The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-10
FARM AND GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO FAR
HlER AND HOUSEWIFE.

NlER AND HOUSEWIFE.
Food for MILK COws-AIfnIfa Culture.
Hedges-Advantnges of Farm Life.
Green Food for HOgs-Benefits of
MuIching-FertiIizc for Cotton.
Mrs. NJ. t, Savannah. Ga, writes: 81
would like to have some experienced dairy
man give his views through your columns
on the best tub food for mich cows. How
soon in the spring can Alfalfa be sown,
and how should it be cured for winter
feed"
We hope some of our practical dairy
men viii give, for the benefit of Mrs NJ.
T.. few items from their experience in
feeding for milk
1t makes a great difference whether
cows have access to good pasture in
desiring good rations for producing milk.
A COW must have an abundance of sue
culent food at all seasons to enable her
to yield a maximum supply of tirst-class
milk. 1t is not essential that this green
food be found in pasture. She may be in
a small lot or stall and the green food
can be cut and carried to the stall-in
other words, following the system of
"soiing" as opposed to that of pasturing.
A given area of any green crop will go a
great deal further when it is cut and car
ried to the cattle in their stalls than
when they are allowed to trample and
waste much of it in pasturing.
The most easily obtained concentrated
foods in the South are cotton seed meal,
wheat, bran, corn meal, pea meal; these
materials duly mixed together constitute
good tub" food for mich cows as one
can get. No one of these can be used
as economically as a mixture of several
Of them. There is a vast difference be-
tween cotton seed meal and corn meal,
and there is almost as great difference
between pea meal and corn meal 1t is
not advisable, in fact it is not safe, to
! feed any one just by itself. And of these
substances a mixture of all four in some
little better than mixture of only three.
Still out of three of these readily obtain
ed substances can be made a nearly per-
feet milk-producing food fed, of course,
in connection with the necessary long
forage or roughage.
To furnish the latter there is nothing
better than Alfalfa If one has land suited
to it and gives it the attention that it
requires to make it a complete success.
With good land and good seed there is
nothing to prevent a good meadow of
this splendid clover whether it be one
acre or a hundred.
The soil should be well prepared with
plow and harrow and unless the land is
| free from noXious weeds il should be
sown in shallow drills 10 to IS inches
apart, so that the crop can be cultivated
the first season. Sowing should be done
! just as with turnips, the seeds being
| lightly covered with rake and then the
soil should be well rolled.
| 1t is much better to sow in the late fall
on early winter-from the middle of Oc
| tober, say, to the first of December The
! land should be gotten in good shape by
! that time so that the sowing can be done
promptly when the proper time arrives
When sown in the fall the Alfalfa gets
| a good start of our most common and
most pernicious weeds.
The next best time to sow Lucern in
Southern or Middle Georgia is during the
month of February. 1t is more necessary
to SOW in drills when sown in the spring
than when sown in the fall
Where the land is rich and clean we
should much prefer to sow broadcast.
sowing evenly as possible as much as 20
pounds of seeds to the acre, assuming
that they are seeds of good quality; at
least 70 per cent. fertile. If known to
! be tirst-class in quality, 10 or eXen Il
pounds will be sufficient to secure a per
! feet stand. 1t is important to SOW the
seeds uniformly and to do this it is we'll
! to divide them and SOW half north and
south and half east and west. The soil
| must be we'll rolled after seeding.
The first cutting of Lucern should never
| occur before the plants are well in bloom
and it must not be cut too close at this
first cutting. small plat of L-ucern sown
the past November gave its first cutting
on May 20 following, and by the last OF
June 1t was ready for another cutting.
Pasturing is certainly injurious to this
crop and should be avoided. But 1t can
be used as pasture for calves and other
light stock if they are not turned on it
until 1t is well grown out and when the
soil is dry.
A Luceru meadow is valuable pos
session on any farm and it should be
| treated with all necessary care to insure
it's continuance. 1t should be top-dresseG
with suitable fertilizer every u or Is
months.