“Don’t give up.”
ALFILERILLA OR “ALFILARIA”
(Erodium citcutarium.)
On account of the similarity of its name to that of alfalfa and the possibility of the two plants being confused in the minds of those not acquainted with them, it is proper to make mention here of the plant referred to in the caption above. It is not generally known nor widely distributed, and has as yet its principal habitat in semi-arid parts of the southwestern United States. The Century Dictionary calls it Pin-clover or Pin-grass, and classifies it with the Geranium family. Webster’s Dictionary speaks of it as a weed in California. It is an annual and seeds profusely; a few seeds scattered over quite a large area result in a thorough seeding the second year. A stockman in Arizona writes that it will grow on any kind of soil except alkali; that it was introduced from Australia by sheep carrying it in their wool. It is a southern plant and should not be seeded largely north of the northern line of Oklahoma until tested by the experiment stations. It should not be confused with alfalfa, as it is entirely dissimilar and not related.
In discussing this plant an Arizona editor writes the following:
“It is by no means a new or experimental crop, for it was the main reliance of Arizona stockmen during ten years of drouth. We suppose that the experiment stations in the West have given it little attention because it is as well known as alfalfa here, and millions of acres are covered with it in various portions of the Territory.
“We know from many years experience that alfilaria will thrive and keep stock in good condition where no grass roots would live through one of the dry seasons. It is peculiarly adapted to the poorer soils in western Kansas, Nebraska, the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico, and portions of the northern section of Mexico.
“Its merits are that it will grow in seasons so dry that other forage fails and that it will keep cattle in better health and condition as to flesh and growth than anything else we can grow in Arizona, not excepting alfalfa. In the spring cattle and horses will go miles to find it and it is better than ‘condition powders’ to put them in condition for summer growth.
“What it will do on other classes of soil, under excess of moisture, is a matter of experiment; but where it is needed most—as above outlined, there is nothing that has ever been tested under these adverse conditions which can compare with alfilaria. This will be certified to by every ranchman and cattleman in this section of Arizona.”
MEASURING HAY IN THE STACK
Some method of arriving at the quantity in a stack, rick, or mow without weighing it, is, at one time and another, found desirable by everyone who has to do with loose hay. There can be no absolute rule laid down for this because of the varying compactness the hay attains under differing conditions of coarseness or fineness, moisture, length of time stacked or stored and the weight which has rested upon it.