Henry Miller, San Mateo county.—Since 1871, we have gradually increased our acreage of alfalfa, until we now have about 20,000 acres. This is on reclaimed swamp and upland, under a complete system of irrigation, with the exception of a little light, loamy soil, with water near the surface and no irrigation. On the latter ground the plant is short-lived, on account of the gophers. The depth at which well water is found varies from 10 to 40 feet, and, with irrigation, it is immaterial whether the soil is naturally moist or dry. The preparation for seeding consists of deep plowing and cross plowing, and the depth for planting is not over two or three inches. For light, loamy soils, 12 pounds of seed to the acre is ample, while for hard, rough, new land, from 16 to 20 pounds is required to insure a good stand. Seeding may be done here after the cold season, and when danger of heavy frost is past, but in time to take advantage of the spring rains, which are very essential. During the first season, the weeds should be mowed as they require it, without regard to returns of alfalfa, and after they are subdued it is well to let the first year’s growth go to seed and allow it to be trampled into the soil by young stock, but if there is a full stand this is not necessary. We irrigate from streams, applying water as soon as the spring opens and every time a crop is cut, the quantity of water needed depending on the quality of the soil. Drainage is very necessary, especially when irrigation is done in warm weather. After the first irrigation, less water is needed at an application than at first. Winterkilling seems to be effectually prevented by watering in the fall. Alfalfa will attain its best state in three or four years, and its condition after that will depend upon its treatment. We put stock on our land generally after the first and second growth is cut, and the only rest the land receives is when it is being irrigated. After hay has been cut for several years, we harrow in the spring with a heavy harrow or disk cutter, and take the opportunity to reseed that which shows lack of vigor. The more sun and the less shade there is, the better the growth and the more satisfactory the yield. We find it more difficult to get a stand than to get rid of it; but, in some instances, where we have wanted the land for orchard, vegetables, or root crops, we found several plowings would destroy it. Without irrigation, we have not found the crop very profitable, but there are a few favored spots in the state where it can be grown without water; but when we plant we usually select such land as can be put under a perfect system of irrigation before using. Longevity of the plant depends on treatment and on the nature of the soil. On heavy adobe soil it will not live and thrive as long as on loamy soil, and on sandy, light soil it will be of short duration without constant and judicious irrigation. After the first season, we make two cuttings a year, and consider two tons to the acre each time a good yield. For hay, we cut when the first crop is moderately ripe—say nearly in full bloom; the second crop and any later ones are cut when the bloom first shows; otherwise the lower leaves will drop off. The first crop is generally preferable for seed, provided butterflies and other insects have not injured the bloom, as they often do. If the second crop is used for seed, it should ripen longer than the first. The crop for seed is mowed, windrowed as soon as possible, allowed to dry in that state, gathered with a hand fork, loaded on hay wagons, and put in stack as gently as possible. We find a good crop of seed a rare thing, but use the ordinary threshing outfit, and turn out 800 to 1000 pounds a day, in rare instances double that quantity, with a cost for threshing and cleaning of about 5 cents a pound. The hay we never put in barns, but stack in small, narrow ricks, to avoid danger of heating, endeavoring to get it in the rick as dry as possible, gathering in the forenoons to avoid shelling. When we use our own press and men, the cost of baling does not exceed $1 per ton. The weight of the bale depends on the kind of press used. An average, handy bale weighs about 150 to 175 pounds, and we never have any trouble about the hay keeping perfectly in bales of that size. The average price per ton for hay in our San Francisco market is about $8 to $10; of seed, by the ton, 8 to 121⁄2 cents a pound, 10 cents a pound being about the usual average price. For feeding farm animals, good, well-cured alfalfa hay is better than clover. For milch stock, especially, we consider it fully as good as any other hay. We find but little difference between the straw and the hay, and while all stock like the straw better, there is no doubt that the hay contains the more nutriment. Like all rank growths, alfalfa will produce double under irrigation, and the quantity will greatly overbalance any possible improvement in quality without irrigation, for I have found little difference between that grown by irrigation and under natural moisture. For horses, there is no pasture better than the alfalfa; for sheep and cattle, it sometimes works injury by way of bloat, caused by too rapid grazing, especially when there is dew, thin cattle and young stock being most liable. Cattle in high condition and cows suckling or well forward in calf do not bloat. As preventive of the bloat, hay should be kept in the pasture where the stock can run to it, and a good supply of salt in troughs to which they have constant access. The plant will not stand trampling by stock unless the surface of the ground be entirely dry, and we do not allow sheep or cattle on the fields during certain stages of growth nor during certain states of the weather. We consider this pasture better than clover for swine, especially when the ground has a smooth surface, but if the soil is of a sandy nature, and allowed to dry, it is not so good. The capacity per acre depends on the nature of the soil, and the gain in weight made by the hogs depends on the breed and on the comfort they have. We can raise hogs on alfalfa, and by feeding them two months on grain (say barley, wheat, or Egyptian corn) they will average, when 10 months old, 250 pounds, gross.
J. B. De Jarnette, Colusa county.—I have had 11 years’ experience with alfalfa, and have about 100 acres bordering on the Sacramento river. The soil ranges in depth from 10 to 20 feet, and rests on a clay subsoil, while water is reached at a depth of from 12 to 20 feet. In sinking two wells on my place, the soil was found as follows: First 12 feet, decomposed vegetable matter; 4 feet of quicksand; 4 feet of clay loam; 4 feet of hardpan; 16 feet of yellow clay; 6 feet of hardpan; 2 feet of black sand, and at 48 feet, coarse gravel. The ground should be thoroughly pulverized—the finer the better—after plowing at least 12 inches deep, and then seeded with not less than 25 pounds of seed to the acre. I have had the best results from sowing in the early fall, immediately after the first rains, using the “Gem” seeder, harrowing in with very light harrow, and rolling the ground well. The first crop is usually quite weedy, and of little value, but the second is better, producing about 11⁄2 tons of hay to the acre, if the stand is good. Stock of all kinds should be kept off the first year. There is no danger here of winterkilling, and by the second year the full yield is realized. The length of time the plant continues vigorous depends on the treatment. If pastured extensively, it will require to be reseeded in from five to eight years; but otherwise it may go considerably longer. I invariably obtain three crops a year, averaging per acre for the first 21⁄2, and for the others 11⁄2 to 2 tons. I irrigate only in the winter, when the river is bank full and I can turn in water from it. Alfalfa produces the best results with irrigation after each cutting, and in that case there are five to seven cuttings obtainable, where with winter flooding I can secure the three only. I mow for hay as soon as the bloom begins to develop, raking in the afternoon following the morning cutting, commence hauling about the third day after, and then put in the barn with plenty of salt. The third crop is given the preference for seed, and is harvested when the plant is well matured. I let it cure in the windrows and haul to the thresher, handling as little as possible. The common yield of seed is from 100 pounds up, according to the stand. The cost of my hay, on land worth $100 to $150 per acre, does not exceed $2 per ton, and it sells for from $5 to $8, while seed brings from 8 to 16 cents per pound. The hay after threshing is of but little value. The pasture is unquestionably the most profitable I have ever had any experience with, supporting more stock of any kind to the acre than any other forage plant. In early spring, cattle are liable to bloat on the rank alfalfa, but after the first of June I have had no trouble. There is no special difficulty in ridding land of the plant, and it is undoubtedly as good for fertilizing as Red clover.
COLORADO
Jacob Downing, Arapahoe county.—I introduced alfalfa into Colorado in 1862, and have between 500 and 700 acres. It is on upland, clay, sandy and loam soil, with some adobe subsoil, but mostly sandy loam; it is generally dry to sand rock, and then it is necessary to drill 50 to 100 feet to get water. The plant will not thrive where there is hardpan, but will grow in any soil that is dry. Unlike most other forage plants it derives considerable nourishment from the air and water, though too much moisture will kill it. After deep plowing and thorough pulverizing of the soil, the land should be scraped thoroughly smooth, as this cannot be done after sowing, and is needed to make the mower work smoothly. I sow about 25 pounds to the acre, drilling in about two inches deep, 121⁄2 pounds one way, and the other 121⁄2 pounds across it, thus making an even stand. Prefer to sow in the spring, early. After the plant is eight inches high, it may be cut and used for feed, but is not very good. After this there will be no weeds. It matures in three years, and after that is good for seed. I have seen, near the city of Mexico, fields of alfalfa 300 years old that had been constantly cropped and never reseeded. It will last 1000 years, and possibly forever. Irrigate from streams, as is required; when there is a great deal of heat and wind, probably three times. The water must not run too long, or the plant will be killed, and the land should be kept as dry as possible during the winter, particularly in cold climates, as on wet soil alfalfa winterkills. Well water is better than the stream, provided it is pumped into a reservoir and allowed to get warm. Water is brought from the streams by ditches. Less water can be used the first year than after the plant is matured. I am five miles west of Denver, and 500 feet above the city, in warm valleys. With plenty of water, I can obtain three cuttings a year. Have raised as much as 31⁄2 tons to the acre at one cutting, and my highest yield of seed per acre has been nine bushels. Hay is cut when the plant is in bloom, cured until it is dry to the touch of the hand. Stacking by hand makes the best hay, as machinery is likely to pack it in bunches, causing it to heat and become dusty. Hay in the stack costs about $1.50 per ton. Baling costs $2 per ton; 100-pound bales are well esteemed, but it is probable that large bales keep better than small, if properly cured. The seed pod assumes the form of a cornucopia, and, when the seed is ripe, it is of a rich brown or mahogany color. The first crop is preferable for seed, and should be cut and stacked as the hay is. It can be left and threshed when most convenient, but the longer it remains in the stack the more easily its threshes. The ordinary threshing machine does for the alfalfa, but the seed must be fanned to be marketable. Six bushels is a common yield, and the cost of threshing and cleaning is probably 25 cents per bushel. The price of hay has ranged from $5 to $15 per ton, and of seed, from 8 to 20 cents per pound. The straw has almost no value, as it is cut up very fine, and can be used only where it is threshed; if fed there, it is very fattening. For feeding horses for slow work, the hay is better than clover or timothy. For fattening purposes, it is the best in the world, for, while the animal lays on fat, it is never feverish, but always healthy. For pasturing cattle and swine, alfalfa is superior to anything else, and, after it is mown, it makes very excellent feed for horses and sheep. If the alfalfa is wet, ruminants pastured on it bloat and die very quickly. It is not properly a pasture plant, and such animals should be kept away from it, but the hay, properly cured, is superior to any other food raised for fattening purposes. There is no difficulty in ridding land of the plant, as a good team and sharp plow will cut it out without any trouble. I have plowed fields of alfalfa under and put in oats, obtaining three or four times the usual yield, and have known of 50 bushels of wheat to the acre on broken alfalfa land.
L. W. Markham, Prowers county.—I have had four years’ experience with alfalfa. Have under my charge 500 acres. It is on both second bottom and upland; part has clay subsoil, other dark loam, and all has more or less sand. Water is reached at from 10 to 40 feet, and on land not irrigated the soil is dry all the way down to the water veins. The preferred time for sowing is either April 1 or August 1. Have as good success right on the sod as on old land. If to raise seed only, 10 pounds is sufficient to the acre; for hay, 20 pounds is not too much. Seed not more than two inches deep. About June 15 cut weeds and tops of young alfalfa, and then irrigate well, and you get one-half to one ton of hay in September. It is best to not try for seed the first year, but give all the strength to the roots. It does not winterkill here. We irrigate from the Arkansas river, and the number of irrigations depends on the soil. The first year requires twice as much water as later ones. Usually three applications are needed: in early spring, mid-summer, and late fall. I have 160 acres not irrigated for three years. We have three cuttings, yielding 11⁄2 to 2 tons per acre each. Cut for hay just when coming into full bloom, and stack in the field—never in barn—in long ricks, 12 feet wide by 80 to 120 feet long. It will not heat in the stack. Let all pods become dark brown or black before cutting for seed. The second crop is preferable, unless there is a large acreage, when I take one-half the first crop and one-half the second, in order to help the farmer out with work. Have men follow the machine closely, and cock up, to remain four or five days before stacking. Never cut for seed with a mowing machine, as you will lose one-third of the crop in trying to gather it. The cost of alfalfa in the stack is not over $2 at the outside. To bale—preferably in 80-pound bales—costs $1.50 per ton. An ordinary yield of seed is five bushels per acre. The cost for threshing is 60 cents per bushel. There is a special alfalfa huller, as even the ordinary clover huller is not a success. For a number of years the average price paid the farmer for alfalfa seed has been $4.50 per bushel, and hay in the stack has sold for $3.50 to $5. For feeding farm animals, alfalfa hay is far more valuable than timothy or clover. Horses will work and do well the year round on the first cutting of alfalfa, and no grain whatever. The pasturage for hogs and cattle is far better than clover, and is profitable and satisfactory for horses and sheep. I have 250 hogs now, and raise them to weigh 200 pounds on green alfalfa alone; turn the sows in the lot in early spring; they raise their young, and I never bother them for eight months at a time, as they have plenty of alfalfa and water. Put cattle on the pasture in early spring and let them run, and few, if any, will bloat; but when they are not used to it, they eat too fast, or too much, and bloat. The hay is not so good after it is threshed as that cut earlier for hay alone, but the straw sells readily at $1.50 in the stack. The stand gets better every year for hay, and I know of fields in old Mexico 60 years old that have never been reseeded. There is no difficulty in ridding land of the plant if it is plowed under eight inches deep while green. It makes far better green manure than does red clover. On the same quarter section, wheat grown on old wheat land produced 20 bushels per acre, and that on broken alfalfa land 50 bushels per acre.
CONNECTICUT
Dr. E. H. Jenkins, Director Connecticut experiment station.—Alfalfa has been tried in a haphazard way in Connecticut for many years and scattered plants and colonies may often be seen in fence corners and headlands. Within five years, however, some farmers under direction of the agricultural station at New Haven, or on their own initiative, have made more careful experiments and while failures are numerous, there are at present a number of small areas well established, yielding three or four cuttings yearly and highly valued by their owners. On the farm of C. W. Beach of West Hartford, F. H. Stadmueller had for seven years a considerable field of alfalfa which yielded well and was used as a soiling crop. Mr. Barnard of North Haven, after repeated failures, has a fine field and feeds it to both cows and poultry. The Gaylord Farm sanatorium at Wallingford, John Matthies of New Milford and others might be cited as successful growers of alfalfa. It does well on a variety of soils with us. Liming heavily, 1500 to 2000 pounds per acre, is a necessity. Some form of inoculation of the soil is generally required and clean, well-tilled land. Weeds are the worst enemy of the newly seeded alfalfa and easily smother the crop. For that reason we prefer August seeding, using at least 30 pounds of clean, fresh seed. It will pay to fallow the land, in order to kill the weeds before seeding down. Thin spots cannot be successfully patched by seeding later. Great care in preparing the land pays with a permanent crop like alfalfa.
DELAWARE
Dr. Arthur T. Neale, Director Delaware experiment station.—Twenty years ago, I drilled alfalfa in rows 18 inches apart, and cultivated at intervals of ten days until the crop occupied the ground, seeding late in March, say the 28th. The first cutting of nearly 8 tons of green forage per acre was made nine weeks later. Thereafter four additional cuttings were made that season, resulting in a total yield of 21 tons of green forage per acre. This plot remained in good profit, all told, for five years. An adjoining plot seeded broadcast, grew into a weed crop the first year, but during four succeeding years was in every respect the equal of its neighbor, the drilled plot. Twenty similar experiments made during that year in as many other sections of the state failed utterly. The dates of seeding were in every instance subsequent to March 28, but followed each other as rapidly as men could travel from point to point, drilling the seed on well and previously prepared soil. Two years later nine similar failures resulted from spring seedings. Late summer is now the time most frequently selected for alfalfa seedings, but success is by no means invariably attained even then. Liming has been of service in one five-acre test conducted in Kent county, by W. H. Dickson in co-operation with this station. The third trial within four consecutive years appears at present to be a complete success. The first seeding gave a satisfactory stand, but the plants died late in the following spring. The ground was limed that summer, after thorough preparation of the seedbed. Nitro-cultures from federal sources were used upon portions of the seed, and 1000 pounds of soil per acre from a successful alfalfa plantation were applied to the other areas. This second seeding also failed. The five-acre plot was then plowed, wheat was drilled and a fair crop resulted. The wheat was harvested, lime was again used after the seedbed had been prepared, and alfalfa seed sown as usual. The crop this year has exceeded anticipations. The check strip, to which no lime whatever has been applied, but upon which nitro-cultures were used, carries no crop. It will be disked after the third cutting of alfalfa this year, well limed and again seeded.