The Greeley tribune., 1909-04-07
INQUIRIES BY SCORES CALL AN
sWER FROM @. A. @.
EARLY SPRING RIGHT TINE
A Frequent Error Is sottx -
Deep-Ten Pounds Good Seed
II 6unRcient for Each Acre
-Ordinass Varieties
Lack Hardness

Hardly a mail comes to the Colo
RADIO Agricultural college that does
not contain an inquiry in regard to
The sowing of alfalfa. the varieties
best adapted to particular localities.
the quantity of seed required per
acre, and the conditions and methods
necessary for good results. .--
The Colorado experiment. station
has been testing the different varie-
ties and endeavoring. by the syste-
matte selection of the best individual
plants, to develop superior typo Of
alfalfa for hay and seed production
The results of the work have been
very promising, indeed; but at pres
ent there is no seed available for
distribution, although efforts to pro-
duce seed sufficient for wider tests
are being put forth. The varieties
that have given the best results in
nearly all the tests have been the
northern grown types. Some OF the
strains, the Grimm alfalfa
and the varieties that have been In
troduced under the name of Sand
Lucerne, are the most hardy and Wig
orous types. The Arabian variety has
not been hardy, even in southern
Colorado, and the same has been
found to be true of all the seed from
the hot countries. Nearly all our ma
tive alfalfa. especially that from
California and the southwestern
states. has reached us by what
might be called the southern route.
H. e., it was brought over by the
Spaniards into South America; then
across into Chilli, and thence north
into the southern and southwestern
part of the United States.
While it has been great acquisi-
ton to our western agriculture. it
has lacked hardness to some extent.
and this probably accounts for the
eXtravagant recommendation for
planting twenty to thirty pounds OF
seed per acre.
Usually it is lack of proper con-
ditions. rather than the lack OF guam
tity of seed, that is responsible for
failure in getting stand of alfalfa.
A pound of alfalfa seed contains
about c25 900 seeds. and ten pounds
of seed per acre would give fifty or
more seeds to a square foot OF soil.
If the seed is vigorous and hardy and
the conditions favorable, ten pounds
of seed should insure stand OF from
three to five good stools per foot.
which is sufficient.
Alfalfa is as HARDY as clover, ana
should be sown early in the spring
4 ,&N ri to -
spring rains. which will insure Its
growth. For twelve years we have
sown alfalfa seed the last OF March
or the first of April, and we have
never had a failure at Rocky Ford.
Colorado On several occasions the
young alfalfa seedlings survived
freeze of from five to ten degrees OF
temperature below 80. and gave no
evidence of injury. A fatal error ts
often made by sowing the alfalfa
seed too deep in the drills with grain
three to four inches deep; alfalfa Will
seldom reach the surface under such
conditions The usual method is to
broadcast the seed just ahead or
the grain drill, either with an at
tachment on the drill or by hand
in this way some of the seed is COW
cred about the right depth, by har-
rowing after the drill. But much OF
it is so near the surface that it will
not survive; therefore, much seed is
wasted. The ideal method would be
to have a drill that would accurately
regulate the amount of seed and SOW
uniformly by drills not much over
three-fourths of an inch in depth.
We are sadly in need of drill es-
pecially designed for sowing alfalta
seed. If one has only small area
of two or three acres to SOW, 1t
might pay to take the pains to SOW
with a common garden drill so as
to insure a uniform depth of plant
ing.
All the tests the writer has made
with the drilling of alfalfa in rows
have shown encouraging results in
both hay yield and in the production
of seed. as it allows better chances
to cultivate and regulate and con-
trol moisture. 1t also economies
seed. for in drills eighteen to twenty
inches apart, four to five pounds Of
seed per acre will give good stand
of alfalfa.
P X ~ Nm.
Colorado Agricultural College. Fort
Collins