Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1910-04-21
alfalfa
WORK WITH ALFALFA AT THE
DICKINSON, NORTH DAKOTA,
j
EXPERIMENT STATION

The legislature Of 19O4-19O5 made
a provision whereby the Dickinson
sub-experiment station was establish
ed. The early years of a station
are necessarily rather barren but we
believe that the results secured dur
ing the first five years with regard
to alfalfa alone, will more than pay
the tOtal expenses of the station to
date, when they have become ap-
piled TO the agriculture of North Da-
kota. 1 The results with alfalfa have
more than local application. They
may be applied to farming conditions
over I the entire northern United
stateR east of the Rockies. 1t will
take several years for the results to
! into practice but eventually
this will be done.
Butt while the results already Sc
cured with alfalfa promise so much,
the experimental work with alfalfa
has scarcely begun. The work for
the next 4 or S years ought to be
of even greater benefit than the work
of the past has been. We are be-
coming squared to our work and we
are beginning to see the nature Of
some of the alfalfa problems that
lie before us for solution. In many
things regarding the remarkable
plants the farmers of North Dakota
may draw upon the experiences of
the farmers of other states but in
other' respects the problems of the
two Dakotas are unique and must
be gi1en a solution Of their own.
Grimm Alfalfa is Hardy
This section is thoroly convinced
at the present time of the practi-
.cability of growing alfalfa over COM
$paratively large areas of North Da-
.kota. A few general principles must
be followed and success will generally
result. The most important thing
shat we have learned at Dickinson is
the kind of alfalfa that may be de-
pended upon. Alfalfa is long
lived perennial and is more or less
hardy. If we were unable to find a
hardy alfalfa for this state, then we
might as well cease to talk about the
plant for it would be idle to expect
that farmers would continue to have
an interest in crop that was con-
tinually suffering from severe win
ter killing. The Grimm alfalfa is SO
hardy that we may rest assured that
it may be successfully grown in North
Dakota. If hardness is assured,
then about the only other point that
need cause concern is the ability of
alfalfa to make paying crops with
the normal rainfall in North Dako-
ia. It may be said regarding this
point that any accurate knowledge
is almost entirely lacking. We do
know, however, that alfalfa is
drought resistant plant and we know
also that farmers are growing crops
successfully in North Dakota that
are not more drought resistant than
alfalfa. The supposition is then that
the lack of water in this state is
not going to be the prohibiting fac
tor.
The alfalfa crop of Kansas is GER
tainly worth to the state 100000
900 annually over and above any
other crop that would be normally
grown in it's stead. II, then, al
falfa is of such great importance to
Kansas, why it not become of equal
comparative Importance in this state?
1t certainly may and will. But time
will be required. At the present
time, perhaps there are not more
than 500 acres of alfalfa under cul-
tivation in North Dakota. Under
normal conditions of farming, and it
is only the truth to state that the
present conditions of farming are
abnormal. Notrh Dakota should be
growing 100000 arcres of alfalfa.
This would mean but 80 acres of
alfalfa on each section and there is
no doubt in the mind Of the writer
but what there Is this much land
available for the crop.
Alfalfa Cultivation Beset with Diff
flculties
While the outlook for the cultiva-
tion Of alfalfa In North Dakota is
excellent, yet it must not be forgot
ten that here are certain difficulties
to be overcome of no small moment.
AS stated previously, 1t is the Grimm
alfalfa that farmers of the Dakotas
must deDend upon as that is practi-