878 
THE RURAIj NEW-YORKER 
September 2. 
Stuffing the Land with Humus. 
1 note with interest the discussion of 
“stuffing" land with humus. I have seen 
corn drilled on sandy land here in early 
July make a good growth without cul¬ 
tivation or any fertilizer, and plowed 
under in September, and followed by 
rye which seems to do especially well 
after the corn is plowed under. When 
plowing the rye under in June the corn 
had almost entirely disappeared, and 
land was in fine shape, and never seemed 
sour, although no lime was used. Vetch 
sown here August IS winter-killed badly 
last year. Alfalfa sown at the same 
time did not winter-kill, but soon be¬ 
comes choked with weeds. I think the 
“Clark method” as outlined in a recent 
issue of The R. N.-Y. would be the best 
way to grow Alfalfa where lime and 
seed are important items of cost, and 
weeds choke out much that is planted 
on weedy land. E. w. m. 
R. N.-Y.—The worst results from 
souring the land come when a rank, 
soft crop is plowed under in hot weather. 
When the soil is hot such a crop will 
start rapid fermentation, especially when 
it is not packed hard after plowing. 
There is much less danger when the 
green crop is put under in cool weather. 
We should use lime every few years 
anyway -when green manuring is prac¬ 
ticed. The “Clark” plan of killing out 
the weeds thoroughly and seeding 
heavily is good for any kind of grass 
or clover. 
ALFALFA IN ONONDAGA CO., N. Y. 
Part I. 
About two vears ago the writer visited 
one of the principal Alfalfa-growing sec¬ 
tions in Onondaga County. N. Y.. inter¬ 
viewed a number of prominent farmers and 
made a careful study of the methods of 
growing and using this important crop. 
The fields that wore visited were in an an¬ 
nexed part of the old city of Syracuse, and 
in Onondaga, Gcddes. DeWitt and .Tames- 
ville. Last year, and again during the 
present season, these places were revisited 
for the same purpose and observations were 
extended to Salina, Split Itock, Solvay, 
Camillas, the Onondaga Indian Reservation, 
and a few locations in Madison County. 
Yield. —Last year the yield was very 
good. Two. and' from many farms three, 
crops were taken, and most of the hay was 
secured in good condition. This year un¬ 
favorable weather has interfered some¬ 
what with the harvesting. The yield of 
the first crop was good and the second crop 
came along fairly well. A large part of the 
latter was gathered during the last ten 
da vs of July. With hut few exceptions the 
prospect for a third cutting is good. 
Present Condition. —At this writing 
(the second week in August), the condition 
of the Alfalfa fields is generally satisfac¬ 
tory, though, as with all other crops, they 
vary in appearance and promise. A few 
are' not fully stocked. In some of these 
the vacant places will fill in with Alfalfa. 
In a few fields orchard grass came in where 
the Alfalfa left vacancies, and. because of 
its habits and growth and early ripening, 
became a pest. Very little dodder is to be 
found. It is quickly destroyed by drying 
and burning the crop on the infested spots. 
In a few fields in which the underlying 
rock comes near the surface there are brown 
patches which are unthrifty, but which will 
probably become green again when heavy 
rains come. 
Seeding. —There has been no radical 
change in the methods of seeding which 
wore common two years ago. Men who 
seeded heavily then do the same now. and 
those who used less seed have not increased 
the quantity. The range of variation is 
Ftill from six quarts each of Alfalfa and 
Timothy to 1G quarts of Alfalfa and four 
quarts of Timothy per acre. The seeding 
first named seems too light of Alfalfa and 
relatively too heavy of Timothy, and that 
last stated appears to be an excessive seed¬ 
ing with Alfalfa. Some of the most pro¬ 
ductive fields which were seen on any of 
the trips were seeded with a little less 
than eight quarts of Alfalfa and a scant 
three quarts of Timothy. In this vicinity 
seeding with Alfalfa alone is seldom prac¬ 
ticed. On a farm in DeWitt where it was 
followed two years ago it has been aban¬ 
doned. but on another farm near by it will 
be tried on six acres this Fall, after wheat. 
With a cover crop a good yield of grain and 
n good stand of Alfalfa may confidently be 
exoected. The grain shades the Alfalfa 
while it is small, and it so checks the 
growth of weeds as to keep them from do¬ 
ing serious injury. When the grain is har¬ 
vested the weeds receive another check by 
having their tops removed, but the small 
Alfalfa plants keep on making roots until 
cold weather comes. The stubble of the 
grain also furnishes a good deal of protec¬ 
tion to the young Alfalfa plants during the 
Winter. Only a few growers now seed with 
barley. It is a good cover, but in this sec¬ 
tion the grain has lost much of its old-time 
popularity. Wheat is used quite a good 
deal, and will be still further tested, but at 
the present time oats is the most popular 
crop with which to seed land to Alfalfa, and 
Spring is the favorite season for sowing. 
Very Few Failures. —Failure to obtain 
at least a fair stand of Alfalfa is very rare, 
and when it occurs it is usually in the 
poorer parts of the field,, The writer has 
found only two cases where failure was 
complete. In one of these the land needs 
working and draining, and it would need 
the same treatment to fit it for growing 
corn or potatoes. It is nothing against Al¬ 
falfa thnt4t does not grow there as well as 
it does in fields close by. The other case is 
Double Tracking 
The Bell Highway 
not so easily explained. The land is owned 
by a resident of Syracuse but lies in Oswego 
County. The ground is reasonably dry. It 
produces good grass, and, with the exception 
of wheat, good grain crops. It is not under¬ 
laid with clay. Sweet clover does not grow 
wild, as it does around Syracuse, but Red 
clover is easily started and yields good 
crops. Efforts to start Alfalfa have been 
made in three different years and have ta- 
tally failed. The land has been limed. 
Inoculation with soil from an Alfalfa field 
has been tested. Chemicals for inoculation 
have not been tried. The owner of the land 
will try the application of lime and the use 
of inoculated soil together and his experi¬ 
ment will be watched with a good deal of 
interest. It sometimes occurs that Alfalfa 
fails for a year or more where later, with¬ 
out any apparent reason for the change, it 
thrives. Mr. Hamlet Worker, of Geddes, 
who has been growing this crop for some 
30 years, and who is one of the most suc¬ 
cessful growers in this section, had a re¬ 
markable experience of this kind. A field 
in which Alfalfa had failed so completely 
that it was discarded was given to other 
crops for several years. But one Spring, 
after some other land had been sown, a lit¬ 
tle Alfalfa seed was left, and rather than 
trouble to take it from the box it was 
sown with grain on the condemned field. 
As a result Mr. Worker had one of the best 
fields of Alfalfa he had ever grown, and 
from that time the land has never failed to 
produce this crop in abundant quantity. 
In Unfavorable Localities. —Though it 
does best where the conditions for its 
growth are favorable, Alfalfa often grows 
where they are far from good. There is a 
field in DeWitt in a part of which the soil 
over the rocks is not more than four Inches 
deep, yet which gives a fair yield of Alfalfa, 
and on the same farm there is a spot 
where a large lot of dirt was thrown out, 
and most of it left in large clods, but which 
is pretty well stocked with Alfalfa which 
has grown from seed that was sown with 
but little care. At Split Rock a railroad 
which runs from the immense stone crusher 
to one of the quarries passes for some 10 
rods or more through an Alfalfa field. Al¬ 
though the road, which was built some 
years ago. was well ballasted, there are 
several places in which Alfalfa plants are 
growing between the ties. A still more 
striking illustration of the success of this 
crop under hard conditions is seen in a field 
in Geddes which for some 50 years had been 
regarded as worthless, until some one with 
faith in the plant seeded it with Alfalfa and 
thus made it productive and valuable. J. n. 
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