OKLAHOMA
Agricultural experiment station: Bul. 71, by Prof. F. C. Burtis and L. A. Moorhouse.—This crop is being grown in every county in Oklahoma and in some sections, a fair acreage is present. From many fields as large yields are obtained as are produced any place else in the United States without irrigation. On the uplands in Oklahoma, as elsewhere, the returns vary. Where the subsoil is hard and impervious, the yields are quite meager under unfavorable climatic conditions and the crop needs considerable nursing such as disking and harrowing, to keep the crab grass from taking the field in a few years. On these upland soils with the hardpan subsoils which grow cowpeas to perfection, the farmer who is not willing to inform himself about proper methods and to give his alfalfa fields much attention and care, should grow cowpeas instead. But as has been indicated before, alfalfa is being grown on such soil successfully and profitably, but only in small areas.
The soil of the experiment station farm at Stillwater, on which the following yields of alfalfa were obtained is a clay loam underlaid by a very stiff, impervious subsoil of a hardpan nature.
Yields of Field F, containing about four acres; cured hay for the season.
1902—1.76 tons hay per acre in 5 cuttings.
1903—1.23 tons hay per acre in 5 cuttings.
1904—3.13 tons hay per acre in 4 cuttings.
1905—3.13 tons hay per acre in 5 cuttings.
Average for four years, 2.31 tons of hay per acre.
In the spring of 1904 the field received an application of barnyard manure at the rate of 15 tons per acre. Every season, the field was disked from three to four times and harrowed. During 1903 and 1904, web worms damaged the crop.
Yields of Plats 1, 2, 3, and 4, Field E. The plats are on similar soil to that of Field F and have been handled about the same as that field. The yield is given for all the plats together.
1902—2.67 tons hay per acre.
1903—3.27 tons hay per acre.
1904—3.31 tons hay per acre.
Average for three years, 3.08 tons of hay per acre.
Yield of Field H, containing about five acres:
1902—4.20 tons hay per acre in 5 cuttings.
1903—2.88 tons hay per acre in 5 cuttings.
1904—2.12 tons hay per acre in 5 cuttings.
1905—2.27 tons hay per acre in 5 cuttings.
Average for four years 2.69 tons per acre.
Barnyard manure was applied to this field in 1900-’01, and it was given the same treatment as was received by the fields previously mentioned. Other results will be given in a later bulletin, but those cited give a fair idea of what may be expected on upland where the subsoil is a hardpan. The hay from all the fields mentioned above, obtained in the last two or three cuttings, contained varying amounts of crab grass, so the yields given are not all alfalfa. Since the above results were obtained, some good bottom land has been acquired by the experiment station and alfalfa has already been seeded on some of it. In a few years, yields that will look better when compared with those of our best alfalfa growers can probably be reported. The following summary will be helpful.
1. Alfalfa is a great and valuable crop for Oklahoma, where there are as good alfalfa soils as are found in the world and as good yields are produced as anywhere.
2. The acreage of alfalfa should be greatly increased in Oklahoma. There are but few farms here that do not contain a few acres at least that will grow the crop profitably.
3. Select the best soil on the farm for the first trial, and try only a few acres at first.
4. Decide a year or two in advance of seeding time what field is to be seeded to alfalfa, and follow the best methods of cropping and preparation known.
5. Buy only the very best seed. Get a sample and test it before buying and purchase your seed a year before you expect to sow it unless you are sure you can get good seed just when you want it.
6. Twenty pounds of good seed to the acre is plenty and as low as twelve pounds is all that is used by many.
7. Seed either with the drill or by broadcasting. Conditions must be right for either to succeed.
8. Fall seeding and spring seeding are both followed in Oklahoma with good success. If the conditions are not right at seeding time, or turn out unfavorable after seeding, or while the plants are small, either may fail.
9. As a rule fall seeding is preferable in Oklahoma, particularly on the less adapted soils.
10. Take due care in harvesting the hay that half its value is not lost at that time.
11. Don’t give up trying to raise the crop because you fail in your first attempt or even if the failure continues to the second and third attempts. Successful alfalfa raisers have stated that in instances they have failed as many as five times in getting certain fields started to alfalfa, and after they did get the field seeded, the returns from it would justify reseeding ten times if necessary.