The Jasper news., 1905-08-17
A CHAPTER ON ALFALFA
THE QUESTION DISCUSSED BY
EXPERTS
Secretary Of Board OF Agriculture
dives An Interesting Talk
on he SUBJECT

We arc pleased to announce to our
readers that We have made arrange
men,s with the NJ sUu.i State Board
OF Agriculture ior weekly letter from
the Agricultural College and Expert
ment Station at Columbia on articles
OF timely interest to the farmers Of
Missouri Dairying, fruit growing, al
falfa culture, corn cultivation and corn
bleeding, the use OF commercial ferti-
lizers the results OF feeding experiments,
which have been carried on at the eI-
pertinent station, and other matter that
viii be Of beueiit to the farmers Of the
state, will be prepared by experts.
Our letter this week is on "AlfAlia
Culture" 10y Geo. &. Ellis, secretary Of
the State Board OF Agriculture and is
AS follows:
Alfalfa IL probably one Of the most
valuable plants for feeding live stock
that Is grown 10 this country, There
are so many kinds Of grain, grasses aud
iegumes adapted TO the soil and climate
81 Missouri that have supplied our
wants foI feeding our live stock and
hence bu; li;tie attention has been given
to growing alfsifn in this State. How
oser. b. has aesu grown IN a small way
10 nearly p,.H section Of the State,
add the area is bpiue largely increased
every year. lt hus bceu demonstrated
by the e1pc.Imeu. stations shat a ton
Il frst.c.ass plia.f. hay is almost equal
..uIA.ue ton oi bran for the purpose
II feeding growing pigs. calves, colts Or
lambs, OF facdilg milk COWS or breed
inE soFs aa rfes. The dairying Of
the eastern states have learned the
great 'al1e o' alfalfa and are feeding
grouud alfalfa hay, called alfalfa meal.
az preienlce to wheat bran.
Alfalfa usy be produced in Missouri
Mt the cost % a. to s. per ton. Bran
usually costs from az to Sls per tou.
Ihus 1t Wii be seen that there Is
an enormous prof: Ia growing alfalfa
- take the place Of bran. Ia addition
20 th profit 'h1 land upon which the
alfalfa l--w - richer 10 nitrogen and
viii prcGIcs much heavier crop of
corn or wheat than other land not
growing alfalfa. The Wyoming expert
msnt station has found that land pre-
yiously IN alfalfa produced from IS to
Il more value 10 wheat per acre and
$40 worth ni potatoes more than land
l5'''"usF cultivated IN potatoes or
gram ne af'iia was not turned un-
der but WAS taken oil Tor hay for per-
'od OF h'e years
Kind oi soil necessary. While ,alfal-
ia thrycs best on an alkaline soil full
of humus with q porous sub soil it will
produce fairly well on most
of the well drained land OF this
State Il will pot be profitable to SOW
it on soil With hardpau or impervi-
Gus clay sub soil II VIII rot do well
on land that j. acid, that is, land the
flrmers cal. sour land, but tie acid
soil ifit is well drained NAV be pre-.
pared tor alfalfa bv sowing from 1000
To 2OOQ pounds Of pulverized lime stone
per acre or about one half tho amount
o. air Stacked lime. 1t ia Preferable.
however, TO VS. the ground lime stone
which may be bought at the mills for
about Il per ton I. o. b.
Testing the soil for aciditv The
farmer caa determine whether his soil
is acid by the litmus paper test Buy
i've cents worth Of biue litmus paper
from the orup store. Take a small
amount Of soil from the field mt il in
,aucaf. r.5.-top wish rain water 10 tbe