The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 31, 1919 
914 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
For the past live years I have had 
something to say about transplanted Al¬ 
falfa. On page 907 you will find the pic¬ 
ture of a plant which I dug on May 7. It 
is difficult to give a clear idea of a fruit 
or a plant unless you can show the exact 
size. In this case a tape measure was 
photographed with the plant, so we see 
that the spread above the crown was 29 
inches. The crown itself—that is, top of 
the plant, where the shoots come out—is 
11 inches wide. By May 7 this plant had 
made a little over 24 inches of growth. 
Planted originally three feet apart each 
way, these plants were reaching out until 
they were likely to cover the entire 
ground. They appear to spread or broad¬ 
en out by sending up new plants or shoots 
from the roots, somewhat like quack 
grass, though it seems hard to believe’ 
such a thing. The root speaks for itself. 
Instead of one big tap-root, to be found 
on the common Alfalfa, these plants 
throw out a mass of side roots which run 
and feed in the upper soil and anchor the 
plants so securely in the soil that it is 
almost impossible to pull them out. In 
one of the orchards I have a few scatter¬ 
ing plants of common Alfalfa left from a 
seeding over 10 years ago. They make a 
small narrow growth of top each year. 
The crown does not broaden out like 
the plant in the picture, but is little 
larger than it was eight years ago. There 
seems to be nothing of this habit of throw¬ 
ing up new shoots from the roots. There 
is one big tap root going far down and 
practically no side roots in the upper 
soil. 
***** 
In 1915 I heard of the new varieties, 
Cossack and Semipalatinsk, which had 
been brought from Siberia by Prof. N. E. 
Hansen of South Dakota. Prof. Hansen 
was trying experiments in transplanting 
Alfalfa. lie said that in Siberia he found 
people who told how their ancestors had 
used this method of propagation. So I 
ordered a number of the plants. They 
came in sacks about as you would ship 
asparagus or rhubarb roots. They were 
seedlings. The seed was drilled in May 
and the roots C :g in November and kept 
in storage during Winter. These roots 
averaged about the size of a lead pencil 
and perhaps six inches long, each Avith its 
little crown or top. When they came we 
“heeled” them in about as we do straw¬ 
berry plants, by making a little furrow, 
setting the roots in it and hoeing soil up 
around them. In planting, a man drove 
a spade deep into the ground and worked 
it away from him so as to open up the 
soil. Then a boy quickly thrust the root 
in behind the spade. The man pulled the 
spade out with a quick motion, the boy 
holding the root so that when the soil 
fell back the crown would be just at the 
surface. Then the man stepped hard on 
the spaded soil and forced it firmly around 
the root, and went on the next place. . 
This is a good way to plant strawberries 
or cabbage if you can get the trick of the 
quick jerk in pulling out the spade. 
* * * * * 
We transplanted these roots in a va¬ 
riety of s ils, all the way from the gar¬ 
den to the hard, tough soil on the hill. 
The root shown in the picture was plant¬ 
ed in an orchard. The soil is tough and 
hard, and there is only a thin rind of it 
over the rock. Repeated attempts to seed 
the old tap-rooted Alfalfa in this soil 
have failed. The young plants were most¬ 
ly pulled out by the frost.. These side- 
rooted plants were riveted in. In many 
cases we did not even plow the ground, 
but drove the spade right into the soil 
and put in the root. This year, starting 
the fifth year of growth, the plants were 
in fine shape. I think they were good for 
ten years more, while I doubt if there is 
a field of the old Alfalfa in our county 
that shows half a stand at the end of 
three years. One thing about these roots 
is that no inoculation was required. The 
bacteria were in the roots when they 
came. As for yield. I have cut and shown 
one growth from Semipalatinsk over five 
feet long. During the four years of 
growth before this year I figure that 
strong plants of Cossack have given me 
very close to 30 feet of growth in 12 cut¬ 
tings. The soil is not naturally strong, 
and the Alfalfa has had very little fer¬ 
tilizer or manure. The plant shown at 
Fig. 249 was grown in soil so sour that 
sorrel grows all around the Alfalfa plants. 
It is my belief, though I cannot prove it, 
that Cossack and Semipalatinsk are some¬ 
what like Alsike clover in their ability to 
thrive in a slightly acid soil. This year 
I was obliged to plow up all but one row 
of thbse plants, as the soil Avas needed 
for other crops. 
***** 
We feel that Ave have fully demonstrat¬ 
ed the possibilities of this plan of growing 
Alfalfa. With cheap hand labor for trans¬ 
planting, I think it would pay. I think 
some smart boy could buy a pound of 
Semipalatinsk seed and start it in the 
garden as he would celery. The next 
Spring he could dig up the roots and stick 
them into father’s pasture, as we do, with 
a spade. If father was interested enough 
to let the boy try this on part of the pas¬ 
ture and keep the stock out until-the 
plants could have a chance, I know what 
would happen. Within a short time there 
would be spots of dark green all over 
that pasture, and the dryer it got the 
miore. those green spots would show. This 
Semipalatinsk does not make an upright 
growth, but runs and spreads on the 
ground. It would give Jonah’s gourd a 
close race for speed, and the fine leaves 
and stems Avould make the finest pasture. 
The smart boy I have mentioned would 
be able to add 40 per cent to the value of 
father’s old pasture if he could be per¬ 
mitted to stick in these roots and have 
the family supply of Avood ashes to scatter 
around them. I will stand by the state¬ 
ment that by transplanting roots of Semi- 
palatinsk in this way the boy could make 
the pasture carry 40 cattle where they 
now carry 25. But the boy would have to 
be not only smart but stout-hearted and 
steady to a high degree. Every man in 
the neighborhood, probably including 
father, would laugh at him. Would father 
give him two weeks’ time to “play” with 
these baby Alfalfa plants? The idea of 
transplanting grass! No one ever heard 
of it before, and who wants to make a 
laughing stock of himself? Most likely 
the county agent would shake his head be¬ 
cause the college and the experiment sta¬ 
tion do not advise it. So the scheme is 
not likely to be tried out, for any boy 
who would have the brains and vision and 
steadfast purpose to ‘carry it through 
would, I imagine, find a greater demand 
for these qualities in other lines of busi¬ 
ness. 
***** 
I have tried to interest a good many 
college and experiment station men iii 
these transplanted Alfalfa roots. Very 
likely I failed in convincing eloquence. 
They have always admired the big xjlants 
as they would a two-headed calf or a 
three-legged chicken. When I tell them 
of the possibilities of such transplanting 
they look at me in that patient, wise and 
patronizing manner Avhich we all hold in 
stock for the insane or the “cranks” or 
the children. I find that the average pub¬ 
lic man comes to regard his job as that 
of a watchdog rather than that of a 
hunter. Behind him stands habit, pre¬ 
judice and methods which carry the stamp 
of accepted opinion. If anything new ever 
gets in it will carry the marks of the bull¬ 
dog’s teeth, which show up like a trade¬ 
mark. The great idea seems to be not to 
get out and hunt for new game, but to let 
nothing new get in until it has been well 
tested and torn up and handled. Other- 
Avise it might upset some of the old 
methods. So it is that a fertilizer, an in¬ 
secticide, a new method, cannot be called 
“respectable” until it can show the marks 
of the bulldog’s teeth on its legs, or leave 
a piece of its cloth in the watchdog’s 
teeth. I find no fault Avith this. Many a 
farmer has been saved money and time 
through the careful work which the sta¬ 
tions do. They are pretty sIoav about it 
sometimes, and in addition to the Avatch- 
dogs I think they might well keep a feAv 
hounds or bird dogs on hand to run out 
and drive in new game for trial. 
***** 
But what do I claim for these trans¬ 
plants? Well, first, this is the finest way 
I can think of for obtaining seed. You 
would be surprised tb see hoAV these big 
fellows shell out the seed crop. They are 
easy to cut and handle in a small way, 
and a comparatively small patch will give 
Avhat you need of pure strong seed. Of 
late years there has been a great outcry 
about Alfalfa seed. My conviction is that 
the best seed to use is that grown right in 
our OAvn locality. I know what the Avise 
men say about using seed from the desert 
or from the NorthAvest, but my opinion 
is that seed grown right on my oavh farm 
would be best for me. These transplanted 
plants would give me the pure article. I 
may be all wrong about this, but the ex¬ 
periment stations are doing considerable 
work that seems to me far less important 
than settling this point I also think 
there are many poultry men and garden¬ 
ers aa'Iio might well plant several thousand 
of these roots. According to my figures 
one plant of Cossack has given me about 
25 per cent more hen food than a hill of 
average corn. The corn has to be planted 
each year, Avhile the Alfalfa plant, once 
started, seems good for a dozen years. I 
have cut these great plants and tied them 
somewhat like a fleece of wool, then hung 
them in the barn somewhat as tobacco is 
hung for curing. Thus treated they turn 
into a rich, broAvn-colored hay. When 
this is run through a cutter and then put 
through a mill it looks very much like 
wheat bran and has much the same an¬ 
alysis. I can hardly think of any crop 
more useful to a poultryman or a man 
with one coav than 3,500 or more of these 
big plants. T put mine three feet apart, 
but they will do better at two feet, or 
about 10.000 plants per acre. They would 
require no care except a little weeding 
and some fertilizing. I have seen about 
everything that grows from Florida.up to 
Nova Scotia, but for the space they oc¬ 
cupy I have seen nothing that will pro¬ 
duce more economical hen or coav feed 
than 1,000 -of these transplanted roots, 
properly 'cared for. I understand that 
Prof. Ilansen has a netv variety now, 
better even,. than A’ossaek.- If anyone 
thinks he has a crop -to Mat it I Avill 
back the Alfalfa for a five-year test at 
any experiment station. 
y- •, * * - * * * ^ 
But Avho am I to pose as an expert on 
transplants? Here rtiiu .two, right iioav 
that I have neglected. Rose and James 
may well be called transplanted roots-— 
dug out of rather hard soil in the city and 
delivered into our hands for a new start. 
We are trying to root them in the soil. 
Now Mother and the children have gone 
off to a meeting and left me in charge 
of these kids. Perhaps she took my re¬ 
marks about transplants too sei'iously, 
(Continued on page 923) 
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