The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1908-05-23
HDaDa a MORTGAGE Litter

YOU car not afford to bother with
timothy a minute. because IN iced.
ing value 1t has, roughly speaking,
about the same relative value com.
pared with alfalfa as its weight is
in hazel brush.
Alfalfa is not intended IN the
main as a pasture crop, that is to
say. by cattle, sheep and rumi.
nants-animals that chew TN" cud-
will almost invariably bloat and
probably die, IL they do not have
prompt attention, when grazed o.
rank alfalfa. Horses, hogs and
animals hat do moi chew the cud,
car Craze on it with impunity.
Further, it is almost too valuable
for pasture; that is, il can I've
utilized to greater profit IN other
WAYS. One OF these way is to
cut 1t up and feed it uncured. II
sc used, slightly wilted, nothing
bloats from eating il. Cured as
hay, II does not cause the animals
TO bloat. A piece OF land in allal.
ia can be cut from n side TO the
other and have it fresh all the
time; when YOU get through from
one side OF the field. the other side
is ready to be cut again. Aside
from its value as a forage crop, it
has almost equal value as a
Vator or renewcr and fertilizer Of
the soil. Properly, a man should
have part Of his farm in alfalfa
while he is raising other crops on
the remainder, and after a field
has been in alfalfa tor tour or hve
years, he should pillow it up and
plant other crops and SOW the rest
OF the land in alfalfa, and keep up
thai sort OF a rotation.
One OF the most wonderful
things about this plant is its root
system. No other we have begins
10 equal or even approach il. Its
roots 20 down, nobody knows how
far. You know what a short dis.
iance roots OF other crops go.
They get perhaps the plant TODD
element out OF the first foot or two
feet possibly a little more OF the
soil from the surface, downward.
Alfalfa roots 20 down where no
other plants roots go, and reach.
ing the mineral elements OF the
lower sub. soils, bring them INTO
understandable commodities.
1T is said that in mining, in
California, some years ago, alfalfa
roots were found eighty 800 feet
below the surface
AS a fertilizer, they certainly
work a most wonderful transfer.
nation in the soil. They push
down and down in every direction,
honeycombing the earth, as It
were, by their growth, and il you
pillow up an alfalfa field YOU find
the sub-soil filled with their decay.
ing matter, making humus, il you
please. far below where any other
roots have put it, depositing it
there Tor future use and benefit,
and through their immeasurable
pertorations the rains OF heaven
filter, carrying down with them
other fertilization from the surface
working a most wonderful enrich.
ment, such as nothing else in the
world does or can do.
Alfalfa is good for everything in
the list OF farm animals. Equally
as good tor chickens or canaries
as 1t is for percherons or poland
chinas, cows, carriage horses or
any farm stock, that you raise.
Everything likes it and eats it and
thuves on il.
You know the value OF wheat
bran; the experiment stations show
that the leaves OF alfalfa, pound
for pound, are abou. equal in feed
ing value to bran. The Pennsyl.
vania station experimental along
the line, and the conclusion arrived
at, especially from one practical
view point, is that in dairving,
with bran AZ Sac a ton, under Ger.
tain conditions and circumstances,
alfalfa was worth about S23.
III you dislike TO work you
should not bother with alfalfa; il
you belong TO the Federal Sons oil
Rest, or il you are a fugitive from
labor, don't grow alfalfa, for IL will
surely get YOU into trouble.
One thing you must not do,
and that is to SOW your alfalfa in
swampy lard, expecting it to pros
per, tor alfalfa will not stand wet
feet. Sow it on land we'll drained
naturally OF otherwise, and give II
a iair chance. dc not SOW unless
YOU have time to put your ground
in good condition. II your ground
is not IN good condition this year,
don't SOW, but postpone It until
you have ground in proper condl-
ton Get the weed seeds out OF
IL get 1t in good tilth; as nearly
like an onion bed as you can.
reg YOU not to SOW alfalfa other.
wise, because il you do, 1t will he
a disappointment.
We hear a great deal about the
different varieties OF alfalfa; that in
order to succeed you must have
some new.fangled sort from some