Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-03-05
COPYRIGHTED 1905, BY THE ASSOCIATED FARM PRESS
SAVE YOUR ALFALFA SEED.


SAVE YOUR ALFALFA SEED.
When you buy alfalfa seed this
spring you will be sorry you have
none to sell at the price. The price is
high, and you always run the risk of
getting bad seed. II you want to
save seed next fall, the following sug-
gestions may help:
Coburn, Of Kansas who probably
knows as much about alfalfa as any
other man in the West, says that farm
ers are often cautioned against buy
ing old alfalfa seed, but declares that
moderate age Is no drawback. Seed
six years old has been known to GER
inmate % per cent, and German ex-
lperimenter kept alfalfa seed bottled
UP in nitrogen gas for seventeen
years, at the end of which time it
Terminated sc per cent. The state
ment that alfalfa seed more than one
year old will not terminate has been
widely published. but this statement
Is wholly erroneous. The quality de-
ponds upon how it Is harvested and
handled
|
from an old field Of alfalfa is as ex-
hausting as three earlier cuttings Of
hay.
The alfalfa blossom is so construct
cd that 1t is impossible for it to fer
tilise itself. The pollen must be car
ried to the point of fertilization by
some agency, and the agents are in
sects. A hundred seed pods were
gathered from a Kansas field twenty
five miles away from any known col
ony OF bees. and another 100 pounds
from q field less than one-half mile
from an apiary. It was found that
the pods taken nearby the bees aver
aged two-thtrds greater number Of
seeds, which were larger, plumper and
more uniform in size than those taken
at q distance.
Professor A. B. Ten Eyck, Of the
Kansas station. who has given more
attention to the care Of alfalfa seed
/ than any other Investigator, says it
Is difficult matter to estimate with
any degree of accuracy early in the
growth Of the crop, what the yield of
seed Will be. The blossom should be
large and of dark, rich color. If
small and light In color, 1t is evidence
OF light seed crop. If the blossoms
i fertilize properly, the flowers dry and
stick to the stem a few days, while If
they are not fertilized they drop
lquickly and the stem stands bare
The pods should appear thickly set
on the STEMS two or more in group.
to insure good seed crop. During
damp, rainy weather the ripe seed
may sprout or when the weather
turns dry, the ripe pods may burst
and scatter their seeds.
I II the weather has been too wet and
j, the alfalfa grows too rank, cut for
hay. In a favorable season. with even
blooming and even maturing of the
seed, the rule spto harvest the all
falfa when large proportion of the
pods have turned brown. In the
average season, as the alfalfa natures
part of the seed will be ripe, while
some is over-ripe and shattering and
}, some Is yet immature. 1t Is there
fore necessary to strike an average
and harvest when the largest amount
of plump, sound seed may be saved.
q The majority of farmers prefer to
harvest when most of the seed lis ripe
land when two-thirds three-fourths
OF the pods are brown, but Others say
1t is best to harvest when one-half OF
the pods are brown.
!. Mature alfalfa seed has clear
light golden color. Immature seed
has a greenish tinge and may be
|. shrunken. But if the crop is not har.
vested until the seed is fully ripe, the
pods drop off and there Is great LOST
from shattering. The greenish col
ored seed, IL not too shrunken, Ii
vital and will terminate we'll.
If the alfalfa is moved in the morn.
Ing when the dew is on and rakeG
INN ediately, there Is much less shat
tering of seed. II cut later in the day
men should follow the machine witt
forks, moving the cut alfalfa out Of
the way of the team and the machine
to prevent SCATTERING. A. machine
with buncher or windrower at
tachment will save more seed than thu
ordinary mower
II threshing cannot be done imme
diately, 1t Is best to follow the mower
closely, placing the alfalfa in larger
Z piles-about what man can lift a
one fork-full, thus avoiding pullinl
the punches apart in loading. which
would cause the pods to break of
and the seed to shatter. This alst
prevents bleaching.
: Some farmers use self-rake reap
err with excellent results. and som,
: cut the crop with q header, Leaving
} the alfalfa in windrows across tn,
{ field. Some farmers prefer to bind II,
, alfalfa in bundles and shock as wheat
> In this way 1t may be cut a littl,
4 greener and the seed does not shatte
so readily. If bound in the shock tn,
alfalfa should stand couple o
Z weeks. or until dry enough to thresh
. Some farmers prefer to thresh Will
a huller or with a common grain sep
! arator with a. huller attachment. +
. takes longer to thresh with a huller
3 yet, as a rule, enough more seed ma.
be secured to pay for the extra tim,
> and expense required.
!, The seed should be cleaned with
good fanning-mill. If green or damn
! when threshed, spread the seed twelv