Still Another Alfalfa Sermon 
A Test in Indiana 
“Test all iliings, and hold fast to that which is 
good." 
ATURE AND TTADIT.—This is the good advice 
given by Tiik R. N.-Y. editor on page 120'^. Rut I 
Avould suggest that tlie reader turn to page 1200, and 
see what is said about “Food Prejudices.” He will 
see that habit, as well as “soil and climate." has 
much to do with it. INIan is said to be “a bundle of 
habits.” Farmers (and editors) have got in the 
habit of long ignoring'the work of .Tack Frost, the 
greatest of all agriculturists. Nature is said to 
make the best of seed beds, but from habit the 
farmer goes out into this seed bed, with two or 
“No sir-ee,” tho.v .said; “this ground must be turned 
undei’.” So they plowed this (already too loose boR 
tom) ground, waiting, occasionally, a day or two, 
on account of rain—sometimes plowing it too wet, 
and making clods that it is impos.sible to pulverize 
.should a drought come, as it often does. Finall.v, 
they sowed the peas late, in the small, hard clods, 
that should not have been made; and the result in 
this particular case was they did not get the “seed 
back,” to say nothing about pay for the useless work 
of men and team.s. This is the result of “habit.” 
SOWING OATS ON WASHINGTON’S BIRTH¬ 
DAY.—About 15 years ago I sowed 25 acres of oats, 
in standing cornstalk.s, on “honeycombed” corn 
ground, on the 22d of Februarj'. All I did for these 
oats, after seeding them (five corn rows at a time. 
it falls to the ground in Summer and lies there all 
Fall and Winter f I never did I 
“SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN HIS FIELDS.” 
—Some say I succeed with Alfalfa because there is 
.something different in my field from theirs. I tell 
them, “Of course there is; a different man, that’.s 
all.” I hope the editor will try .some of that “tough, 
weedy land” of hi.s, in celel)rating Washington’.s next 
birthday, by sowing Alfalfa on “honeycombed” coni 
stubble, oat stubble, tomato, potato or bean ground, 
or any other kind of cropped ground, this year, and 
.see if the “tap-rooted” Alfalfa (or some other kind), 
will not succeed by getting an early start, to with¬ 
stand droughts of Summer, and the rigons of Win¬ 
ter. I had .some Grimm Alfalfa, al.so, “jerked out,” 
in the Winter of 1915-lG, and father wanted me to 
A Herd of Registered Holsteins on a Whiteside Co., Ill., Farm. Fig. 660 
three big, heavy hor.ses, each one of which has four 
big feet with iron weights on them, or with a tractor 
with heavy iron wheel.s, and he despoils this seed 
bed by “turning it under good and deep”; “turning 
under all rubbish to rot,” just as if it did no good 
on top as a mulch, and would never rot if left on 
top oT mixed with tlie surface soil, after being cut 
into sliort pieces Avith a disk. Often, this plowing 
and trampling is done when the ground is too wet, 
and clods and air .spaces are the result. 
EltRORS IN PLOWING.—I have known farmers 
to plow tomato ground, to sow oats or peas for can¬ 
ning purposes. I asked why not sow oats “a la Jack 
Frost" on these tomato vines; and why not take a 
disk drill and sow the peas, at once, and be done 
with it, thus getting them in early, to have the bene¬ 
fit of early rains and a longer sea.son to grow? But, 
with a clover seeder), was to break the cornstalks 
Avith a pole and two horses, and to harvest the oats. 
In the meantime. I Avas the “laughing stock” of the 
neighborhood. One Quaker friend said: “You don’t 
expect to rai.se oats Avithout plowing the ground, do 
you?” I replied: “I don’t kno\A'; but I am going to 
try.” At harvest, my oats Avere a foot higher than 
hi.s, in an adjoining field, Avhere he had “broken” 
the ground, prepared it, and had used a disk drill 
to soAA' his oats. The next Februarj’ this friend 
soAA'ed 50 acres of oats on corn ground, like I soAA'ed 
mine. The editor says: “We beliei'e that Mr. Shir- 
ley giA'es us the exact facts, yet avIio would be jus¬ 
tified in advising all farmers to plunge in and sow 
Alfalfa as they do clover?” Why not soav Alfalfa 
clover as they do Red clover? Did you ever know 
Sweet clover to fail to groAV on vacant lots, Avhen 
plow up 40 or 50 acres of my Alfalfa and put it in 
“kworn,” as he called it; but I told him I liad 
never knoAvn old Alfalfa to be killed by Winter (or 
almost anything el.^^e), so I didn't plo\A' it up except 
in spots (although I told him that I ahvays take 
his advice—if it suits me). I have now seven ricks 
of pea-green Alfalfa on that 40 acres and some extra 
fine hay in the barn. One man last Spring Avanted 
to rent a nine-acre field of this Alfalfa land to plant 
to corn, saying: “The Alfalfa is .so thin that it is 
no account.” I .said, “I find that the thinnest Al¬ 
falfa makes the most hay.” He replied: “That field 
ought to make a lot of hay, then.” He planted 00 
acres of tomatoes ( I) and I am still cutting Alfalfa, 
November 6, 1917, selling it at $22 to $24 per ton. 
taken from the windroAv. I have no fears of Avinter- 
killing, although sometimes we have 24 degrees be- 
