Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-08-20
FARM AND GARDEN.
ALFALFA HAY IN CALIFORNIA AT
81 PER TON-WHY NOT GROW 1T
IN TENNESSEE?

sing my admiration oil Tie ability YOU have
shown in the agricultural department 0
the UNION AND AMERICAN. Your effort.
to spread knowledge Of agricultural ell I'm
istry among the masses will certainly de
velop higher grade Of farming than here
tofore. The farmer should know both tn,
chemical elements of the soil and also O
the crop he proposes to grow in order Il
know how TO adapt crops to the soil.
With you, grass is king, and right man
fully have you defended IFS regal rights
| have read all your articles on the grasses
and l fully believe if every acre of land in
Middle Tennessee, now being yearly i'm
poverished by cotton, were sown with tim
Othy clover or alfalfa, that in five years
your lands would be much richer, and you
would be able TO sell enough beef, horses
mules and sheep to buy all the cotton the
same land would produce in ten years.
L wish to say a word in reference to the
growth of alfalfa or luczrne, as you call il
in Tennessee.
To be specific and Ceal in facts, 1 will
give a. leaf from own experience in the
growth of alfalfa.
have a patch Of alfalfa Of seven acres,
which has been standing eleven years. /
have cut forty-twO tons from this patch this
year, and if do not let il 60 to seed,
will be able to cut at least twenty-eight
tons more, making seventy tons Of ex-
cellent hay from seven acres. ] am
cutting the second crop of very young al
falfa, sOwn in March las, and | am get
ting two tons per acre, and viii cut two
more crops equally as good before frost. 1t
Will surprise you TO learn that alfalfa hay
can be grown here, cut and stacked for 81
per ton. With our high-priced labor this
seems hardly possible, Yet it is so. Now,
why not grow alfalfa in Tennessee? ANY
of the river or creek bottoms will grow it.
Ii louriSheS best III a sandy loan which is
low and moist. The first year il requires
a good deal Of moisture, but after the roots
get well set, it will stand a severe drought.
1t will stand as much cold as clover and
grows much faster. All kind of stock fat
ten on it, and prefer it to any other kind Of
hay. think the soil and climate of Ten
nessee are both adapted TO the growth of
alfalfa, and / think its general Introduction
in your State would add vast wealth to
yOur farmers and stock-erOWers
If there is any interest manifested will
hereafter give full instructions as to how
and when to plant, and all have learned
Of its general management.
Before long | will send YOU a package Of
alfalfa St6u. OUTS truly,
john SHIRLEY WARD.
Our correspondent has our best
thanks for his interesting and instruc-
tive letter, and good opinion Of the
Agricultural Department of the UNION
AND AMERICAN. California is a won
derful country; and our readers will be
happy to hear all about the cultivation
of alfalfa, the quantity of seed sown to
the acre, the manner of curing and
gathering the crop, and any other facts
thought worth relating.
The author Of the above communi-
cation may render the South an inva-
luable service, and immortaGze his
name as public benefactor, by aiding
IN the general introduction of a much
needed forage plant. Twenty-Five years
ago when the writer, then In charge of
the Agricultural Department IN Wash
ington, imported several bushels of
alfalfa seed from Chill, cotton was
king, and public opinion was not ripe
for a new staple in Southern agricul-
ture. Now all is changed, and the
spirit of improvement and of Changers
Is both active and profoundly IN earn
est in doing good. If half a cent an
ounce will pay postofice charges on
seed from California to Nashville, few
pounds of which viii give five tons Of
good hay to the acre in a year, then the
way Is open to work out the rrdemp-
ton of Tennessee and all the other
planting States. Our correspondent
knows too well the value Of four pounds
of lucern oralfalfa seed in the hands Of
an enterprising farmer IN The South,
which may be sent by mail for 81
cents, not to see how useful thousands
of such packages might be for the gen.
eral introduction of a perennial plant,
which in his case has stood eIeUea gears
without reseeding, and this year has
yielded six tons of hay per acre, with
promise Of four more, In giving an
nual courses of lectures on agricultu-
raj chemistry before classes in the
University of Georgia, we have often
taken up and exhibited alfalfa
roots over thirty inches in length
1t is this depth of root that enables
the plant to stand great deal of dry
weather in California and Southern
Europe after its growth. AS the state.
ments of our correspondent, that IL is
possible for ten tons Of good tame hay,
dry weight, to grow on one acre IN
twelve consecutive months, may appear
to some incredible, we cite the follow
ing from NJ Wilson's Rural Cyclope-
dia, (the highest Scotch authority now
before us: lone horse constantly en-
ployed in road work has been soiled
fed upon rather less than a root Of
lucern from the latter part of May till
the latter part of November" In this
case, the grass cut on one-fourth of
an acre kept a working horse five
months.
In the course Of experiments COM
menced in 1907, and continued several
years, for which the British Board of
Agriculture gave a gold medal, eleven
acres of lucern kept thirty horses.
Twenty pounds Of seed were sown ON
an acre. This plant WAS well known
TO the Romans. According to Pliny,
1t was brought from Media into Greece
in the time of Darias. Columella says:
E'Of all the plants which please us the
herb melica is the most excellent, be-