The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1901-09-13
AGRICULTURAL.
From \. Y. Tribune.
Sowing AIfalfa.--Correction.
HUGH F. MCINTOSH, Omaha, Neb.

In a recent issue, on The Tribune's |
excellent agricultural page, is quoted
from 1.-The Country Gentleman" an
article on 'Sowing Alfalfa," which
more errors and wrong instruc-
ton than we usually find condensed
into so small space. A part of the
article is as follows:
"Alfalfa does not spread from roots,
and should not be allowed to go to seed.
1t will not be any thicker than the first
seeding at any time thereafter. 1t has
an immense root, sometimes as large as
a mans wrist, and grows in stool or
bunch. These stools should be thick
enough to cover the ground and smoth
er the weeds after the first year for the
most favorable results. These condi
tions require enough seed and good
preparation of the seed bed. Various
authorities give from twenty pounds to
sixty pounds an acre. | never saw any
too thick, and would SOW not less than
fifty pounds to the acre. From peck
to bushel of oats may be sown, but I
would SOW it alone. The little grain
obtained would not be worth as much
as the better growth secured without
it. AS soon as weeds or blossoms ap-
pear it should he moved. If allowed to
mature, or leaves turn white with sun
scald, the second cutting will be small,
and the plant lose vigor. Keep it well
moved and green"
One may scarcely point out the errors
seriatum in the quotation, so numerous
are they. Why, we may ask, however,
may alfalfa not be "allowed to go to
seed," since seed growing Is one of the
large sources of profit in alfalfa culture,
and seeding in no respect Injuries the
plant? In Nebraska (''drouth stricken
Nebraska" Eastern papers call herr
this year the third crop of alfalfa will
generally be cut for seed, and the es-
timated yield is three to ten bushels an
acre; much of this on uplands, and COM
paratively little under irrigation.
Will alfalfa chicken" after the first
seeding? In this country we cut the
alfalfa up with disk harrows in the
early spring till they look like plough
ed fields. Under this process new seed
self seeded, perhaps grows, root crowns
are split open and spread, the plant
thickens year after year.
If single alfalfa root sends up fifty
or one hundred stalks from its crown,
how close together may such roots be
in order that the quick growing shoots
about thirty days are required for ar
alfalfa plant to grow from the root bud
to blOom) may have air and sun enough
for their development? A man who
thinks you can have more than about
one such root to the square foot knows
nothing of agriculture. And if you gel
one hundred plants to the square foo
the first season, ninety-nine must die tC
give room for the lusty giant which
takes possession of the space. Then
why sow "fifty pounds to the acre?'
Your farmer, who must pay S. pei
bushel for alfalfa seed is not using it fol
a fertilizer. He knows that fifteen
pounds of good alfalfa seed is ample fol
an acre of well prepared land. Even al
that economical rate the farmer winces
; at the cost of seeding % an acre
But he gets 'tstand" for ''catch, >
and the cost is forgotten in the joy o.
success and the perennial pleasure Of
three crops of hay each season, hay ex
ceiling clover for feeding to cows ani
sheep and growing stock of all kinds
Sow alfalfa as soon as the soil is il
fine state for tillage in the spring. Gu
it with the mower from June Is to Jul,
IL, regardless of "weeds or blossoms.
This rule is imperative. Let every
thing cut remain where it falls. (Thi
disposes fully of all notions of sowinI
grain with alfalfa. Farmers canno
afford to manure land with grain
! Then, by the 1st of September, your a
, falfa grower has good crop of alfalf
hay to cut on his first years seeding
= and he must cut it. To save alfalfa
r to destroy it. 1t is thing to use.
/ Who ever saw ''sun scald" on a
C falfa? 1t will rust east of the Missoul
River when you have much rain. The
growth ceases, and the plant must /
cut, large or small. Under irrigatio
too much water causes the alfalfa plar
! to blight-'damp off," dollhouse plal
propagators call it. This would occl
in Eastern fields where either subso
or surface drainage is inadequate
= dispose of the surplus water of heay
summer rains. But such lands are n,
] suitable for alfalfa. Alfalfa land is tt
high knolls, hill slopes and coar
alluvial deposits of Eastern States, 9
ways bearing in mind that the furth,
the rock is from the surface the bette
1t will pay any farmer to oftentim
visit some big market in order to s.
lust what kind of stock brings Il