UTAH
Aaron F. Farr, Jr., Cache county.—Fifteen years ago, when I began raising alfalfa, I had 40 acres, and for the past eight years I have had about 135 acres, all on heavy clay soil, containing considerable salt, and underlaid with very stiff, white clay. The soil is dry on top, but below a depth of 21⁄2 feet is damp, and salty water is found at a depth of eight feet. Small grain was raised on the new land for one or two years, after which the ground was plowed in the fall, and again in the spring, harrowed, and well pulverized. Seed was put in, 12 pounds to the acre, two inches deep, with a press drill. The time for sowing is about the same as for corn, in April or May. If there is plenty of water, it is well to sow the alfalfa with oats, and then cut for hay the first season. Some of my land is irrigated, by flooding, three times in the season, by means of a large canal from the river. The more water is used, the more alfalfa there will be, but the hay from unirrigated land is less sappy than that which has been watered. The plant is not liable to winterkill here, and on sandy loam and gravel soils the full yield is attained the second year, while, on heavy soils, it requires three or four years. I have some that is 20 years old, and cannot say how long it will yet continue vigorous. There is difficulty in ridding land of the plant, unless it is flooded in the winter time. We have usually two cuttings each season, with an average yield for each of about two tons to the acre, although some parts of the land yield four tons at each cutting. I have found it more profitable to raise seed than hay, and for this purpose I prefer the second cutting, using the self-rake, allowing the alfalfa to lie in small piles until dry, then hauling, stacking, and threshing, the same as wheat. The hay lies about 22 hours in the swath, 24 hours in the windrow, and one or two days in the cock, after which it is stacked in large ricks with a horse fork. If properly cured, it will not mold or heat, as it will if damp. On land valued at $30 an acre, the cost of the alfalfa, in the stack, is about $1.50 a ton. The cost of baling is about $2 a ton, the popular weight for bales being about 100 pounds. An average yield of seed is from 300 to 500 pounds to the acre. Threshers take one-sixth toll, and can thresh about 100 bushels in a day. The common machinery saves only about two-thirds of the seed. A bushel of seed weighs more than 60 pounds, and we put 175 pounds in a two-bushel seamless sack. The average selling price of the seed is about $3.50 a bushel. I have one piece of land, containing 60 acres, not irrigated, valued at $30 an acre, from which, for ten years, I have cut one crop of hay, and one of seed, and realized an annual net profit of $1000 cash. As compared with clover and timothy for feeding farm animals, my opinion is that alfalfa will fatten quicker, but will not go so far. The pasturage is profitable and satisfactory for horses and sheep; for hogs, one acre of it is as good as 21⁄2 of Red clover, and for cattle, one acre is as good as two of clover, provided the land is dry. On wet land, the clover is better for cattle, and, as to bloating, the danger is just the same from the two plants. In my opinion, the plant will do well on side-hills, where the drainage is good, if the land is plowed deep, and the seed drilled in two inches deep and rolled with a heavy roller. Once started, the plant lives almost forever, on any soil, unless the wrong kind of a winter strikes it. I have an alfalfa root, taken up in digging a well, that is 21 feet long. The roots of alfalfa are sure to find the water, if anywhere at all within reasonable reach.
John Jones, Utah county.—I have raised alfalfa 20 years, and now have 250 acres, mostly on sandy loam upland; have some on bottom land, where it grows too rank for seed. The subsoil is light clay, with water from 15 to 20 feet from the surface. On land with hardpan subsoil, it declines after a few years, unless irrigated often. In digging for water, we find the subsoil begins to get dry at about 18 inches, and continues quite dry for 8 or 10 feet; then moisture increases until water is reached. We prepare ground by plowing in the fall, drag very fine in the spring, and sow as early as the season will permit, in order to catch the spring rains, using 20 to 25 pounds of seed per acre. Our first cutting is made about June 20, and is a little weedy, but there are fewer weeds in later cuttings. We get about two tons the first cutting, if the stand is good, and about the same the other cuttings that year; have no trouble here about winterkilling; standing water is injurious to the plant. Here alfalfa on uplands is watered three or four times each season; some land needs only one or two floodings, while other lower lands have no irrigation. After getting a good start from the seed, we begin watering about May 1, from small mountain streams. The first year requires water about every week; after that, once a month is sufficient. For hay, we begin cutting with the first bloom, obtaining 2 to 21⁄2 tons from the first cutting, about 2 the second, and from 1 to 11⁄4 the third cutting; let it lie about two days before hauling to stack, being careful not to stack too green. For seed, begin cutting when seed is ripe, the second crop being considered best. The grasshoppers have been troubling the second crop to some extent, and we have on that account been cutting the first crop for seed, using a reaper and separating with a threshing machine. On a basis of 7 per cent interest on $30 per acre with five tons of hay per acre each year, it has cost about $1.55 per ton to raise alfalfa. We estimate $1 per ton for cutting and stacking, and 60 cents per acre for water tax. It costs $2.25 per ton for baling, 100 to 125-pound bale, the size having no effect as to the keeping of properly cured hay. From 8 to 10 bushels is a fair average seed yield, the cost of threshing and cleaning being about 40 cents per bushel. Baled hay is worth (free on board) about $6.50, and loose, about $4 per ton; seed sells for about 7 cents per pound. Alfalfa hay is preferable to timothy or clover, ton for ton, for feeding without grain; with grain, our liverymen prefer timothy. We find alfalfa with grain equal to timothy for draft horses, but for drivers, timothy is preferred. Alfalfa is considered better than clover by our hog raisers; it makes good pasturage for horses, and is better than Red clover for cattle. If cattle are kept continually on the alfalfa, they are not very likely to bloat; the trouble arises from turning hungry animals on it. We use a gag, made of a stick about three inches in diameter, to force the mouth open, but sometimes have to make an opening in the paunch with a knife. Irrigation seems to improve the quantity without increasing the quality. The early cut hay has at least 20 per cent more value than the straw from the seed crop; we have had very good results from feeding the straw, as it always contains more or less seed. Alfalfa sown on clay soil, with hardpan subsoil, gradually dies out after two or three years; also when water is near the surface; when the roots reach water too near by, the plant dies. Sown on good sandy loam, it reaches its best yield about the second year; on heavier soils, about the third year. We have alfalfa 20 years old, as vigorous and good to yield as when started. It is preferable to clover for turning under, as the large roots make more manure, and the tops are much heavier. We grow alfalfa on our uplands without irrigation, but it requires two or three years to get a start; the first year, it makes a growth of 8 or 10 inches, and wilts; second year, it grows a little taller, thickens up somewhat, and then, apparently, dies; the third year, it gains in height and strength, and yields a good crop, or even two crops, according to the subsoil. If the subsoil is hardpan, I would not predict the result as worth the effort. I do not see how Utah would get along without alfalfa. I have 100 acres, from which are cut from 2 to 21⁄2 tons of hay per acre, and from 800 to 1300 bushels of seed each year, and it has not been irrigated for 15 years. Last year the seed yield was 968 bushels, and the grasshoppers damaged it considerably; the seed brought 10 cents per pound on the track here. We make good beef from the hay alone, and have done so on the threshed straw.