Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1885-05-28
ALFALFA CLOVER.
The Wonderful Grass That IS Claim
in. the Attention Of Many Mon
tanl Ranchers. Its History
and Origin.

: Gently been introduced and cultivate,
in Montana. has proved to be all tha
+ is claimed for it. Our soil is of ia
+. ture we'll adapted for its successfu
cultivation, and it has since its intro
duction grown rapidly into favo
amo-g our ranchers ana stochman
and is destined to be a valuable facto
to the successful propagation Of th'
: wool industry Its rapid growth ane
nutrious qualities makes i
particularly valuable for the industry
1t seems probable that in few year:
alfalfa will take the place OF all othe5
tame grasses in our Territory A his
tory of this wonderful grass may
prove Of interest to many OF our read
ers who are contemplating expert
manting with II.
Alfalfa is tie genius hla5icagt
Salive. The generic name is from the
Greek Melika as it came to the Greeks
from Media. Loudon describes it a.
a deep roofing perennial plant, send
ing up numerous small and cloyer-likt
shoots; leaves, pinnately foliate; leaf
| let's. obvate-oblong, toothed; the flow
ers instead OF being in dense head
as in clover are in erect racemes; tbs
corolla is q violet purple, and the
many-seeded pods is spi1ally coiled
These blossoms are rich in honey
food.
It docs not thrive we'll in a acompact,
clay soil, or in any shallow sell having
a clay bottom, but requires a sandy
loan, the richer the better, such as
abounds in all the valley lands of
/ Montana. There is hardly State or
| Territory in the Union where it viii
not thrive. It is said that soil which
seems to be destitute OF vegetable
matter will, when sown with alfalfa,
in few years be converted into a rich
black loan, full of vegetable mold.
/ This is OF interest to our country,
where the land is rich in mineral plant
food, Int is Kicking III We ,e,,,sble mat
/ ter
The ground should be mellow, fine
and level. Newly-broken sod does not
do SO well. It is slow grower and
j tender until well established; needs
moisture to germ.late it; has been
known to remain in the ground one
year without sproctlng; should not
be sown before the middle Of April
III our climate A good stand has been
obtained from sowing made in July
! 1t can be sown broadcast with a Ca
hown seed sower, or with grain drill
slut close, say to one sixteenth of an
inch. with the teeth OF drills taken
out. Use harrow or brush drag. II
| the ground is moist do not roll, us the
seed will not come up through the
crust. We favor thick sowing, as Il
thin growth tends to coarse stalks.
Some farmers say it should never be
sown with other crop, though others
have tried it and succeeded, and the
Department of Agriculture, in its is
sue of 1873, says it should be sown in
connection with barley or wheat
Twenty pounds to the acre seems to
be the accepted standard for seeding,
though some favor using five pounds
more. It has been proven by actual
count, that there are LA, ,240 seeds in
one pound; as there are 6,272, 645
inches to the acre, twenty-five pounds
and eleven ounces would give a little
over one seed to the inch. This would
be too thick If the seed be clean and
good, but considerable allowance must
be made for seed possessing no ger
minating qualities. It has been sown
on sod, but this practice is not to be
recommended. Some times one, two.
and even three seedlings are required
before good stand is obtained It
fourishes up to an altitude of 1900
feet above the level of the sea, but at
points higher, is likely to kill out be-
fore strong roots are secured.
It will grow to a height of nearly
nine feet, as has been shown by sepci
mems measuring 105 inches, taken
from the ranch of Gen Shields, of
California. tits almost impossible to
say how deep the roots will go down,
some claiming that they will reach a
depth of thirty feet. It is on record,
however. that in California, in 1872, a
freshet cut away the bank of creek,
exposing a section of an alfalfa field.
The toots had penetrated to a depth
OF twenty feet, where they had reach
ed the water line, These roots were
close together, but entire,,y discon-
nected, each one growing straight
through the soil to the watrr, at which
point cluster of roots or feeders
were thrown out.
How long it will live in the soil is
question not easily answered. E. R.
Sizer, of West Las Animas, writes that
he has read Of fields in Chill 400 wears