Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-09-22
ALFALFA CULTURE.
Very Successful Grower Writes
Valuable Paper on the Cul-
ture of Alfalfa. Others
Can do Likewise.

i Editor Advertiser While we
have had surfeit Of rain all dur
ing the spring and summer we have
had drought for, the last few
/ weeks. Hence the fine rains we have
been getting for the last few days
are very acceptable. They will bring
out the collards, potatoes, beans,
peas and late corn, and perhaps be
of some benefit to cotton. We can
now SOW ruta bagas and prepare
our lands for barley, rye, crimson
clover, vetch and alfalfa.
| Well, we are in the alfalfa busi-
ness, though on g small scale =
little boats must keep near the
shore" The agricultural writers all
over the country have lauded this
very valuable plant. much for the
last few years and have made a
mighty effort to get the southern
farmers to take holdo it: While it
is comparatively new forage plant
to most of us, yet it is an old thing.
We showed the late Mr.. Bacon a
bouquet of f;alfalfa and Oregon vetch
last spring and told him it was
something new. He looked at it for
perhaps a second #nd said in his
laughing way: You call this alfal-
ia? Why, it's the old lucerne that
my grandmother grew on the sides
of her garden walks for her cow
So there is nothing new under the
SUM-" Some Of the parsons tell us
that many of those living in Bible
times had their conceptions of au-
tomobiles and flying machines.
Alfalfa Or, properly speaking,
lucerne is, in reality, very old
plant. 1t was grown in the old coun-
try for many centuries before Italy
gave Columbus to the world. The
valleys of Media and Persia are
said to be the home of the alfalfa.
1t was growing in Gaul and Spain
where they were conquered by
Caesar, before the days of the Saw
iour. How or when it got into the
United States we have no knowl-
edge. The first seed may have been
Imported or itmight have come
through tbesSpainardSinto Mexico
and from thence into the United
States. At any rasesthe cultivation
of Ii first begansiB,t he 59esfkand has,
I:trasrasas seasS aIa In sass4sbna and and
New Mexico sndsp6fefsas of Texas
and Oklahoma it grows luxuriantly
and spontaneously, and all west of
the Mississippi it is largely and
very proftably grown, though it is
only by careful and intense cultiva-
ton That it can be successfully
grown between the Atlantic ocean
and the Mississippi. In all arid re-
gions, though subjected to extreme
heat and cold, it seems to be pecu-
liarly adapted.
Now, while Indifferent as re-
CARDS climate, alfalfa is the one
plant that is over eyacting as to
soil. 1t thrives very poorly on
neutral soil, and on az acid soil it
positively refuses to do anything
no matter how fertile; neither will
it grow on wet natured land or land
with an impervious subsoil. While
it is the nature of the plant to send
its roots down several feet into the
subsoil, where conditions are
favorable, it wilk not endure wet
feet" A saturated subsoil causes the
roots to sour and rot SO as to weak
en- or partially destroy the vitality
of the plant.
To grow alfalfa successfully one
must know, first of all, the require.
ments of the plant, and the next es-
sential is he must know his own
land; and we may say thirdly he
must be willing to SPEND little
money and exercise little patience
and pride; remembering always we
have the climate, but have not an
ideal soil and it IS up to us to make
it. The soil must be rendered aka
! line by an application oS lime. How
much, we do not know--it may re-
} quire one ton orit may require four,
but it must be a sufficient amount
, not only to destroy any acidity, but
to render an alkaline reaction. The
average reader will attach but little
importance to soil inoculation with
| alfalfa bacteria, and there are many
: who will not believe that little in
significant, invisible hacterium or
, bug so small that ten thousand
could sit comfortably on the point
of a needle would be worth single
copper in growing alfalfa, yet they
make the difference between putting
money into your pocket or taking
it out of it. No amount Of lime, nor
no amount of fertilizer will ever
persuade the plant to put its head
above the sickle without the pres
ence about it's roots of the alfalfa
bacteria.
We will make no apology for