, 1909-01-23
s Y. 4 @ x A W rs.

that sorghum would grow whore Indian corn
would entirely fail, and many thousands of
acres of sorghum were grown in Western
Kansas as O forage plant, and the magnitude
of the industry led to efforts to convert sorg-
hum into sugar, the state of Kansas Offering
to pay b~Ounties for the successful production
MS our readers will remember was the case a
quarter of century ago.
Over in Colorado they took up alfalfa be-
cause of it's great capacity for searching for
water, it's roots penetrating, it is stated, to
q depth of ten feet, and the Spanish name for
the plant then current in that country has
now become generally adopted for it through
out the United States. Alfalfa is recognized
as the logume containing in its leaves and
stems more portein matter than does any
other similar plant. Experiments with alfalfa
in Louisiana have demonstrated that as a
protein food, when cut up into short lon9ths
and mixed with m~olasses, practically all by
drOcarbOns, the mixture constituted an almost
perfect ration. Those who have not the
alfalfa can use ordinary hay in consuming
'molasse8 as stock food, provided they use
enough cotton seed meal to supply the pro-
tein which alfalfa only supplies and which
is missing in ordinary hay.
The u. $. Department of Agriculture has
recently issued u bulletin on alfalfa which
gives q resume Of the history and spread of
alfllfa and u discussion Of the best means of
securing and maintaining a stand of it. The
special features requisite to securing an AIDE
quate stand seem-tQA those of-e4A iHeeH-
T0fTOn and the presence in the soil of stuff,
cient lime. The alIuvial lands of Louisiana,
or, in fact, any Ian Is where snails prevail,
are SAID to contain lime enough for the
production of leguminous plants. We all
know that In our alluvial districts we have
an ample supply of the vines, a sort of morn
ing glory plant, and also of the wild, or
dsor pea. It You'd therefore be fair to in
fer that our alluvlal soils do not need moe
ulatiOn. LII fact, the experiments at Audu-
bon Park made by DR.. Stubbs showed quite
a successful growth Of alfalfa without inocu-
Iatio-. On tho other hand, in the hill lands
Of North Louisiana it seemed very diff 3uIt
to secure o stand Of alfalfa. Some expert
monts made in Calhoun in inoculating the
soil remedjod this in degree, but we b ,lieye
that even yet the stand of alfalfa thore has
not become all that was desired. La the
bluff lands at Baton Rouge, winch are pre-
rumably on alluvium Of another sort, it was
found that incubation, while not absolutely
essential, gave better results than did the
plots without inoculat'Olf.
All the agricultural world has come to
recognize alfalfa as one of the very best
possible crops for farmers to produce. On
the other hand, there have been many fail
ures,due, perhaps, to the choice of the wrong
time of the year for planting, or the ground
may have been in too rough a condition. Any
way, the failures have come, and this Iras
discouraged 50 many persons that We have
really but fow successful fields of alfalfa in
-bAis state. 1t rs now sud that atfaffa should
be planted in the late summer, or early in
the fall, 50 us to@escape the prolific growth
of summer grasses An6 pet fairly under Way
in its growth before the freezing weather
Of winter comes along. Alfalfa planted in
the spring in outhern Louisiana seems to be
I'M nediately covered with a growth of other
grasses and choked out. Those Interested
in alfalfa culture should write to the De-
~putnont Of Agriculture and secure copies
of this bulletin, which gives all the latest
views up to the present time aGd is a very
valuable contribution to our agriculture
The bulletin IS Farmers BulI6tin No. 339.-
Lou Sjuuu Planter Decenabe1 Goth.