The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1906-07-06
THE FARM.
ALFALFA EXPERIENCES.
I'm KENTucKY.

in KENTUCKY.
In 1894 the writer sowed one acre {
to alfalfa, A late cold snap in April \
got away with every plant almost In
1896 two acres was sown in May
where rye had been seeded the pre-
vious fall. Here it came up very
nicely but by the time the rye was
harvested most of the alfalfa had
disappeared. This piece Of land, a /
high hill-top, was then seeded 10
clover and has ever since been used
as a clover meadow. All the alfalfa,
however, did not perish and is still
there, now nine years old On this
piece of land find it has voluntarily
spread to limited extent. My third T
attempt was by mixing alfalfa with
clover and sowing on wheat This of
course was n failure, but enough re-
manned on these three trials to con
vince me of its value and that good
stand could be obtained If properly
and carefully seeded. In May, 1904,
/ thoroughly prepared one acre of
black sandy land mot rich) on which
COW peas, soy beans and sweet po-
tatoes had been grown for several
years, and ON the 10Th of May
sowed 10 pounds of alfalfa seed, and
run over it with light drag, In a
short time the alfalfa was up, looked
fine, was clipped during the summer
three or four times 1t was irrsgu
lar i'm growth, was apparently patchy.
Crab grass came so thick that | was
badly discouraged and regarded my
fourth effort as a failure. However,
when fall came / thought | would do
my best to make it pull through the
winter. Before freezing winter came
on | covered it with stable manure
and IN the spring it gave me hopes
of success, but still remained some
what patchy. moved this acre four
times, the last time on the 18th of
October At the third cutting small
plat was dried thoroughly and weigh
ed, yielding at the rate of 4,240 pound
per acre.
/ again gave 1t fourth coat OF
stable manure early in the present
winter and at this writing. March 6
it is quite green and looks very
promising. The land is quite thin by
nature and never had any fertilizinl
excepting the stable manure spoker
Of above and 900 pounds of CONNER
cial fertilizer worked into the grounr
in its preparation before the seed wa
sow#i. TiieTe was no incubation c
use of any of the bacterial prepar
ations ON the market or furnished
by the Department of Agriculture.
did however, scatter soil in Yer,
liberal manner taken from wher
quite patch of sweet clover grew
Specimen plants were taken iron
this acre of alfalfa for the alfalfa an
corn special train run through Ken
lucky under the auspices of the De
partment Of Agriculture of Keltuck
that alfalfa experts pronounced Yer
fine.
will add that this laad en- whic
this alfalfa grows is hill land we'll
drained naturally and is what
termed In this country as mountnt
land with quite an amount of iron or
but no lime. Yesterday visited
piece Of land sown to alfalfl las
spring and then entirely abandone
which at this date is a good set an
ON the poorest land ! ever saw in m
life. 1t is showing growth now O
this thin, worn-Out land. that woul
not raise a weed to choke II out
And | give 1t as my opinion tn
If this very poor land only had
top dressing Of stable manure
would give fair crop of alfalfa
During the meeting of the Ke'
lucky State Farmers Institute hel
at Frankfort, KY, last week Jos.
Wing Of Ohio addressed the inst
tute on the subject Of growing a
falfa ald never saw such intere
manifested by an audience of farme
as was shown by close attention aG
the many questions fired at him
the close Of his address.
II seems farmers are all wants
to try alfalfa. Many will fall mar
will succeed. Go slow, be careful
all things pertaining to the pra9r.
ton Of the seeded, sowing, etc. Tn
done If you fail try it again, % u
advice Of hill farmer, who Ike
trying for twelve years. Now
know l can grow alfalfa. W. T, X.
Kentucky.
INGALLS, EULoGY OF GRASS.
The following tribute 70 gras
L.. ~