Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-04-19
FARM AND ORCHARD.
THINGS THAT FARMERS SHOULD GIVE
SERIOUS THOUGHT.
Uses of Alfalfa-value of Ducks-Pigs on
the Farm-Raising Horse Rad
ish-Farm Notes.


am now going to answer some of the nu-
merous questions asked.me, writes Gar
den City KAN correspondent of the
Practical Farmer.
How much seed does alfalfa make per
acre? How much hay per acre? How
much can you sell the seed for per
bushel? Is alfalfa good feed for hogs? Is
it good bee plant? Well, in, answer to
these questions or queries | have to say !:
Alfalfa makes from FIVE to ten bushels per
acre. which is worth S4 per bpshel, and
makes the farmer from $50 to $40 per acre
for seed crop, and we cut it three times a
year-once for seed and twice for hav. 1t
makes from three to six tons of good hay
per acre, which is worth in Garden City
81 to S. per ton, and can be handled as
cheaply as any other kind of hay. For
hog feed alfalfa cannot be beaten Hogs
never die of cholera that are fed on al
falfa; they will fatten on it in spring and
summer and keep in good condition in
winter on the hay. Alfalfa for winter
feeding to hogs should be cut before it
blooms and put up IN good condition. l
know of number of hogs in -Finney
county that have never seen an ear of
corn, and they now look as well as any
stock hogs | ever owned in the East,
when We fed them on corn the year
around.
Bees would certainly do well in a field
of alfalfa, as there is a very heavy bloom
and it is very fragrant and richly honey
laden, and blooms from May 1st to No
venber 1st. Alfalfa, like the orange tree,
blooms continuously if allowed to grow
without cutting, there being ripe seed,
green and bloom on the same stalk, and all
simultaneously. We fatten q great num-
Der Of steers in this county during the
winter on alfalfa hay and sell them direct
to the butchers and shippers at good
prices, they preferring alfalfa to corn-fed
cattle-the meat being much more juicy
and sweet. / have ninety head of milk
cows, which have been fed on alfalfa hay
since November 30th, and they are all fat
and sleek and look more like our corn-fed
beef steers of Ohio and Missouri than
stock cattle.
The writer dehorned one head of cattle
last fall, and | can say that | am very
much pleased with my experiment and
experience, and will never keep cattle over
the winter without dehorning them, as I
can now put 100 head in the same space
that | once could only put twenty head.
In regard to alfalfa as a milk producer, l
would say that it will produce better
flow of milk than any feed that can be
given to cows. have tried chopped feed,
timothy and clover, but alfalfa excels them
all. When do you sow alfalfa? There is
quite a difference of opinion on that ques-
ton, but would say sow it any time from
March LIST to September 1st; quite a num-
Der of our farmers have sown it September
1st with good results.
Thoroughly prepare your soil, and put
your seed in the ground and not on top,
and | will insure and guarantee you sue
cess. Seed but two inches in the ground
will make six inches of root before the top
comes up which insures it against drouth.
May 18th, of 1889, l sowed twenty acres
to alfalfa, which was at that time covered
with growth of oats twelve inches high
i used press drill with corn-planter run
ners, sowing twenty pounds per acre. We
cut off good crop of oats, and when | was
last on the farm last September the alfalfa
was ten inches high and looking WELL Can
alfalfa be plowed up? Yes, if you have
three extra good horses and good sharp
pillow. The roots are long and thick, and
they grow from six to eight feet and are
as large as fork handle at or near the top
of the ground.
/ saw small piece of alfalfa ground
which had been plowed up last fall to be
used as garden; it had been in alfalfa
two years. 1t reminded me much of
sweet potato patch in Western Kansas
The whole earth seemed to be covered
wit Rnt NH ota,
you will not want to pillow it up no more
than you would want to go into your corn
field and pillow it up. Alfalfa does not
freeze out as red clover does in the East.
There was 100000 worth of alfalfa seed
grown in Finney county this year.
PIGS ON THE FARM.
At all the experimental farms the pig
has been made the subject and many valu-
able facts have been brought to light
Professor Cooke, who has given the matter
of feeding pigs his attention during the
past year, claims that by proper system
of feeding, and selling at an early age
"two sets of pigs can be produced in
twelve months and that a larger profit
can be realized than in attempting to
make swine pay by growing them TO heavy
weights and caring for them until they
are 4 year ana q nalt Old-
AS the most essential thing in the early
stages is growth, that object should be
kept nview only, no attempt to be made to
fatten the pig. In fact, fat at the early
stage is more detrimental than beneficial.
The frame must be made upon which to
place the meat, but the use of grain can
be made profitable, as certain proportion
OF the heat-producing elements are also
aSsa,,ffa1 The Eool L.
sisting OF skim-milk, vegetables, grass and
grain, the pig being well supplied with
food from which supply of the elements
for growth predominant In other words.
the pig must not be fed exclusively on
grain or food that will have tendency to
put him in a very fat condition. A frac-
ton over one pound day should be the
gain in weight, the pig to be sold as soon
as II reaches the weight of $50 pounds, OF
when about six months old.
The market requires hogs weighing not
over $50 pounds, and it is cheaper to pro.
duce such hog than larger one, as the
ratio OF gain IN proportion to food con
stunned Is greater in young animal than
with one fully matured. Grain fed tc
young hogs gives profit, but it is fed at
loss when the animals exceed 200 pounds
in weight, and it is claimed that If the pis
is sold at an early age the price of 5.
cents pound, dressed weight. will give
profit. Sell the pig as soon as it reache
the weight of $50 pounds, and keep it NJ
longer than the time when the ratio o
gain keeps pace with the proportional,
amount OF food consumed. BY selling a
the age Of six months, two pigs can b,
raised where one is kept, and the singl,
hog, 10 equal the two-six- months-old pig
in total weight, II kept twelve months
must weigh 500 pounds, the cost of which
will be much greater than to produce twt
pigs watching i 60 mounds each II, tie sa,,,.