Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-01-12
ABOUT ALFALFA.

au interesting letter TO the W1cnlGa
Beacon concerning alfalfa, its culture
and its value. which we reproduce for
the benefit of those of our farmers
interested in the crop.
In regard to sowing the seed, my
experience is that in this section April.
or earlier if the ground can be got in
condition. is the time to SOW alfalfa.
The ground should be thoroughly pull
verized. Where some people make a
mistake is in not sowing enough seed
on the ground. If you have five bushels
of seed it would be better to SOW the
whole five bushels on three OF four
acres ttan to spread it out over twenty
acres. When sown too thinly the
weeds are gwen a better chance to
smother the young plant.
My father and brother have had very
good success by sowing one-half bushel
per acre, but should prefer three pecks
to the acre. The alfalfa Will not amount
to very much the first year for pasture.
But it should be kept moved and all
weeds raked up and removed from the
ground. This will prevent the weeds
from getting start. After the first
year it will be all right and its only
winter. i have never known alfalfa to
freeze out but that seems to be the
only thing to be feared. After alfalfa
has had one year to root it is harder to
pasture out than the native prairie
grass in this country and is pretty sure
to furnish good pasture from April 1St,
To November. One acre will pasture FIVE
to ten hogs during that time owing to
the age and size of the hogs. Alfalfa
will furnish pasture here four to six
weeks earlier than any other grass ex-
cept blue grass.
L don't think there is anything that
will equal alfalfa for hay. When har-
vested just when in full bloom it viii
make an excellent feed for horses and
cattle. Cattle will not only live on it
but they will get fat. 1t will make
full crop about the third or fourth year
after sowing and 1 presume it will last
as long here as anywhere. How long
will it last? That is what 1 can not
answer. There are fields in Old Mexico
that have been growing for more than
hundred years and it is still all right
yet. In California are alfalfa fields
that were sown by the Spanish settlers
before the discovery OF gold in that
section and they do not show any signs
of giving out. The pampas of Buenos
Ayres are the famous grazing grounds
Of the world and the native grass there
IS mostly alfalfa. The famous Liebig
cattle company claim the superiority of
their canned meats is due to the fact
that their cattle are raised on the great
alfalfa pastures Of Buenos Ayres.
There are people and great many os
them who suppose that alfalfa has re-
bic grass, but this is all mistake. 1t
has been grown in Southern France
ever since before the Christian era, but
it is only recently that its value as
feed for hogs has become known in this
country. 1t is difficult TO get people
here to understand its value. Any
quarter section of land in Sedgwick
county sown one-half to alfalfa and
fifty acres to corn will insure a fortune
to any farmer. He could clear 1000
every year on hogs at So. 50 per hundred
pounds. Give the hogs alfalfa and they
will root all the farm mortgages off of
Kansas farms in an incredibly short
time and in addition make the farmers
rich.
Interviews have been published with
my father and brother that have at
tracted wide attention. We have no
other object in speaking for alfalfa
than to benefit the farmers. We have
found a good thing and we want the
farmers generally to know it. If we
had large amounts of alfalfa seed TO
sell people would very naturally con-
clude that we were interested in having
people buy the seed, but we have no
seed for sale. We have made money
out of alfalfa by feeding it to our stock
and that is the only way in which we
have made money out of alfalfa. L
think we have made more clear money
on hogs than any farmer who has no
alfalfa. You have already published
that our hogs brought top prices and
that the packers have reported that
our alfalfa hogs dress larger per cent
as compared to gross weight than heav.
ier hogs fed on corn alone. This test
ought to satisfy anybody that alfalfa
makes good solid meat. There is plenty
of money in alfalfa and we are going to
SOW more of it, and We will make
plenty of money On hogs when the
farmer who feeds nothing but corn to
mis- hogs in a dry lot will bareley get
market prices for his corn.
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