. The 
soil was so light and .poor that it was supposed to 
have no agricultural value. Eire had run through 
this field the year before, and wherever the fire had 
been the Alfalfa grew, but in all of the intervening 
places it failed. The first conclusion that would be 
THE OLD FARM POWER ON THE HAY LOADER. Fig. 365. 
A GLIMPSE AT WHAT WE MAY EXPECT IN FUTURE. Fig. 366. 
