Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1910-07-28
MATTHIAS CRUM WILL TRY
GROWING ALFALFAAFTER
TREATING HIS LAND
PROMINENT AUpRAIN COUNTY
FARMER WHO FOLLOWS SCI
ENTIFIc RULINGS REGARDING
THE PLANTING OF CROPS WILL
EXPERIMENT HERE
VIII Use Car Load Of Lime Phos-
phate on Field In Which he intends
Sowing AlfaIfa--A Few Facts
About This Kind Of Feed.

I ''NS hNfto VI Y CEus
While the sowing Of alfalfa which
Is oonridered worth a long painstak-
Ing preparation, has had little trial
in Audrain county many of the far.
mers are considering 1t more and
more all the time and shortly several
will make extensive experiments In
ihs growing here.
Judge Matthias Crum, who Is a most
scientific farmer, had fine stand of
alfalfa here two years ago, but short.
iy before time to cut became sickly
and coon died out. He believes his
failure was due to the lack of phos.
phorous on the soil.
lie stated to a Ledger representa-
tive, recently, that he intended to try
growing it again and next time be-
lieved he would meet with more sue
cess. He intends purchasing car
load Of rock phosphate and treating
the soil in which the alfalfa is to be
planted with this stone. 1t will sup
ply what lis missing from the sold
and be thinks good results will fol
low.
In selecting field for alfalfa, 1t
does not matter so much about the
lay Of the land, SO long as 1t is we'll
drained and the soil not sour, al
though il naturally gives better re-
turns en- soils that are rich and in
fine tlfth. A simple method by
which the acidity of the soil may be
tested is to make deep cut In the
moist ground, say with knife, in
serting in the opening a piece of lit
inius pi per, and pressing the earth tJ
gether, leave the paper for an hour
or mere. BY that time If the paper
has turned pink or reddish, there Is
acid This may be corrected by ap-
plying fifty to one thousand pounds
of 'me per acre previous to or at
tn, time of sowing.
While there is considerable differ
ence Of opinion as OF whether spring
Or fall sowing is best, the season
should not, perhaps in most locali-
ties, determine that so much as the
presence of favorable conditions.
Fall sowing has a number of ad-
vantages that recommend it, First, no
time is lost in the producing record,
for sown in the fail alfalfa will give
two or three cuttings in the following
year, while with the spring sowing 1t
is often struggle for existence for
the first year, owing to the growth of
weeds and the dry summer weather II
able to be encountered. The fall
sown begins its growth early in the
spring and hence stands good
chance to outgrow the weeds.
Outside of the more northern
states where the winters are severe,
1t would seem, therefore, that fall
sowing would be more or less gener-
ally advisable.
The quantity to sow is much ar
gued question, and twenty pounds is
the maximum, which is advised on
the theory that it lis better to sow
rather too much than too little. OF
course old hands with alfalfa may
wisely decrease the quantity, If al
falfa seed were universally clean and
germinable, and the ground for 1t
thoroughly prepared, sowing twenty
pounds would be grossly exbravagant,
for If 80 per cent of 1t germinated,
there would be nearly ninety plants
to the square foot, tenth of which
would be an ample stand.
The percentage of germinability
should be ascertained by test be-
fore sowing.
An easy way to determine this,
within the reach of everyone, is to
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