THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
480 
1008. 
ALFALFA AND BOKHARA CLOVER FOR 
SEED. 
It. It., Tanei/tomi. Md .—Will you advise 
mi 1 as to the proper management of Bok¬ 
hara clover and Alfalfa bo as to procure the 
seed? clover was sown Spring of 1907, 
Alfalfa in August of same year. I would 
like lo make seed this season. Mow often 
should each be cut before allowing to seed? 
Ans. —I do not think that you can 
make the seeding of Alfalfa profitable 
in the Fast. Climatic conditions arc 
against it at blooming time, and I hardly 
think that any such crop of seed as can 
he had in the arid West can be had in 
Maryland. Just now, May 7, in the 
southern part of the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland, where I live, Alfalfa is 
blooming ami ready to cut, and it has 
been raining almost every day since it 
began to bloom, so that even the saving 
of the hay is being retarded. To save 
the seed the pods will have to be fairly 
mature, hut not dry ripe, anti the hay 
must be carefully cured for thrashing. 
Then the weakening of the second 
growth by this late cutting would make 
the subsequent growth weak, and you 
would lose more in the hay crops than 
the seed would cost to buy. This, how¬ 
ever, is only an opinion, as I have never 
tried to save the seed on any large 
scale. Bokhara clover is one of the com¬ 
mon names for Melilotus alba or Sweet 
clover. This plant grows wild over all 
parts of Maryland, and where it grows 
the soil becomes inoculated with a bac¬ 
terium that will also inoculate the land 
for Alfalfa, and the plant is useful 
mainly for this purpose. Some have 
supposed that sowing the seed of the 
Melilotus would inoculate the land for 
Alfalfa, hut this is doubtful to say the 
least. Where it grows spontaneously 
the soil has become inoculated usually, 
and that soil scattered over an Alfalfa 
field will bring in the inoculation. But 
as a forage plant the Melilotus is of 
doubtful value. It rapidly gets woody, 
and stock do not eat it readily. T have 
seen it growing rankly on every vacant 
piece of land in the neighborhood of 
West Philadelphia, and have no doubt 
that it is common in your section of 
Maryland. There will be no difficulty 
in saving the seed if the crop is mown 
after the seed matures, and is thrashed 
when dry. But as a forage crop there 
are far better plants, such as cow peas. 
Crimson clover and Hairy vetch. The 
Burr clover, Medicago denticulata, which 
is largely grown in the Sotilh carries 
the inoculation for Alfalfa in its burr¬ 
like seeds, and while it may not thrive 
or winter well in your section, this does 
not matter s<T far as the inoculation is 
concerned, and it might he well lo sow 
it with its near relative Alfalfa for that 
purpose, if sown in August and given 
at least a time to grow in the Fall. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
CURING CLOVER HAY. 
Last Summer I had seven acres of clover 
hay, I he clover in which grew very thick, 
having limed the Held cjulto heavily tlm year 
previous. I felt very much gratified in 
looking at If. and wondered if I could get 
It safely Into the barn, as I had seen so 
much of it lost In a wet season. I had been 
experimenting for a couple of years in build¬ 
ing cocks of hay In the field, some of which 
I built very solid and compact, In fact, a 
series of caps ns much ns a fork would 
hold and then lifted to the top until I 
would get a cock four feel by live feet or 
possibly larger. It Is surprising how much 
a cock built In that: way will shed rain,. 
A little hit slow, hut sure, and ns weather 
conditions are so uncertain. It pays. When 
I started to cut the hay I concluded to cut 
only as much as I could cock the same day 
in these solid compact capped cocks, and so 
worked until the whole Held was cut, halv¬ 
ing the cocks stand on field about one week. 
Selecting a dry day I threw over the cocks 
and shook up that part next the ground, 
and after an hour's exposure to the sun 
hauled into the barn. I have fed almost all 
of It up to present time. It was a pleasure 
to watch the cows eat It, ns it must have 
been tasty stulT. It was a darkish green 
color with all the leaves anil blossoms. My 
barn lloor would be literally covered with 
leaves and blossoms when taking down the 
hay. There was never the least sign of 
mould and always a sweet odor. To cut 
clover or clover hay and leave lie as cut 
exposed to the elements In an attempt to 
cure it seems to be wrong. The mow in 
which I put this hay is 20x2(1 feet and 
about 10 feet in depth when the hay was in. 
M.v land is not the richest. Present this 
to the farmers of Tun It. N.-Y. and try 
to get them to test it. 1 am sure now of 
what I am doing and will pursue the same 
course the coming season. w. p. 
Arnold. Pa. 
RESEEDING CRIMSON CLOVER. 
Wo have six acres of sandy land covered 
with corn stubble, and a medium stand of 
Crimson clover. Would if be advisable to 
let the clover go to seed, and disk it oyer 
thoroughly in July with the aim of having 
the clover re-seed Itself? We want to im¬ 
prove the land and save labor. 
Benton Harbor. Mien. p, 
This Is done on the Delaware peninsula 
usually with satisfactory results. Another 
method Is to plow the Crimson clover so 
as to lap the furrows. This leaves a fringe 
of the clover exposed. It goes to seed and 
then by harrowing across the furrows a 
new seeding Is obtained. We are told that 
vetch is a more satisfactory cover crop 
in southwest Michigan than Crimson 
clover. 
LITTLE CHICK NOTES. 
The necessity for moisture other than 
that furnished hy drinking water in the 
ease of young chicks reared in heated 
brooders, lias been forcibly brought to my 
mind this season. The young chicks if 
irrll hutched — thrive, and do well for two 
or three or perhaps four weeks; then they 
seem to go backwards, that is, they not 
only do not grow, but actually seem to 
get smaller. I believe that the chicks are 
drying up for the lack of moisture; that 
they need to get their feet wet, to have 
moist, earth to dig in, and especially so if 
they are fed nothing but dry feed. A few 
years ago I was In a beautifully appointed 
brooder-house that cost $400. There were 
nicely fenced-off yards inside and outside 
the house, good brooders, perfect vent na¬ 
tion, etc., and everything seemed Just right. 
The little chicks, of which there were about 
MOO, were running around lively and con¬ 
tented, and I wished I had such a house. 
1 was down there a few weeks afterward; 
tlie owner was taking out the brooders and 
putting them and the chicks on some grass 
land. But the chicks, what a looking lot 
they were; so weak that many could not 
stand up, and others would stagger like 
drunken men. In 10 days on the damp 
grass—which would ho wet with dew every 
morning—those chicks had fully recovered 
and were running around as lively as crick¬ 
ets. This year, as soon as the frost was 
out of the ground so I could dig, in a little 
enclosed yard I covered a space of ground 
about six feet square with oats, then spaded 
them under, and every 10 or 12 days have 
repeated tin* operation. As soon as the 
sprouts show above the ground I dig a pull 
of earth, oals, worms and all, and dump 
one in each brooder yard, and the way the 
chicks go for those oat sprouts and the 
worms Is a caution. But one of the chief 
benefits Is having the damp earth to scratch 
in. When the chicks are large enough to 
stay out. doors they are put in the enclosed 
yard and the spading In of oats Is still 
continued. 
Two or three of my early chicks showed 
a leg weakness; one couJd hardly stand. 
Thinking the matter over I began to won¬ 
der If there was sufficient lime In the feed 
to manufacture hone as rapidly as the 
chicks needed. I had a panful of egg shells 
left by the hatched chicks; these I crumbled 
up line, throwing away the skins, and put 
the broken shells in the yards attached 
to each brooder. It was after dark. Next, 
morning every particle of that shell was 
eaten up before I got out of the brooder 
house. That convinced me that lack of 
lime was the cause of the leg weakness, 
so I put a small piece of slaked lime in 
their drinking water. The leg weakness 
disappeared entirely, and to-day they are 
an exceptionally vigorous stout-legged lot 
of chicks. I not let; a great difference in the 
feathering out of the chicks; some have 
almost no feathers on except on the wings, 
while others In the same brood under pre¬ 
cisely similar conditions as to housing, 
feed, etc., are completely feathered. Doubt¬ 
less it is congenital, and by marking the 
young chicks and breeding only from those 
that feathered early one could breed out. 
the naked kind In a few generations. 
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S 
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KEMPTON, Pa. 
PHILADELPHIA, 1818 Market St. 
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CY 
HOME OFFICE -<b s 
908 Scugcr Street 
Lansing, Mich. 
R. N.-Y. 
OLDS GAS 
POWER CO. 
Please send me 
without any obliga¬ 
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Name- 
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BINGHAMTON, N.Y., 28 Washington St. 
State 
