WYOMING
Asil T. Wilson, Fremont county.—For six years I have been raising alfalfa on first-bench upland, a gravelly loam, with a cement subsoil of a lime nature. Water is found at 40 feet; moist soil is encountered at a depth of 12 feet from the surface, and continues until water is reached. A depth of one inch for seeding is best. Sow in early spring. If alfalfa and timothy are sown together, sow 20 pounds of the former to 6 of the latter; if alone, 20 pounds of alfalfa. No weeds will trouble; cut either crop for hay; the first crop for seed. Watering after the last cutting will cause alfalfa to winterkill. Irrigate as early as possible, if dry, and whenever getting dry, also about five days before cutting; the soil being moist after cutting, the next crop will start up quickly. The larger the quantity of water used the better if it runs off quickly. We obtain water from a stream. After the first year I cut twice, obtaining two tons each cutting. I cut for hay just as it comes into bloom, as it is not so woody and more leaves are saved. The first cutting is preferable for seed. When cutting for seed, wait until the curls get well filled and black; put it into cocks and thresh when dry. Alfalfa hay should be cut one day and raked the next; then cock, and let it stand two or three days before stacking; by so doing all the leaves are saved, and it cures in the cock so there is no danger of molding in the stack. My alfalfa in stack costs $1 per ton, from land valued at $5 per acre. Irrigation costs 20 cents per acre. Baling costs $3 per ton, 150 pounds in bale. Seed yields six bushels per acre; threshing costs $1 per bushel. Prices for hay have ranged from $5 to $10 per ton, and $7 per bushel for seed. Alfalfa hay is equal to clover or timothy for farm animals. For swine pasturage it is better than clover; one acre will pasture 10 head of swine, gaining one pound per head each day. For horses and sheep it is good, and as good for cattle as clover, but dangerous, as they bloat and die. The best yields on upland are from three to five years after seeding; and, if watered at proper intervals, it will last 20 years. There is no difficulty in ridding land of alfalfa; plow it late in the fall, level it down and mark it, then water, and let it freeze up in winter. Alfalfa for green manure is as good or better than Red clover. Without plenty of rain, I would not recommend growing alfalfa in any locality. Seed raised from alfalfa thin on the ground is best.
John H. Gordon, Laramie county.—During the past 10 years, I have had from 10 to 200 acres of alfalfa on second bottom and upland, with sandy loam from two inches to six feet deep, and below this soft rock, water being found at depths of 20 to 200 feet. I plow or break the soil the first year, and raise a crop of wheat or oats; the second year plow deep, sow about half a crop of oats, and when this is well harrowed, sow 20 pounds of alfalfa seed and cover it about two inches deep. To get the best results, this seeding is done about April 1st, and there is no trouble here with weeds. In cutting the grain, the alfalfa is cut off too, but it does not grow tall enough for hay the first year. The plant does not winterkill, and reaches its full yields by the third or fourth year; I have found no necessity for reseeding any of my land. We irrigate from streams, the quantity of water used depending on the season. There are generally three applications of water, about six inches each time. After the first two or three years, only about half the quantity used at first will be needed. After the first year I cut twice, and obtain about 11⁄2 tons to the acre each time. The first crop is best for seed, and is harvested when the top bolls are dead ripe, raked the day after cutting, bunched for two days and then stacked, to be threshed with the common threshing machinery, putting through twice. Five bushels to the acre is a common yield of seed, and the cleaning and threshing cost 50 to 75 cents a bushel. The hay is cut when the greater part is in bloom, allowed to lie about a day before raking, cured about three days, and then stacked, 14 to 16 feet wide, 60 feet long, and 20 feet high. It does not seem to heat or mold here. The total cost in the stack is about $1.50 a ton, and baling, in 100-pound bales, costs $2 a ton. Selling price of loose hay in this section is $5 a ton, and the seed, 10 to 12 cents per pound in the market. The straw is worth about as much as the hay for feed. I am well satisfied with the general results of growing alfalfa here, and am now preparing 200 acres for seeding. Where it will grow well, it is the best forage plant ever discovered, being good feed for cattle, hogs, sheep, fowls, and, in fact, all animals on the farm, while as a fertilizer it cannot be surpassed. But one cannot do anything with it if there is not sufficient moisture to raise wheat or oats.