The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-07-31
California, Home Of the
Superior Hay, Outdone
on the Rappahannock.
CAPT. JACKS w AY;;
I'M MENSE PROFITS
Proper Method of Selecting and
Preparing Land for Alfalfa.
The Best Way to Save and
Cure It-Best Feed for
Stock - Great Land
Improver.
BY FRANK S. wOODsON,
Industrial Editor.

BY FRANK s. WOODSON,
Industrial Editor.
You have not written much about
alfalfa of late. / wish you had been
with me up In King George county the
other day and had seen Manager Zim-
pleman moving and hauling hay from
400 acres of alfalfa on the /. 600-acre
farm of Captain T. T. Jack on the Rap.
/ pahannock River. IT was what you
! call an eye opener to me, and be-
1 lieve 1t would have been to YOU
Thus spoke ]. j. owen, OF the State
Agricultural Department. who is now
the director of Farmers Institutes Df
that department. I requested him to
tell me all about 1T. He said he was
not painter and could not draw a
correct picture either on canvass or
In words, but he ventured to tell
good deal about alfalfa and the way
1t Is made and cured and marketed on
Captain Jacks farm.
A MnEnificent Scene.
Mr.. Owen says the moving he saw
was that of the second crop for this
year, the first having been cut in May
last. So far four and one-half tons
per acre OF flrst-class alfalfa have been
cut from the four hundred acres, ana
the third cutting, which will come off
sSASAS AOst, VIII iIl at least Two IONS
to the acre, thus making about six and
a half tons for the years output The
results of the third cutting, however.
will depend somewhat upon the sea.
sons from now on. very dry and
otherwise untavorable period would
likely pull the cut down below the
two-ton mark
The day Mr. owen saw the moving
eight two-horse mowers were doing
the work, and several side delivery
rakes, moved by mule power. were
raking the hay in proper piles and
rows, and they were followed by nu-
merous modern leaders that with linz
tied human help were throwing. it on
the wagons. and then at the immense
barns, where the baling machines will!
soon be at work. the hay was being
un!oaded by modern automatic sling
carrier. which was operated by a gas.
olene engine.
Learning by Experience.
Captain Jack and his most efficient
manager. NJ. Zimpleman, do not attempt
to grow alfalfa, or anything else as for
that matter with their eyes shut or
even half shut. They run a little en-
perlmental farm Of some thirty acres
OF their own. On this they are always
notwithstanding what is hes,
to grow and how to grow it, how much
fertilizer and what kind to use ano
now TO use 1t. how best to plow and TO
cult!vate5Ohnd all that kind OF thing
Whlch is taught on the State experI-
fnehtal farms and by the men engaged
IN the farmers cooperative demo
ton work. In this experimental do
partment on the thirty acres especial
attention has been given to alfalfa.
ana -, manager zimpleman has gotten
the whole thing down as fine as split
SIZE and Is really outdoing Captain
Jacks Dig alfalfa farms in California.
for, as before stated, he is getting
here in this glorious climate of old
virginia certainly three and Sometimes
four crops per year. all of which make
more than six tons to the acre for the
year. and that beats California. the
original home of alfalfa, and beats
oklahoma and Nebraska, where thew
took lessons from California many
years ago. before Virginia ever heard
of alfalfa.
How Alfalfa Pays Profits.
Inc hrst alfalfa cuttings on CAPTAIN
Jacks Rappahannock River farm was
TOUR years ago, and he has not had To
sow a seed on any part of the alfalfa
layouts since the first planting. and
the hay comes better and better every
year Mr.. zlmpleman says the four
year-old fields are better this year
than they We're the very first cutting.
and he expects to cut alfalfa from
these acres for twelve or fifteen years
from one seeding Therefore it is he
Ing demonstrated that after old Vir-
gln1a acres are once seeded and have
become properly inoculated with al
falfa 1t is all profit for more than a
a decade to come, and big profit, too.
because Captain Jack sold his crop
last year for $40 per ton delivered at
the steamboat landings right at his
plantation. This years crops will go
at the same figure or more. aSd after
reserving a sutflciency to feed his
own stock, from fifty to hundred
head, he will sell fully 1000 tons, that
is to say. $4,000 worth. That looks
something like farming for profit, does
1t not?
The above are some of the interest
ing facts gathered from Mr. Zimple-
man by Director owen, OF the Agricul-
tural Department.. Mr.. Owen also
found out that Mr.. Zimpleman is an
Intelligent man. an enthu-
siastic farmer. and the director is try
Ing mighty hard to set him to attend
this summer and fall and
how to grow alfalfa, for he knows
better than any man in the State, and
he knows how to tell what be does
know.
TWO years ago Captain Jack told
me how he happened to buy alfalfa
lands in Virginia. and also all about
the methods ne employed in growing
the grass. I wrote about 1t at the
time. and a number of farmers through
out the State who never before tried
alfalfa Were induced to initiate Cap rs
tain Jack. and several of them know 4
IF did 1t most ccessfully--on much
smaller scale, of course. Perhaps 1t
would be we'll enough for me to tell
The story again, and so here goes:
Captain Jacks Way
list, The choicest land Is selected.
I'd, See that the land Is we'll drained.
Sd, Any lack of hGmus and organic
: lContiuued on Third page.l