THE RU RAI) NEW-YORKER 
915 
Alfalfa Growing on Long Island. 
Humus, Lime and Inoculation. 
HERE is considerable interest on Long Island 
and the southeastern counties of New York, in 
the growing of Alfalfa. This is not surprising, 
since in all sections of the country much interest 
is being manifested in this most wonderful of all 
farm plants. I have visited a large number of 
farms on Long Island and the southeastern counties 
of New York where Alfalfa is grown. From my ob¬ 
servations I can say that I have had ample testi¬ 
mony that Alfalfa can be raised successfully in these 
sections. The large number of failures with which 
many are familiar are largely due to improper meth¬ 
ods employed in the growing of this plant. In the 
first place, a large part of the sections referred to 
is not naturally adapted to growing Alfalfa. The 
soil lacks lime, which is absolutely indispensable to 
growing Alfalfa. In most cases there is also a lack 
of the right kind of bacteria necessary for the 
growth of Alfalfa. If lime is added in available 
form, say at the rate of about two tons to the acre, 
the lime deficiency will be satisfied. By available 
lime I mean hydrated lime and burnt lime. The 
caustic properties of the latter make it necessary 
to apply this lime a short time before planting, else 
it may burn the plants. Air-slaked lime may also 
be used. This, of course, is not as good as the hy¬ 
drated or the caustic lime, but it is better than 
ground limestone, which is too slow in its action for 
Alfalfa, unless perhaps it is applied about a year in 
advance of seeding the Alfalfa. 
So far as inoculation is concerned, this is best 
accomplished by applying about 300 to 500 pounds 
of old Alfalfa soil to the acre. Take this soil from 
the surface of an old, successful Al¬ 
falfa field. I mention here surface soil 
because I have seen instances where 
people have dug down two or three 
feet by the side of an Alfalfa field. 
There are few bacteria to be found in 
the deep layers of the soil. In many 
cases the bacteria do not extend much 
more than six inches below the surface 
of the soil. To be sure, therefore, to 
get the bacteria I would advise tak¬ 
ing only the surface six inches, ap¬ 
plying this in the afternoon and im¬ 
mediately harrowing it in. This pro¬ 
cedure is necessary because the strong 
action of the sun will kill the bacteria 
in short time. 
The third factor, which is fully as 
important as either the lime or bac¬ 
teria, is the need of a sufficient supply of humus in 
the soil. Without humus the Alfalfa plant will not 
flourish because the soil must be in condition to ad¬ 
mit a great deal of air. This air is necessary for 
the life of the bacteria and to supply them with 
free atmospheric nitrogen which they put in the 
soil. Humus also aids in holding moisture, which is 
highly important to the young plant. 
To supply the necessary amount of humus on the 
old worn-out soils, it is necessary to add at the rate 
of about 20 tons of well-made manure to the acre. 
This will not furnish too much humus, and the 
ready fertility which is 
in this manure will also 
be found valuable in 
giving the plant a good 
start. Another value 
of manure, which is 
generally under-es¬ 
timated, is the fact that 
it contains billions of 
bacteria which seem to 
have an exceptionally 
favorable influence on 
legumes in general. In 
fact, it is well known 
that the bacteria con¬ 
tained in stable manure 
are valuable for all 
crops. 
Alfalfa may be seeded 
either in the Spring or 
in the Fall. For Fall 
seeding it is best to se¬ 
lect a piece of land 
which is reasonably free 
from weeds. The weeds must be thoroughly destroyed 
before seeding by frequent cultivation or disking dur¬ 
ing several months preceding the planting. For Spring 
seeding it is important also to select a field which 
has been clean cultured the previous year. The 
planting should be done as early as it is possible to 
get the seed into the ground in the Spring. In 
to the acre with the Alfalfa. This serves to check 
the weeds, which would otherwise tend to crowd 
out the Alfalfa. If early barley is used as nurse 
crop it may be allowed to ripen before harvesting. 
When oats are used they should be cut as soon as 
they begin to head out, so as to prevent choking out 
the young plant at this stage. 
So far as seed is concerned, we should aim to get 
E F 
I 
Giant Apple Tree. Fig. 338. (See First Page). 
carefully grown Alfalfa seed, especially that coming 
from Northern sections. The amount to use per 
acre varies from 15 to 25 pounds, depending upon 
the quality of the seed and upon the quality of the 
land upon which it is to be seeded. Experience 
shows that 20 pounds of seed to the acre will be 
found about right. One thing further should be said in 
Massachusetts Hayfield. Fig. 339. (See First Page). 
reference to raising Alfalfa. This is the fact that it 
requires a seed bed as finely and well prepared as 
for the best of garden plants. This is a matter 
which is not usually sufficiently appreciated. My ad¬ 
vice has always been to try Alfalfa raising on a 
small scale, because in this way you can easily test 
your land as to whether or not it is especially adapt¬ 
ed to Alfalfa growing. In this connection it should 
be stated where the water table stands close to the 
surface Alfalfa raising will not prove successful. 
Alfalfa requires a well drained soil. I have seen 
a number of Alfalfa failures in Orange and adjoin- 
Drag-chain for Cotton. 
One Way of Fighting the Boll-weevil. 
EFORTS to fight the cotton weevil in the South 
have developed contrivances for distributing 
poison or for working the land. Among others a 
chain drag is described and recommended by the 
Alabama Experiment Station. 
This device is an extreme simplification of the chain 
cultivator idea and may be easily made. It consists 
essentially of four parts. First, a spreader, which may 
be a piece of heavy joist or even a green branch of a 
tree. The length should be six or eight inches shorter 
than the distance between the rows. It should be two 
or three inches in diameter and fairly heavy. Tim 
chain may be fastened to the ends by heavy staples or 
by wiring. It is better to have one side of a link held 
in a notch sawed in the end of the spreader. The sec¬ 
ond part is the chain which should be of a type com¬ 
monly used in logging operations and should have about 
seven or eight links per foot and these made of about 
one-half inch iron. From 12 to 15 feet of chain is 
needed to give two loops with a spreader of three to 
four feet in length. The chain is fastened so that one 
loop is shorter than the other, thus bringing the loops 
about 10 inches apart. The third part is a trace chain 
for connecting the drag with the single tree. This may 
be fastened six or eight inches from the ends of the 
spreader and should run forward far enough so that the 
spreader will not be lifted from the ground as it is 
drawn forward. Fourth, the machine may be guided 
by attaching a plow line or wires to the spreader where 
the trace chains are attached. These should run back 
to a short stick which gives a firm and easy hand hold. 
One end of the rope or wire may then be carried down 
to each chain so that they may be lifted independently 
or the entire machine lifted from the ground to jump 
or dodge stumps and to guide the machine so that it 
may be used close to the plants. 
This dragging chain is to be hauled up and down 
along the rows breaking up the soil and dragging 
the insects up to the sunlight. A light dragging or 
scratching cultivator of this sort would be useful in 
many crops. For example in open loose soil it 
would be a good device for scratching 
in the seeds of a cover crop among 
corn. 
o 
Home Site and Barn of Massachusetts Farmer. Fig. 340. (See First Page). 
ing counties which I believe could have been pre¬ 
vented by tile draining the land. The suggestions 
here made are based upon a wide observation in 
raising Alfalfa as well as upon 10 years of success¬ 
ful Alfalfa growing upon my own farm. 
L. I. School of Agriculture. john miciiels. 
Spring planting it is necessary to seed at the rate 
ot about three-quarters of a bushel of barley or oats 
We are advised 
bage worm. Did 
secticideV” 
to use soapsuds for killing the cab- 
anyone ever succeed with this “in- 
Bermuda Grass and Soy Beans. 
iN page 842 it is said that Bermu¬ 
da grass “is not suited to our 
Eastern conditions.” Applying this to 
the Northeast, it is exactly correct, 
but to apply it to the East generally, 
as distinguished from the drier South¬ 
west, would be all wrong. Bermuda 
is the greatest of all pasture grasses 
for the whole cotton country east of 
the Mississippi and for a more or less 
extensive area just north of the cot¬ 
ton belt. It is a hot weather grass, 
but not a dry weather grass; and 
while it would be of little or no 
value—probably only a pest if it survived—in the 
latitude of New Jersey, it is of great value as far 
north as Central Virginia and East Tennessee. It has 
well been called the Blue grass of the South, and 
Bermuda pastures in the cotton country can be 
made to yield as much, or more, meat or milk per 
acre per year as the best Blue grass pastures of 
the Middle West. It is propagated here by setting out 
the roots or small bunches of grass, just as the 
Oklahoma bulletin explains. I have four or five 
acres myself set out this way last Spring in land 
planted to Soy beans. The field is a rough, rocky 
hillside, unfit to culti¬ 
vate, and I regard my 
troubles with it as near¬ 
ly over. After this year 
it will be only a ques¬ 
tion of keeping down 
the bushes and briers 
and giving the grass a 
chance. . 
The other statement 
which conflicts with my 
experience and that of 
many others in this 
part of the country is 
that of Chas. B. Wing 
on page 843, that wheat 
• does better after Soy 
beans than after any 
other crop he has tried. 
The general opinion in 
the South, where both 
crops a re extensively 
grown, is that Fall- 
sown grains do much 
better after cow peas than after Soy beans. This 
opinion I think correct. In preparing a field in 
which both crops have been grown one can nearly 
always see that the cow peas have left the land 
mellower and easier to work. This is true whether 
the crops are cut for hay or left to ripen seed, and 
the difference is usually noticeable at harvest time 
as well as at seeding time. The Soy beans seems to 
pump the land exceedingly dry, and the cow pea 
