The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-02-11
FARMERS INSTITUTE PROGRAM.
Papers Read and Interesting and
Profitable Discussions-Sec-
ond Days Program.
ALFALFA, BY L. b. PEARSON.

hogs. 1 plowed up four acres on the
farther side of it, subsolling n part
before and the remainder after the
blowing, running the subsoiler across
the burrows. / sowed one peck to an
acre and got good stand. The land
is common prairie, and in six weeks
it stood one foot high. l moved 1t
twice i'm '96 and pastured 1t a little
but think 1 damaged 1t a little by
that. During the season of '97 pas
tured on the field seventy-flve head
of hogs of various ages and they grew
well without corn. In going out to
pasture hey seemed to make right
for the alfalfa part as...they made
paths through the clover part. All
kinds Of stock like it, and have been
told that alfalfa tea is quite the
thing.
The roots go deep and become so
large that to pillow them when you
want to kill it you may have some
work.
Arthur l.. Merton, a young man,
gave his experience in breaking up
three acres of old alfalfa ground in a
county farther west and said that
with three good horses and new 10
inch plow although well up to the
business he found q tough job with
the tenacious roots, of the alfalfa.
/ NNha,, 10 hnrgna fhaU do nnnn
work and clean it up well. His en-
ployer had good pork made on the
alfalfa pasture. When he moved
his crop he had two or three crops
per year.
, Mr.. /. Ports experience was that
it came up we'll but that it then
} failed, and others gave similar ex-
perience. G. j. Norton had no eX-
perience but had attended many of
: the discussions by farmers and his
, deductions sfrom these led him to be-
= lie>e that the soil must not be left
/ too loose when Gown and that if il
: stood the first winter it then did
b. well.
$ Mr.. Lyons has bottom farm and
has field of red clover that he ha'
!, for five years cut and that the las
u year 1t did better than ever. II,
!, thinks II re-seeded itself probably
o and in '07 produced $50 or 800 worth
l. of hay and over fifty bushels of seed.
y J. Il. Tredwsy gave his experience,
with alfalfa for years on a farm tina
Is inclined to be wet and spongy, ant
!, the writer knows that he has till
drained part of the worst of 1t. Hi'
= first experience was not the most sat
. isfactory. 1t will not re-seed as rec
ctover does, but it will sprout on
from the stubble and thicken. HI
has sown at different times until hi
y now has eighteen acres and a gooC
70 stand. He related how they had OK
perimented with alfalfa tea and tount
II that the calves and pigs developed
II relish for it and the chickens woul'
:. fight for the grounds.
10 All present agreed upon the state
70 ment that alfalfa would not thriv
+, where an impervious subsoll beloN
:, compelled it to stand with its feet /
! the water without gum boots.
ID. w. MASTER, of Chsnute, exhibit
ed an attachment for the corn plante
g. that opens the burrows at the side
he of the runner and plants the cor
IS much like lister except 1t is in tn
ct soil after its pulverization instead I
1e on an unbroken bottom. He read
d. worthy paper on "Corn Culture an
W the Observation of Soil Conditions.
ly Mr.. MASTER lives just over the count
g. line near Leanna where he has f
ne years proved his theory and CLAIM
I'd quite a gain in the yield by his pla
or of planting and cultivating and ii
I'd only reason why his paper which WI
IN not on the program was not fully di
IS. cussed was for want of time.
H. KAFFIR CORN
IL Kafilr corn was the next questiC
" and the discussion opened by w.
Lyle of Salem, who advocated IL
blowing under of the stalks when on
he the tops had been harvested, as
20 means of storing the moisture al
Mt the effect may be seen all through Il
nv next season.
rn h. Whitlow asked how to hand
an the crop. First top il with lars
A. knife,-it's handler than corn kni
then harvest the stalks with u Co
harvester which bundles it and it
conveniently handled and fed afte
of wards either from the shock or STAG
of MIR. Dawson, who lives on botto
,x. farm, advocated good soil as the fiji
nv requisite for success. Mr.. Mastl
va had drilled kaffir corn with co
- ,I., Il nnIIa rnnnH a,