The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-06-05
Editor Florida Agriculturist:

uE ABOVE WI4ul1y, put VO 1lNe Uduc1y
by ONE OF our progressive FARMERS,
has set me to shrinking that it would
be a good idea to discuss TINS alfalfa
question Through THE columns OF the
Agrlculturlst. And ito set the ball
rolling, as it were, perhaps a. little
personal experience with the growing
OF this crop would be in order
To the above inquiry would de-
cidedly say Yes. There is NO reason
why alfalfa cannot be grown in Flor
ida ais well as in amy of the states
north Of us. It's Asiatic origin shows
THAT lit really belongs to a semi 7tropical
climate, and the only draw back THAT
it can find is, that our climate is rather
moist for lit. But. that difficulty cam
be easily overcome by choosing THE
proper locations in growing THE crop.
1t was my privilege to be ON the
staff OF speakers ait farmers institutes
in North Carolina during part of THE
summer of 1905 In going over the
state, we struck some very fine fields
of alfalfa. And really, up to THAT TIME
l had MO idea lit could be grown suc-
oessfully anywhere in the southern
states. And one thing that was brought
home to me very forcibly was, that
it was NOT confined ITO amy one parti-
cular kind of soil or location. All
Through the Piedmont section of the
state lit seems to thrive and do well
wherever it has been given a good
start and some attention for THE first
year or two But I found it gave
equal results even i'm the sandy Sec
Hlon of the state, near Goldboro, and
on towards Wilmington, where some
OF THE soil is ais thin as anything VIE
have in Florida. This sIet me to thlrlk-
ing hhat soil did not cut much of a
figure in dts success, if everything elise
was right.
We had as a member of our party
Mr.. T. B. Parker, of Raleigh, N. c.,
whose subject, ait THE various meetings,
was ''Alfalfa,' and he happens ITO own
two farms, with alfalfa growing Sue
oesfully ON each of them. One of
them lis in Orange County, where the
soil is heavy, stiff clay land, and on
this farm alfalfa has been grown CON-
tinuously for more than fifty years.
The other farm lis near GoldSboro,
where the soil is very sandy, and, if
anything, this farm shows the best
alfalfa.
After coming here I made up my
mind to try small patch of it, about
quarter Of an acre as a beginning.
l began by hauling onto THE land at
the rate OF about ten tons per acre
of high grade stable manure produced
by CATTLE fed ON cotton seed meal,
bran, etc. This immediately plowed
under ais deep as I possibly could.
then applied at THE rate of ton per
acre of unslaked lin1e, narrowing it
into the soil, SO that THE moisture OF
the soil did THE stalking part of it, thus
insl1rfng THE full benefit Of it. sent
off ito Mr.. Parker, already mentioned,
for some of his inoculaIted soil from
his Orange County farm. He sent me
about two hundred pounds, which [
scattered evenly over THE surface ait
THE time of sowing the seed. I also
got inocu1ated seed, for [ thoroughly
believe in ilnoculation because of my
observations among alfalfa growers.
[ NEVER found a case of failure where
irIoculated soil was used, and inoculated
seed would make it all THE more Ger
tain.
The seed was Isown on the 18th Ct
October, and i'm about a week had
a good stand of it. lit came Through
the winter in good shape, and the first
cutting was ready ON THE Both of April
There were some weeds i'm this cut
ting, but not enough to fu1rt it amy.
1t was cut THE second time ON the
18th of Ju1ne; that was June alfalfa.
The third cutting CAME off ON the 18th
of July, and THE fourth ON THE 18th
of August The second, third and
fourth we're the best. OF the season.
A ii, II