Olmstead & Olmstead, Furnas county.—Alfalfa, while excellent for all other stock, is preeminently the feed for hogs. Its early appearance, its wonderfully rapid growth, its nutritious properties, its perennial nature (keeping green until about December), its resistance to drouth, its wonderful fecundity, and, lastly, its adaptability as a dry feed, make it, in our opinion, the most profitable crop that can be grown. Ten acres of alfalfa will pasture 150 head of hogs, and give them abundance. From the 15th of March, or at most not later than the 15th of April, hogs and cattle can be turned on pasture, and kept there until snow flies. On first bottoms, six tons per acre can be depended upon as a fair, average yield, while many fields this year have made as high as eight. On divide, or high land, where it has been tested for three years, it averages about two to four tons per acre, but this land gives the best returns for seed, not growing too rank. Since we have been investigating and gathering information on this subject, we have had reported to us a yield as high as eight bushels of seed per acre, and quite a number as high as nine, and some eleven. Six bushels an acre on a good stand is an average yield, while some will fall below that. The seed has never sold here below $4 per bushel. Last year and this, all seed grown in this part of the country sold readily at $5 per bushel, and for the next five years will probably not go lower than $3. One crop of seed and two of hay are the average on low land, and one crop less of hay on high land. The threshed hay is nearly as good for feed as the unthreshed. There is no waste in feeding this hay, and horses are especially fond of the coarse stems. It stands our winters remarkably well, so far, coming through in excellent condition. There is no stock but eats alfalfa hay as well or better than clover or timothy. Young colts and calves will winter in fine condition on this hay, with little or no grain. If the last cutting is allowed to stand, with a growth from six to eight inches, horses and cattle will graze on it through the winter, the same as on Red clover, doing equally as well. Now, as to the other side. Will this clover grow in all latitudes and longitudes as well as Red clover? We think it doubtful. It requires a dry, porous soil, in which there is no hardpan nor too much clay, and it does not like too much water. It does well where the soil is somewhat sandy, its roots penetrating to a depth of from 15 to 25 feet, thus drawing its nutrition from various strata of soil. What else against it? If cattle are turned on after a rain, when it is wet, or dew is on, they often bloat and die; but if turned on in the spring, and kept on continuously, have little danger of gorging themselves or bloating. No other stock is adversely affected by it. This is all that can be honestly said against alfalfa, and this is obviated by a little care by the farmer, while the many good things said about it must certainly recommend it to the intelligent husbandman. Thus we can enumerate: First, its certainty as a crop; second, its enormous yield; third, its excellent pasturage qualities; fourth, its nutritious qualities, being equally good green or dry; fifth, its yield and price of seed, which is threshed with an ordinary grain separator; sixth, its tremendously rapid growth during the summer season. There are many more attributes that can be credited to alfalfa.
W. O. Thompson, Lincoln county.—I have had 20 years’ experience with alfalfa, on second bottom and upland. The upland has a clay subsoil; the second bottom soil is three feet deep, underlaid with a bed of sand and gravel. Abundant water is found from 8 to 23 feet from the surface. If dry soil is found, it is the first three feet below the surface. Land should be tilled several years before seeding, in order to perfectly subdue the sod. Use about 16 pounds of seed per acre, and prepare the ground the same as for wheat, sowing in the spring. The first crop will be nearly all weeds; cut and haul these off the ground. The second crop will produce about one ton of hay per acre. Alfalfa is liable to winterkill if the winter is warm and dry. I irrigate from a stream two or three times during the season, with sufficient water to flood all the ground. The first year the ground is soft and porous, and twice the water is required as in the following years. From three to four crops are raised during the season, yielding from 11⁄2 to 2 tons each cutting, or from five to six tons per acre in one season. Cut when in bloom for hay, and let the seed ripen before cutting for seed, using either the first or second crop for this seed. When cutting for seed, it should be pitched out of the way of the mower after each round; then let it dry before stacking, but not enough for the leaves to fall off when handled. Stack in the ordinary way, but be sure the hay is thoroughly dry in the shock before stacking. It is more liable to get moldy in the barn than in the stack. About $2 per ton will cover all expenses of raising, on land worth $50 per acre. The expense of baling is about $1.50 per ton, 100-pound bales being preferred. It should not be baled until perfectly dry in the stack. About six bushels per acre is the average yield of seed, and it costs about 75 cents per bushel to thresh and clean. A clover huller is the most satisfactory for threshing alfalfa. The hay has sold here at $3 to $10 per ton, averaging $6. The seed has brought from $3 to $10 per bushel averaging $5. One acre of alfalfa will raise 35 hogs, with the aid of a little grain. Horses thrive on it, but it is unsafe for sheep and cattle. Animals which chew the cud will bloat if pastured on alfalfa. The only way to prevent it is to keep them from the pasture. The best way to cure it is to insert a tube into the paunch, to allow the gas to escape. As to the longevity of the plant, I call to mind a patch sown in 1873, on upland, and it is still growing. Alfalfa attains its best growth in about two years. I do not think it can be profitably raised on high, arid ground, without irrigation. Hogs can be wintered on alfalfa hay and a very little grain, and cattle can be fattened for the home market, but it produces softer flesh, and they could not be shipped a great distance in the best condition.
Richard Stolley, Hall county.—In reading the farm papers I see many articles about seeding alfalfa, but have failed to see anything in the line of advice regarding a sure way to kill it, if it has to be done. We have had alfalfa on our place as long as I can remember—nearly thirty years. At first it was a small piece, just for experiment’s sake. Finally we sowed about nine acres on good soil and had it well manured before sowing. The result was immense crops, as high as four cuttings; and, really, the worst feature was to harvest the crop so often, since it came just as regularly as clock-work. It actually stood in the way of alfalfa, for I asked one of our neighbors, who had very little hay, why he did not sow alfalfa, and all he could answer was: “Well, I have to harvest it too often and I haven’t the time to do it.”
We did not sow more of it until we got more improved methods of handling it, and we have had as high as fifty to sixty acres on a 160-acre farm here at home. Some fields run out in about ten years. Our plan is to then plow it up. The first thing you learn is to have a very sharp plow, and it must have a strong cutter bolted to the share, being long enough to reach well through the sod. Then if you have three good horses you are fixed out. A riding plow that we tried was thrown out too easily or pulled too hard. Others had the same experience, and the old reliable fourteen or sixteen-inch walking plow fills the bill best. We plowed some of it quite early in the spring and after harvesting the oats we had a wonderful stand on the field in the fall. All the inconvenience the clover had was to take a little time to start work at the crown and start sprout at the other end; that is the root end.
I do not know of any other plant that is not a weed that has this peculiarity. Planting corn on alfalfa sod cannot work well, because the roots are so tough that no cultivator will be able to cut them, and since burning does not make any difference, it only has a tendency to start roots and sprouts at both ends at the same time. This is, of course, only possible in a wet year. Now, we tried late plowing in the spring; that is, let the clover get up to about six or eight inches. We had a chain on the plow and disked and harrowed it well, and to kill it sure, put in millet to smother it. We intended to raise seed from the millet, but the crop got too heavy and we cut it for hay. After putting it up I saw very little alfalfa signs and went home contented that all was dead.
Some nice rains came on and soon I noticed from our house, since I did not go to that corner of the farm in between, that all of it was green again, and sure enough, there was a comparatively good stand and the sprouts showed quite a bit of vigor. This surprised me. I had no time to plow right away and having a large harvest of bottom hay, I did not go to the field for three weeks, and when I saw it again it was just about ready to cut. I actually did cut and harvest it and it was well worth the time it took us to do the work. The next plowing and disking, of course, thinned it out, and especially as dry weather came just right to assist in killing it.
All this made it clear to my mind that we did not find the right time to plow alfalfa, so the next time I tried it still later; in fact, it was almost in bloom, and, being a wet year, there was little difference in the result. This year I waited the second time for the alfalfa to come up a foot high before plowing it back and drilled in sweet corn, and now I can hardly see any difference on parts of the field.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Prof. Frederick W. Taylor, Agriculturist New Hampshire experiment station.—We have tried to secure a stand of alfalfa for four consecutive seasons, but so far our efforts have been unsuccessful. Various types of soil, from a heavy boulder clay to a light sandy loam, have been tried, and, contrary to our expectations, the most promising crop was on the heavy clay soil. Our chief difficulty has been in having the alfalfa keep ahead of the weeds and in getting a uniform catch that would withstand our winters. From one-fourth to one-half of the plants have usually wintered over in good condition and made a vigorous growth the next season, but there has not been enough of them to say that we have made a success with alfalfa. We have largely eliminated the seed question by plowing the ground early and keeping it harrowed until about the middle of July, when it is sown. Our experience seems to indicate that an application of lime is beneficial, if not absolutely necessary, in this section and we have accordingly been using it at the rate of a ton to the acre. We have also tried inoculation with the various cultures, but in no case have any benefits been observed. So far as we know, there have been no successful attempts to grow alfalfa on a medium or large scale in this state, although several farmers in the Connecticut river valley have reported success on some areas of an acre or less. When we more thoroughly understand the plant, and the conditions necessary for its growth, we believe it can be grown upon some of our soils.