Six Months Growth of Alfalfa Foliage
grown from one crown under irrigation in southern California, sixty feet below sea level Height slightly less than eleven feet
CHAPTER XXVI.
Practical Experiences of Alfalfa Growers in the United States of America
ALABAMA
Prof. J. F. Duggar, Director Alabama experiment station.—Alfalfa is grown in Alabama with entire success on the lime soil of the central prairie region of the state. This is a strip of land from 10 to 20 miles wide, extending southeast and northwest almost across the state and into Mississippi. Beginning near Union Springs, this prairie passes near Montgomery, Selma, Demopolis, Greensboro and northwestward towards Columbus, Miss. On the prairie lands in this area alfalfa affords from three to six cuttings per year, usually four, and the yield is from three to six tons per acre. Irrigation is not practiced. The seed is sown either in September or in the early part of March, usually from 20 to 24 pounds per acre. Almost a full crop is secured the first year from fall seeding, but only from one-third to two-thirds of a full crop is secured the first year from sowing seed in March. It is not customary on this soil to use fertilizer on alfalfa, but an application of even a light coat of stable manure immensely increases the yield on the poor spots. Failure has generally attended attempts to grow alfalfa on non-calcareous or sandy soils, though under favorable conditions, with liberal manuring and constant warfare against crab-grass, it occasionally succeeds. In Bulletin No. 127 of the Alabama experiment station the results in alfalfa growing are summarized as follows: Usually the best crop to precede spring sown alfalfa is cotton, especially if cotton follows melilotus (Sweet clover). The best crop to prepare the land for fall sown alfalfa is cowpeas, sown very thickly. Farmers have found that alfalfa thrives when sown on Johnson grass meadows, holding its own, at least for the first few years, against this aggressive grass. Dodder, a yellow threadlike growth, is a serious enemy of alfalfa. One of the remedies consists in mowing and burning. Seed merchants often pass alfalfa seed through a machine which is claimed to remove the dodder seed. On sandy upland soils at Auburn, alfalfa has not afforded very profitable yields. On such soils it requires heavy applications of lime or barnyard manure, and it is believed that more profitable use can be made of manure. At Auburn neither nitrate of soda nor cottonseed meal very greatly increased the yield of alfalfa that was properly stocked with root tubercles. Acid phosphate and potash fertilizers are considered indispensable here, and generally advisable on sandy or other soils not rich in lime. Inoculation with soil from old fields of either alfalfa or Bur clover greatly increases the yields of alfalfa growing on sandy land. The germ that causes tubercles to develop on Sweet clover also causes tubercles to develop on the roots of alfalfa. Hence artificial inoculation of alfalfa is not necessary when it is grown on prairie land that has recently borne a crop of melilotus. Artificial inoculation of alfalfa is probably advisable even for prairie soils when it is uncertain whether either the melilotus or alfalfa germs are present in great numbers. In regions in Alabama where neither alfalfa, melilotus, nor Bur clover is extensively grown, inoculation of alfalfa is advisable. For this purpose one may use soil from old fields of either of these plants or inoculating material prepared in the laboratory.
ARIZONA
John Blake, Graham county.—Alfalfa is the king of forage plants here. It will stand considerable dry weather and live, but it will not yield profitably unless irrigated, or on naturally damp ground. It does not do well here on clay soil, and if clay subsoil is near the surface it is likely to dry out, unless watered. I have grown alfalfa for eight years on 175 acres, first and second bottom, and upland, with sandy and loam soils, with small patches of clay and various subsoils; the alluvial bottoms are usually loam of different depths, underlaid with sand and gravel; the next bottom more clayey, with quicksand about 13 feet deep and gravel about 30 feet below the surface. On first bottoms, well water is reached at a depth of 3 to 8 feet, the soil being dry on the surface only; on the upland, the soil is dry for 20 to 30 feet, or until water is reached. Land intended for alfalfa had best be cultivated in other crops for two or three years, thus insuring the killing off of native brush and grass, and their roots; then it must be laid off in “lands” of various widths, according to the slope, each land being leveled uniformly and bordered to hold water. Seed may be sown in August, September, and October; in fact, all the year, except from the middle of April to the first of August, when it is so hot and dry here. The quantity of seed used varies with the preparation, from 12 to 20 pounds per acre. Sow with a “Cahoon” seeder, and cover with a brush or light harrow. It is generally sown here with barley, wheat, or oats. The grain is cut early for hay, or ripened and headed, in which case the stubble and alfalfa are cut immediately afterward and hauled off. The ground is then irrigated, and if it has previously been foul, there will be plenty of weeds. Another cutting in good time will usually eradicate these. The plant will not winterkill here if old enough to have four leaves before frost. We irrigate abundantly, from the Gila river, in winter and spring, filling up the soil and thus making less need for water during the hot, dry period. Irrigate after each crop is taken off, and some land is benefited by two irrigations for each cutting. The quantity of water needed depends on the character of the soil and subsoil; some on the bottoms needs but little after the first year, and it is a good plan, if the subsoil is open, to let the plant go without artificial water after it has a good start, as it sends its roots down to moisture or water, if at a reasonable depth below; it will then thrive on much less water, and the crop will be more nutritious. If one is raising hay for quantity, of course this does not apply. The four crops per season yield on an average: First, 11⁄2 to 2 tons; second and third, 11⁄4 to 4; fourth, three-fourths to one ton. If cutting for quantity, mow when fairly in bloom; if for feeding, when the seed has formed. I have raised no seed, but the crop used for that purpose is usually the second, and it is not irrigated. The time required for curing depends on the stage at which the hay is cut, the dryness of the ground, etc.; a good rule is to rake as soon as the rake will take it up clean, and let it cure in windrows or cocks. I use a “Landen” single pole stacker, with slings, which puts the hay, just as it laid on the wagon, in the center of the stack. The seed, threshed on an ordinary thresher, contains straw and chaff, which are easily taken out by running through ordinary wire screen-door netting, and then it is suitable for the “Cahoon” seeder. On land worth $40 per acre, the hay in the stack costs $3 per ton. Baling costs $2 per ton, the best size being 100 or 150 pounds in weight. Size does not affect the keeping quality of the hay. The hay has sold here for $6 to $12, averaging about $7.50, and the seed sold here last year for 9 cents per pound. I do not think the straw is of much value. Alfalfa will yield abundantly the second year, and, if harrowed with a good harrow, digging up the soil, it will yield for a very long period. Mine, which is 10 years old, looks as well as it did when two years old. To rid land of it, it would be well to plow when dry, then cross plow later on. On naturally damp bottom it is hard to kill. Cattle pastured on rank alfalfa in the spring are liable to bloat.
Thomas C. Graham, Pinal county.—Though I have been familiar with alfalfa growing for 10 years, my first experience on a large scale was five years ago, when I seeded the Kenilworth farms, containing 900 acres. I was successful in securing a good stand on the entire tract. Some of the land is upland, with sandy loam soil, washed from the mountains, and various subsoils, hardpan being, in places, only 10 inches below the surface; the remainder of the land is low, or bottom, with adobe soil. Well water is found at a depth of 95 feet, and the soil is dry from the surface to within a few feet of the water stratum. Before sowing, the surface soil is plowed and harrowed thoroughly; 20 pounds of seed is used to the acre, and covered not more than one-half inch deep. In our section, the best time for seeding is in September and October, and there is no danger from the winter frost. During the first season we cut twice or three times, to destroy all weeds, and obtain 21⁄2 or 3 tons of hay per acre, but have never been able to get a paying crop of seed from the first season’s cutting. For irrigation, we obtain water from the Gila and Salt rivers, but in some sections of our country water is pumped from wells by steam pumps. It has not been found practicable to lift the water from a greater depth than 50 feet for this purpose. The first year, as the land is very dry, it requires twice the quantity of water that is needed the second year and after. We flood the alfalfa five or six times a year—once in the fall, in the spring, and after each cutting, using water enough to cover the land to a depth of about one inch. We have no rain to amount to anything here, and depend entirely on irrigation. I think the ground should be prepared in the fall, and seeded in February or March as, if seeded in the fall, the young plants might be liable to injury from frost. In all cases, the soil should be thoroughly prepared, and the seed not covered more than one-half inch deep. It is not uncommon to harvest six crops of alfalfa in a single season, and its feeding qualities are unequaled for cattle, horses, or swine. It is found, by careful tests, that alfalfa is 45 per cent better than clover and 65 per cent better than timothy for feeding farm animals. In my opinion, there is no other hay that will equal properly cured alfalfa. That grown without irrigation is much better, as it contains less sap and is not so stalky. The threshed hay is splendid feed for milch cows, and is sold here for the same price brought by the hay cut earlier. Last season I pastured 65 head of hogs on 10 acres of alfalfa, and they did well. In my experience, it is far better than clover, from the fact that it cannot be dislodged, the roots penetrating to a depth of 10 to 20 feet. The pasturage is profitable and satisfactory for sheep and horses, and 45 per cent better for cattle than clover. They will bloat sometimes, but if properly handled there is little danger. The best preventive is to not allow the cattle to become too hungry. We get, on an average, three cuttings a year, averaging 1 to 11⁄2 tons per acre each, and have pasture for five or six months. For hay, we mow when in full bloom, rake as soon as possible, and let stand in windrows until the stems are about half dry; then put in the cock for two days, and stack in large ricks of about 80 to 100 tons each. If put up damp or green, it will mold. The seed is harvested, usually, from the second crop, when the pods turn black and can be shelled out by rubbing in the hand. It is cut, raked in windrows, and allowed to stand until thoroughly dry. I used, this season, a J. I. Case separator, and threshed and cleaned 6000 pounds of seed in three days. An ordinary yield is 100 pounds to the acre, and the cost of cutting and threshing is 3 cents a pound. The total cost of the hay in the stack is about $3 a ton on $50 land, with 15 cents an acre for irrigation. The average selling price for hay is $4 a ton, and for seed, 10 cents a pound. With proper care, alfalfa will last time without end, and improve each year, and it is difficult to kill it out, as it makes more or less seed every crop. An open soil, free from hardpan, is best for it.