How to Grow Alfalfa in Southeastern N. Y. 
H OME-GROWN FEED.—With milk selling at a 
low price and dairy feeds at a very high price, 
it is imperative that the dairy farmer revise his 
methods of feeding, and use feeds that he can pro¬ 
duce on his own farm. It has been demonstrated 
that with good corn silage and Alfalfa hay nearly as 
much milk can be produced as with the feeding of 
high-priced Western grains. The farmers of South¬ 
eastern New York can at least equal if not excel 
their Western brothers in the production of corn. 
But it has only recently been demonstrated that they 
can grow large crops of Alfalfa. It is the purpose 
of this article to tell how those who have succeeded 
with Alfalfa believe its growth can he extended to 
every farm in the section mentioned. 
SELECTION OF FIELD.—Select a good, fertile, 
well-drained field that was tilled last year, last 
year’s corn or potato field. A grain field will do. but 
do not try to grow Alfalfa on sod. It is an excellent 
idea to let Alfalfa follow some other leguminous 
eient lime in the soil. It takes two tons per acre of 
ground limestone on our soils to get a good stand. 
Then when, we follow this with Alfalfa we put on 
two or three tons more. Inoculate the Sweet clover 
seed with Alfalfa bacteria and you will have your 
field well filled with the proper bacteria, for Sweet 
clover and Alfalfa have the same bacteria on their 
roots. You can use a hilly, rolling or level field. If 
level, the subsoil must he porous, so that water will 
not stand on the surface for any length of time. 
TILLAGE OF FIELD.—It is an excellent idea to 
plow the field in the Fall. If this is not practical, 
then as early in the Spring as convenient. It should 
he disked, harrowed and rolled until it is well 
packed with an inch or two of fine soil on top. It 
needs much more tillage than for a grain crop, and 
the soil must he well packed. This is one great ad¬ 
vantage of Fall plowing. 
FERTILIZERS.—The best fertilizer for Alfalfa is 
good stable manure. If you have manure made from 
sour. You must use enough ground limestone not 
only to sweeten the soil, but there must he enough 
left in the soil for the Alfalfa to use as plant food 
for several years. The Alfalfa plants use about 100 
lbs. of carbonate of lime in growing a ton of hay. 
Ground limestone is carbonate of lime. If you use 
good. rich, well-manured land for your Alfalfa, you 
should get five tons of Alfalfa hay per acre per year. 
One year’s crop will use 500 lbs. of your ground 
limestone. You want your stand to last at least 
•five or six years. This means 2,500 to 8.000 lbs. 
used as plant food. It will take more than that to 
sweeten your land, and with the manure to make a 
suitable home for the nitrogen bacteria. Therefore 
we are using four to five tons per acre, and it is not 
too much. If you use much less, your field of Alfalfa 
will run out after a year or two. This is the one ele¬ 
ment in which nearly all our Eastern soils are de¬ 
ficient. In the State of Washington the element 
kicking in the soil is sulphur. The Alfalfa growers 
•• •" 
* ! ‘*1 ‘ that has been cultivated. Soy beans for instance. 
In sections where farmers raise peas for the canning 
factory, they follow this crop with Alfalfa. In the 
spring of 1017. Fred B. Pulling of Dutchess County 
prepared a field for Alfalfa. lie sowed a portion of 
it to Alfalfa and the remainder to Soy beans. The 
l eans were sown in drills and cultivated, the field 
I'eing kept free from weeds. The following Spring, 
in March, when the ground was cracked with frost, 
lie sowed Alfalfa over the Soy bean section, without 
cultivation, just as you would sow clover seed over 
•> held of Winter grain. lie got an excellent stand, 
•mil it was very interesting to note that the Alfalfa 
pl.nits where the rows of Soy beaus had been were 
n1 ' h larger, and gradually decreased in size to the 
“‘liter between the rows, showing that the nitrogen 
gathered and left in the soil by the Soy bean bacteria 
" ,ls a £reat stimulus to the Alfalfa plants. An ex¬ 
cellent crop to precede Alfalfa is Sweet clover, for it 
vill grow on almost any soil, provided there is sutli- 
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feeding Alfalfa hay. it is all the better, for it is much 
richer in plant food, and later on. when you are rais¬ 
ing and feeding Alfalfa hay. it will help wonderfully 
in doing away with your fertilizer bill. Manure not 
only furnishes plant food, but when well worked into 
the soil, it aids greatly in making a congenial home 
for the nitrogen bacteria. This is a very important 
matter in growing Alfalfa, for you want your soil 
full of these bacteria to get nitrogen out of the air 
for your Alfalfa plants, if you have given the field 
a good application of manure within a year or two it 
w ill do. As to the use of commercial fertilizer, one 
having phosphorus is most important for our soils. 
Use basic slag, if you can get it. If not. acid phos¬ 
phate will do. 
USE OF LIME.—The one absolutely necessary 
thing to do to get a good lasting stand of Alfalfa in 
Southeastern New York is to use lime, ground lime¬ 
stone preferred, and a big application. Practically 
every square foot of land in this section is sour, very 
use our old friend plaster (lime sulphate) for the 
sulphur, not the lime, and with its use or the use of 
flowers of sulphur they win success. Lime is our 
limiting factor. 
W HEN TO SOW.—In Southeastern New York sow 
your Alfalfa seed in the Spring: as early in the 
Spring as possible. However, you can safely sow 
any time before July 1. You can sow as late as 
August 15. but unless we have plenty of rainfall, 
which is not likely, you will not succeed. It lias been 
done with good success, but you take a big chance. 
Fate sowing with dry weather following absolutely 
spell failure. One object in sowing early is to get 
large, strong plants to successfully stand the freezing 
and thawing of the following early Spring, so that 
they will not be lifted out of the ground. 
IIOW To SOW.—Use a clover drill if you have 
one. Very few farmers have. You can with good 
success use the grass seed compartment of your grain 
drill. Let the seeds come out behind the drill and 
