Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1903-09-16
ALFALFA.

There seems to be more interest CEN
tered around the growing of alfalfa in
the states east of the Missouri river
than in any other one thing, judging
from the number of inquiries we re-
ceive. While in substance We have
given the information before in these
notes, we repeat it for the benefit OF
our many readers who are interested.
Alfalfa is one of the oldest known for
age plants. In Europe it is known as
lucerne, in some localities as German
clover. 1t is a legume and close rela-
tive of our clovers. only that ii is a
perennial and not biennial, as most Of
them are. 1t will grow on any good
soil upon which surface water never
stands. provided there is not a hardpan
subsoil and further provided that per-
manent moisture can be reached by its
roots within ten or fifteen feet. 1t
seems to find its best conditions where
the soil is subirrigated as in the Platte
river valley in Nebraska, or where the
surface is irrigated, as In all the Pa
cific states. Its value as forage plant
lies in it's great productiveness. three
cuttings and a yield of four and one
half tons of hay to the acre being an
average yield under average conditions.
1t is, further, most superior food for
all kinds of stock, being richer In pro-
tein or flesh forming elements than any
other plant grown. 1t is unsurpassed
as a pasture grass for hogs, and when
made into hay it is eagerly eaten by ev-
cry animal on the farm, even the chick
ems. Being a perennial, 1t does not
work into any system Of crop rotation,
and the field allotted to it must be per-
manently set aside for it. 1t seems
Indifferent to extremes Of heat or cold,
is growing luxuriantly in Minnesota
and Manitoba, where the mercury
touches 40 below zero, and producing
five crops year in Arizona, where 1t
has to endure 40 in the shade. 1t pos
sesses. in common with clover and 9th
er members of the legume family, the
power of extracting the free nitrogen
from the atmosphere and depositing 1t
in the earth, thereby enriching the soil,
this process carried on by form OF
bacterial life peculiar to the plant, and
the principal cause of failure in grow
ing this crop is thought to be the
absence of this form Of bacterial life In
the soil, which is now being overcome
by inoculation-the scattering OF q
small quantity Of inoculated soil on
the barren field. 1t quite often takes
couple of years to get good. strong
stand Of the plant, and many have
voted il a failure at the end Of the first
year and plowed it UP when, had they
had patience and cut the field frequent
", they would have made success Of
II. In the north central states it is best
sown in the spring without any nurse
crop about May Is on well prepared
land at the rate Of twenty or twenty
five pounds of seed to the acre. We
have before said, and repeat 1t now,
that where man is raising hogs five
acre alfalfa pasture will pay him big
interest on a valuation Of $500 per acre.
Thousands Of western farmers are ,ex-
perimenting with alfalfa, and their ex.
periences tabulated prove that it has
immense prospective value for the
great central west and the east, too.
where it has never been grown.