Saint Mary's beacon., 1906-09-06

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70 sell very we'll on the Western
markets. Dairy COWS can be led
very satisfactorily oil winter on en-
exclusive rationoi alfalfa hay. They
will not give as much milk when
thus fed as II they bad. say, half
ration Of grain, but frequently the
milk is produced Of 8 greater profit
when feeding alfalfa alone than when
feeding grain with Il. AT Moneta,
Cal tbs writer has seen dairy herds
that we're Ied alfalfa hay In the win.
Yer md green Alialfa eut and carried
70 them ID the summer, y6ar In and
| yoar ont, with no other feed. IL
this connection the experience OF
Mr.. Charles A. Councilman, who
maintains large herd oi dairy COWS
near Baltimore. Md. is of interest.
He has eighty acres Of good alfalfa
on his farm For silage he grows
corn and cowpeas planted together.
In winter time his COWS are fed on
this corn and cowpea silaRe and al.
ialfa hay without any grain. The
results are highly satisfactory and
very nearly as good as they former
/ " were when Mr.. Councilman q
bill was over $1,000 year.
Under ordinary conditions alfalfa
yields larger crops Of hay than any
other hay crop grown Id this coun-
try, unless We except sorghum,
which. however. makes hay OF very
inferior quality when compared with
alfalfa Even In the northern tier
oi States alfalfa yields two or three
crops Of bay . year. ncentrai latI-
tudes four crops are usually cut, IN
northern Louisiana hve orsIx, while
IN some paris oi southern Texas. 10
q good year. alfalfa may DO cut nine
times. With the soil in fair condI-
tion the yield Of hay IN tho South Is
about one ton per cutting. 10 the
| North u ii usually more than this.
| uodes good conditions farmer may
fairly expect a yield Of four or five
tons per acre Of the best hay, and
yields mach larger than this have
beon harvested.
Alfalfa being legnme and very
deep rooted has iav0rable6lIect On
the fertility Of the soil. After an al.
4 falfa crop has grown several years
on 4 licld. whon. Ii il pl0wsd 10 and
planted 70 corn or other grain, the
yield Of grain il usually very much
greater than il was on the same land
before the alfalfa was s6wn. The
length Of time an alfalfa held will
/ live depends on 50 many local con.
| ditIons that no definite time can be
stated When Il Is not bothered by
weeds and is moi pasturod, and Ison
soil we'll adapted 10 IL. alfalfa has
been known 10 produce very good
hay crops for bali century without
resecding. Ordinarily. however,
u needs reseeding aiter four Or tIve
years. Unfortunately. farmers have
gotten the idea that alfalfa is moi
adapted 70 ordinary crop rotation be.
cause Of It's long life This isn very
mistaken idea. II alfalfa during the
FIRST two years Of lis life Yields more
and better hay than red clover, theu
| II can be substituted for red clover.
IN an ordinary four Or i've year
rotation to advantage, and che wri.
ter knows farmers who use the crop
In this way. But 10 those sections
whore the crop Is rather hard 10
start IL ii usually wise 10 leave ii
down as long as itdoes we'll. After
the land is well inoculated with the
proper bacteria for alfalfa and tho
farmer has learned how 10 establish
the crop with fair degree of Ger.
sainty. IL may then be used 10 short
rotations.
The source Of seed is Of consider
ablc Importance 10 sowing alfalfa.
We do not know great deal about
tho subject yet, but 1t Is pretty
we'll established that for sowing In
cold regions only seed grown in 1
cold country should be sown. For
instance, in the northern tier Of
States Montana-grown seed or Cana
dian grown seed is much better than
seed from Colorado. or Kansas, or
| Utah
Some years ago there was quite a
hurry over Turkestan alfalfa. The
Department Of Agriculture has test
od eight or ten varieties Of alfalfa
from Turkestan and most 81 them
lare not as we'll adapted to this coun-
try as our own home grown seed.
Some Of them, however, seem To
DO especially adapted 10 sections
tn..ts.2x !. ,s<xtx4 H.. ~ ~. Z. 4 i +