1912. 
ALFALFA AS A SOIL IMPROVER. 
Its Value in New York. 
In the year 56 A. D. Columella, a Roman authority 
on agricultural subjects, wrote as follows, “Alfalfa 
is the best forage plant; it lasts 10 years, it cuts six 
times a year, it dungs the land.” All of this might 
have been true in Italy at the beginning of the Chris¬ 
tian era, but here in America, nearly two thousancf 
years later, the first two statements admit of some 
modification. Its “lasting” depends on the character 
and condition of the soil; it may die out in a year 
or two, where the water level is too near the sur¬ 
face, or it may last 300 years, as it is said to have 
done in a Mexican meadow. On all soils well drained, 
either naturally or artificially, its lasting properties 
will satisfy the ordinary man. The second statement 
should also be modified; it ought not to be cut more 
than three times in Western New York, while it can 
be cut nine times in Old Mexico and 12 times in 
Hawaii in a single year. But the third statement has 
universal application, for always and everywhere “it 
dungs the land.” Your readers are not interested in 
knowing that modern writers like Voorhees, Coburn 
and Wing corroborate Columella as to the fertiliz¬ 
ing effect of Alfalfa but would rather learn the re¬ 
sult of experiments here in the State of New York. 
It has been grown in this section long enough so that 
some fields have been plowed and 
planted to other crops and the effect on 
the soil has been marvelous. One field 
of 11 acres in this town was sown to 
Alfalfa 10 years ago, and after it had 
yielded at the rate of four tons per 
acre for seven years a part of the field, 
eight acres, on which there were several 
wet spots, where the Alfalfa had died 
out, was planted, three years ago, to 
corn, and 400 pounds per acre of slag 
applied, no manure or fertilizer of any 
kind having been used for the previous 
seven years. The crop was such that 
the agent who sold the slag endeavored 
to have the owner write a testimonial 
for the slag. Not succeeding in this he 
had a photograph taken of the field, 
which he exhibited at the State Fair at 
Syracuse, and at the Fruit Growers’ 
meeting at Rochester, not omitting the 
statement that the growth was the effect 
of an application of slag. This year the 
remainder of the field (three acres) was 
planted to corn without any fertilizer 
whatever, and the field has had no ma¬ 
nure or phosphate for the last 10 years. 
The growth of corn was fully as good as 
before. At 55 days after planting some 
stalks were 100 inches high, at 86 days 
162 inches high, and it was then well 
eared and promised an abundant crop. 
On one of the best farms in this 
town seven acres were sown to Alfalfa 
10 years ago (it being one-third of a 
21-acre field), and remained in Alfalfa 
five years. It was then plowed, the 
division fence taken up, and the whole 
21 acres worked together with the same 
crops and given the same treatment, ex¬ 
cept that the 14 acres has had stable 
manure applied once in the meantime. 
The owner told me this Summer that 
where the Alfalfa grew, and which had 
received no manure, had yielded the best crops of any 
part of that field, or of any field on his farm during 
all of the five years he had been cropping it. In an 
adjoining town (Bristol) a field that had grown Al¬ 
falfa for four or five years was planted to potatoes 
(manure being applied to a part of the field), and the 
crop was the largest and best the owner ever raised, 
and he could see no difference in the crop where the 
manure was applied. In another adjoining town 
(Canandaigua) an Alfalfa field was planted to corn 
three years ago, and I quote the owner’s words: “I 
cut it about nine years at an average of four tons to 
the acre without any manure, then had the field cov¬ 
ered with manure and Fall-plowed and planted to 
corn, it producing the best crop of corn I ever raised 
on this farm and a bigger crop than any of my neigh¬ 
bors had that season. The field is a heavy clay soil.” 
Mr. Martin, of Rush, whose success as a potato 
grower was so marked that it attracted the attention 
of the officials of the New York Central Railroad, 
and he was employed by them to build up “aban¬ 
doned” farms, practiced a three-year rotation of 
wheat, clover and potatoes on three 18-acre fields, 
cutting the clover one year and then turning under 
for potatoes the next. During the last few years he 
substituted Alfalfa for clover, with the result that he 
THE RURA.!* NEW-YORKER 
got more and better hay and better crops of potatoes. 
But I need not multiply instances; the effect seems 
to be always the same. Alfalfa not only draws nitro¬ 
gen from the air, as does clover, but its far-reaching 
roots find other fertilizing elements beyond the reach 
of clover, and when plowed the decaying roots add 
immense amounts of humus, and put the soil in such 
a condition that the plants can use the plant food that 
the scientists tell us is already in the soil in sufficient 
quantities to last for centuries. Many farmers, by 
plowing the land continuously year after year, drive 
out all vegetable humus and get the soil in such a 
condition that the plants cannot use the fertilizing 
elements already present, and the land serves only 
as a receptacle to hold the crops, while the farmers 
apply patent medicine in the form of commercial fer¬ 
tilizer, to grow them. 
Alfalfa was introduced in California about the time 
gold was discovered there, and from there it has 
spread all over that section of the country west of 
the' Missouri River, and its growth has done more to 
enrich the section than all the precious metals that 
have been found there. It is the general practice 
there to use it in rotation, mowing it for only a few 
years, then using the land for other crops for about 
as many years and reseeding to Alfalfa again, and 
a bulletin from the Wyoming Experiment Station 
summarizes as follows: The value of wheat grown 
on invested Alfalfa sod is $8 to $12 and of oats or 
potatoes $16 per acre more than that of the same 
crops following grain or potatoes. 
The use of Alfalfa as a preparation for other crop 
will solve the fertilizer problem in the East. If a 
farmer will sow one-tenth of his tillable land to Al¬ 
falfa each year for five years, and then continue to 
sow one-tenth and plow one-tenth each year, at the 
end of 10 years (and forever after) he will crop half 
his land and mow the other half. His net income 
from cropping half his acres, after growing Alfalfa 
for five years, will exceed his net income now from 
all of them; and the income from the half which he 
mows will exceed that from the half which he culti¬ 
vates, and that without the use of any commercial 
fertilisers zvhatever. But someone will say that if 
half of the tillable land in New York were in Alfalfa 
there would be no market for it. As its feeding value 
becomes more generally known in the East it will re¬ 
place Timothy and clover in the markets, but we do 
not need a market for all of it as hay. In a subse¬ 
quent article on “Alfalfa as a Feeding Crop” I shall 
endeavor to show how the surplus can be profitably 
marketed in the form of beef, pork, mutton, butter, 
etc. HARRY G. CHAPIN. 
Ontario Co. N. Y. 
1043 
RETARDING CROPS WITH CHEMICALS. 
This year, more than ever before, reports have 
come of experiments in delaying the maturity of 
crops. It is sometimes desirable to hold vegetables 
or fruits or flowers back for several weeks in order 
to prolong the supply or to prevent a glut in the local 
market. The usual way of doing this is to apply, 
soluble nitrogen like nitrate or sulphate of ammonia. 
If used in time this soluble nitrogen drives the plant 
into a quick growth which carries it past its ordinary 
time of maturity. We have in this way kept a crop 
of tomatoes growing so that the fruit did not ripen 
until after other fields of the same variety were 
giving ripe fruit. In some cases this method is used 
to lengthen out the ripening period of a peach variety. 
By using nitrate of soda or dried blood on part of 
the trees these will make a heavier wood growth and 
will not open the fruit until a week or so after the 
others are picked. This is getting to be one of the 
tricks of the trade. It is. sometimes dangerous in 
peach culture, for the heavy, late growth of wood 
is likely to be hurt in Winter. 
FACTS ABOUT SEPTIC TANKS. 
On page 850 you give directions for building septic 
tank. The description is plain enough and everything 
is clear, with two exceptions; one is concerning the 
baffle board. How is this baffle board 
fastened and what are its uses and di¬ 
mensions? Also, is there a-ny stream 
of water to be passed through the tank, 
or is it simply to take what naturally 
goes into it from the closet? Can you 
give the address of any work on this 
subject? I want to find directions for 
making the septic tank to accommodate, 
say, 75 people, and would like to have 
full directions. I would like to know, 
also, how often it would need cleaning 
out and how a person would go about it. 
Is it cleaned like other cesspools? 
Michigan. f. m. n. 
There is, so far as I know, no small 
work on sewage disposal, such as you 
desire, published in this country. The 
whole subject, including septic tanks, is 
covered in some rather large and ex¬ 
pensive volumes, the best of which are 
of foreign authorship. You will find 
brief descriptions of septic tanks in 
various builders’ trade journals, and in 
such experiment station bulletins as 
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 29 from the State 
Agricultural College at Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, Ithaca, N. Y. An article, with 
illustration, by the writer, in the April 
13 issue of The R. N.-Y. also covers 
the ground. As to the practical details of 
building a septic tank from concrete, I 
would advise that you write to any of 
the large manufacturers of cement, tell¬ 
ing them what you wish to build, and 
asking for detailed information. 
There is no continuous stream pass¬ 
ing through a properly built septic tank, 
so they should be made of sufficient size 
to hold at least the 24-hour output of 
sewage from the building they serve. 
The whole method of sewage purifica¬ 
tion in a septic tank rests upon the 
ability of certain bacteria to consume and 
destroy the organic matter in such sewage when it is 
held quietly for 24 hours, or more, in a warm, dark, 
submerged tank. As the home of these bacteria is 
largely in a thick scum that forms upon the surface 
of the sewage in the receiving tank, it is necessary 
that this scum should not be disturbed by the in and 
out flow of the tank. The baffle board in the plan 
that you mention is probably placed there to prevent 
the formation of a violent current that might ensue if 
a large quantity of liquid was suddenly discharged 
into the receiving chamber, it is, however, in the 
opinion of the writer, unnecessary if the inner end of 
the inlet pipe be carried well below the surface level 
of the sewage in the tank. 
The necessary capacity of a septic tank is usually 
figured at about 60 gallons per day for each person 
served. In a properly working tank of that size the 
accumulation of insoluble matter, or sludge, upon the 
floor of the tank will be very slight, but, if in the 
course of years, its removal should be necessary, this 
is accomplished through a -manhole in the top of the 
receiving chamber. m. b. d. 
Tiie memorial wreath sent by the American Government 
to the funeral of the Mikado of Japan was composed of 
prepared magnolia and cycas leaves in empire shape, 
tied with a tricolored sash. It was made by a woman 
florist at Seattle, Wash. 
GROWTH OF CORN ON OLD ALFALFA SOD. Fig. 429. 
PUBLIC MARKET HOUSE AT PADUCAFI, KY. Fig. 430. 
