1018 , 
THH) KUKAb NiCW-VOKKiCK 
447 
ALFALFA IN OHIO. 
A reader in Massachusetts sends ns a 
slipping from the Painesville (Ohio) Tele¬ 
graph giving the Alfalfa experience of L. 
M. Johnson. We print part of it below. 
This incident shows how valuable infor¬ 
mation of this sort is carried about the 
country : 
‘•We took three acres of our best land, 
plowed and cultivated it thoroughly, put 
on a top dressing of good fertilizer and 
the first week in June sowed 20 pounds of 
seed to the acre, which in the course of 
time came up spindling and the weeds soon 
choked it out and it was gone. About this 
time we had heard about Summer Row¬ 
ing the land and sowing the Alfalfa seed in 
late Summer, so we harrowed, killing' the 
weeds and putting the land in the best pos¬ 
sible shape, so far as cultivation went. Wq 
sowed the seed the last of August. The 
Alfalfa made a good start and looked as 
though we had made a hit this time. Spring 
came, as did also the Alfalfa, but it was; 
not long before it began to turn yellow 
and die out. The seed we had already 
used had been inoculated with a culture 
sent us from the Department of Agriculture 
at Washington, D. C. We had read of 
using soil obtained from around Sweet 
clover roots to inoculate with, but I thought 
that looked almost as foolish as the piece 
of cotton sent us from Washington, by 
which (they claimed) a culture could be 
made whereby the seed could be inoculated. 
We had also been told perhaps our soil 
needed lime to sweeten it, so we plowed and 
harrowed, sowed one ton of caustic lime 
to the acre and harrowed some more and 
about August 1, we went toward the lake to 
obtain a load of Sweet clover soil, broad¬ 
cast and harrowed it in, and sowed the 
seed 20 pounds to the acre for the third 
time. It came up and gTew fine this time 
and the following Summer we cut three 
crops and prepared and seeded five acrea 
more, which came on in fine shape and 
kept adding to it, so that during the Sum¬ 
mer of 1911 we cut four crops with a 
yield of five tons per acre or 75 tons on 
15 acres. For the past three years we 
have fed Alfalfa almost exclusively to our 
cows, Summer and Winter. It is very rich 
in protein and to a large extent takes the 
place of wheat bran enabling us to feed 
a large amount of cornmeal without much 
bran. Alfalfa grows on some soils with¬ 
out any special preparation. 
“I believe Alfalfa can be grown on nearly 
every farm in Lake county by first, proper 
drainage; second, lime; third, thorough 
cultivation ; fourth, inoculation with either 
Sweet clover soil or soil from an old Al¬ 
falfa field. I would advise every farmer 
to try a half acre and when successful 
with that put in more. I believe it is the 
best feed God ever provided for beast- 
and at the present time it is being used 
to some extent for human food. We cut 
Alfalfa when about one-third of the plants 
begin to show bloom or I think a, better 
way of ascertaining the proper time is to 
watch for the buds at the base of the 
plants and cut when they put forth a new 
growth. This new growth indicates that 
the plant is ready to make another crop. 
No rule can be laid down for the curing 
of Alfalfa. We like to cut on a bright 
morning, follow with the tedder and get 
it into cocks in the afternoon. Then cov¬ 
ered with canvas caps 54 inches square it 
Is quite safe and can be handled according 
to tlie weather. 
“We have confined the feeding of Alfalfa 
to our milch cows, but hope soon to have 
acreage enough so we can feed more or 
less to all stock on the farm. Fed in small 
amounts it is splendid for the work horse. 
Nothing better for the mares and foals, 
sheep love it and thrive on it; steers when 
fed Alfalfa hay in connection with their 
grain ration, fatten more quickly, more 
cheaply and better. Hogs like Alfalfa and 
when turned into an Alfalfa pasture have* 
been known to make GOO pounds pork per 
acre. The brood sow does well on early cut 
Alfalfa hay with an ear or two of corn. 
For poultry in Summer it is valuable to 
run through and pick green food, and in 
Winter they like to pick the leaves from 
the hay. Sometimes Alfalfa is ground into 
meal and fed to poultry and swine. This 
is all right, though when it is in large 
supply it is not necessary to do this as it 
is cheaper to waste part of the stems than 
to grind them into meal. The amount of 
fertilizing material that will come from 
an acre of first-class Alfalfa has been esti¬ 
mated to be worth as much as what would 
be bought in the bag for $60. Aside from 
its making a rich manure, it being a clover 
has the power through the growtli of bac¬ 
teria on its roots to draw nitrogen from 
the air. Then by its very deep ’ roots it 
feeds upon the lower depths of the soil 
and draws up the fertility that is down 
there. 
“The depth of its roots varies from three 
to 10 feet. We have a record of where 
roots were found penetrating through crev¬ 
ices in the roof of a tunnel 129 feet below 
the surface of an Alfalfa field. The effect 
of this root growth and decay in the soil 
is one of tlie greatest virtues of the plant. 
The normal height of the Alfalfa plant is 
three feet. It has been known to grow 
to a height of 10 feet. There are reeordq 
of Alfalfa fields 70 years old and from that 
down to 25. Last Summer we plowed a 
piece that we had cut from for five years; 
it was still pretty good but we wanted it 
better. Had a good crop of hay, then 
potatoes last season and will this Summer 
follow and reseed with Alfalfa in August. 
We top-dress our Alfalfa field as far as 
possible with stable manure in the Fall. 
I wish we had 50 acres of Alfalfa and 
that every farmer in Lake County would 
grow it.” 
GASOLINE AND KEROSENE. 
It Is hard to say just what are the rela¬ 
tive merits of gasoline and kerosene. It 
depends a great deal upon the conditions 
under which they are used. There are 
several different companies, which now 
manufacture gasoline engines, which are 
capable of being run by either kerosene or 
gasoline. Almost any good gasoline engine 
can be used for kerosene after a few 
changes, which consist in providing two 
supply tanks and means for changing from 
one to the other, and some sort of warm¬ 
ing device for heating the air used. This 
is sometimes done by surrounding the ex¬ 
haust pipe by a small chamber and then 
drawing the air through this chamber. 
Also a means of supplying water to the 
cylinder is used on the larger engines. 
In the report of the traction engines’ 
test made at Winnipeg last year, you will 
find some very interesting data, in regards 
to comparison between the gasoline trac¬ 
tor and kerosene tractor. These tests 
were made under the supervision of capable 
engineers, and show what each is capable 
of doing. 
Lbs. per Cost fuel. Ave- 
Fuel. acre, per acre. rage. 
Gasoline . 17.98 50.1 49.62 
Gasoline . 17.65 49.15 
Kerosene . 28.71 51.6 48.3 
Kerosene . 24.58 45.1 
Cost of gasoline, 19%e. per gal. 
Cost of kerosene, 14y 2 c. per gal. 
Referring to the forgoing data it will be 
noticed that the difference in cost per acre, 
using the two fuels, is less than one cent. 
The saving resulting from the use of kero¬ 
sene over gasoline depends entirely upon 
tho relative prices of the two fuels. The 
price of gasoline is steadily rising, and 
kerosene following behind, and if the two 
continue to rise, we will be forced to look 
for some other cheaper fuel. As it is, we 
doubt if there is much saving by the use 
of kerosene in the small farm engine. The 
chief objections to its use are loss of time 
in starting the engine—it being difficult 
to vaporize kerosene, and for this reason 
they must be started on gasoline and then 
switched to the other. 
Kerosene is not so fully consumed in the 
process of combustion and hence a heavier 
deposit of carbon is left in the cylinder, on 
the spark plug and piston rings. The odor 
of kerosene is offensive which would be 
objectionable in a closed room, or around 
a dairy. With flic larger engines there 
is no doubt a big saving by using kerosene.. 
But with the smaller engines, taking into 
consideration the present price of gaso¬ 
line, the difficulty in starting a kerosene 
engine and the necessary extra appliances, 
we do not consider it much of a saving, 
especially for farm uses where the engine 
is run for a short time only. Nevertheless, 
we believe that in the near future we will 
be forced to use the cheaper fuel. 
M. A. RAYMOND KELLEY. 
Assistant in Agronomy. 
• Mo. Exp. Station. 
Working the Stallion. 
A simpler appliance than the “war- 
bridle” and one that I have found to be 
effectual in every case where tried, is the 
“jockey cord,” or third rein, a light rope, 
(%-inch is a good size) snapped to the 
inner ring of the stallion's bit, passed 
over his neck a little back of his ears, 
through the outer ring of the bit and run¬ 
ning back to the driver’s hand. With this 
arrangement, and the stick described by 
.1. Grant Morse on page 333, one man can 
hitch a stallion, or any other animal, 
kicker or biter, that he wishes to work 
alongside of a horse. I also use it on 
colts when introducing them to automobiles 
and steam or trolley cars. After the stal¬ 
lion gets settled to working quietly, the 
stick and cord may be removed and hung 
onto the liaine ring— but never hitch him 
with another horse without having both 
at hand to put on him if needed. For con¬ 
trolling a stallion, or spirited horse out 
of harness, I prefer the stallion bridle in 
use in these parts, to the “war bridle.” 
This is simply a %-inch cotton rope of 
any length desired, a good bit and a small 
pulley. To the off-side ring of the bit 
fasten a piece of the rope long enough to 
pass over the top of the head of the horse 
and to the end fasten a small pulley 
about three or four inches below the base 
of the ear; fasten one end of the lead 
rope to the near side ring of the bit, pass 
through the pulley, then back through the 
bit ring, and just below it tie in a large 
ring to keep the bit up to its place. Loop 
the end of the lead into a largo knot or, 
without it, there is danger of so small a 
rope slipping out of one’s grasp. For con¬ 
trolling a horse that is difficult to shoe, 
or for minor surgical operations such a 
bridle is much better than a “twitch” ap¬ 
plied to the horse’s upper lip, but in 
using it always keep in mind Mr. Morse’s 
timely injunction: “Don’t under any cir¬ 
cumstances make the horse think he is 
going to be killed.” 
Mr. Morse says “I do not believe that 
your men will make a success of the job 
if they are at all afraid of their horse.” 
Some of the best horsemen among my ac¬ 
quaintances frankly confess to (an intelli¬ 
gent) fear of horses; but their “fear is 
counterbalanced by a spirit of determina¬ 
tion and persevering ingenuity.” They 
study the disposition of the horse, and 
when they find that one plan or system 
won’t control him they set their wits to 
work to devise another. While the human 
desire to “win out” is unquestionably a 
potent element in the makeup of tlie suc¬ 
cessful horseman, I believe that love for 
the horse is the most effectual. Severity 
sometimes seems to be necessary, but, after 
a hard lesson, a lump of sugar or an apple 
given to a horse is better for the horse 
(and for the man too) than all the ana¬ 
themas one could utter during a lifetime. 
While the stallion is likely to be more 
tractable when worked with a mare than 
with a gelding, I have abandoned the prac¬ 
tice for the reason that it Is likely to spoil 
the temper of the mare, if she has any 
“spirit.” I have also found that the stal¬ 
lion has very i>osltive preferences, and dis¬ 
likes. for different geldings, and so think 
it advisable to consult his “tastes” in the 
matter by working him with the geldings 
that are least objectionable to him. 
New York. i. s. albuight. 
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