The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-11-11
ALFALFA IN NEW ENGLAND
One of the Pioneer Growers In the
East Tells His Experience.

Every farmer naturally asks, can |
alfalfa be raised as a profitable crop |
in New England? For ten years |
past have been experimenting with
Alfalfa on my farm in Berlin. II is
needless to go into details. giving
the various failures that have been
made-they have been many-they
have been expensive. but they have
been productive of great good, and
have answered the question, and /
say without fear of contradiction,
that alfalfa can be grown in New
England and yield the same tonnage
per acre as in any other part of the
country. | refer only to the unirri
gated, that is alfalfa raised without
irrigation-alfalfa raised under ma
tural conditions of moisture. Let
me illustrate one experience.
In the fall of 1907 | seeded from
three to four acres of alfalfa about
the first of September The soil
was prepared in the usual way. First
plowed and two tons of lime applied
per acre on the furrow After one
cultivation twenty-four manure
spreader loads of good, thoroughly
rotted stable manure was applied to
each acre and thoroughly worked in
to the soil Before seeding, 1000
pounds of alfalfa bacteria soil was
applied to each acre, followed by
forty pounds of alfalfa seed. The
seed terminated and the plants went
into the winter of 1907 looking well.
The alfalfa was about six inches
high when the cold, frosty winter
weather of December set in
In the spring of 1908 | cut about
three tons of well cured alfalfa hay
from each acre of this field.
In the summer of 1909 | cut some
where from four to five tons of well
cured alfalfa hay from each acre of
this land.
In both of these years. 1908 and
1909, | cut the alfalfa three times.
In the summer of 1910 the alfalfa
was cut four times The first cut
ting was about fifteen inches high;
the third cutting about eighteen
inches high, and the fourth cutting
about the same, eighteen inches
high; total of ninety-one inches of
alfalfa in four cuttings during the
summer of 1910. The first cutting
ran slightly in excess of three tons;
the second, third and fourth cuttings
ran about one ton to ton and a
quarter each, or a total of six and
one-quarter tons of wen cured alfal-
ia hay on each acre of this land.
During the present season of 1911
the yield has not been quite as large
on account OF the very dry weather
The first cutting was about thirty
six inches high the second cutting
about twelve inches high, the third
cutting was about twelve inches high
and the fourth cutting about twenty
four inches high, or a total of about
eighty-four inches of alfalfa in the
four cuttings The first cutting ran
little less than three tons; the
second and third cuttings averaged
about three-quar,ers of a ton, and
the fourth cutting ran about one and
one'half tons to the acre; this makes
a total yield Of six tons of well
cured alfalfa hay to the acre.
The unanswerable argument In
this whole matter is that ! have had
for the past two years a yield OF six
tons Of well cured alfalfa hay upon
this field, which was seeded to alfal-
ia in the fall of 1907 and during this
period, from 1907 until the present
time, the only fertilizer of any kind
that has been applied to the land is
the 500 pounds of lime per acre that
was spread on all my alfalfa fields
| during the past winter. | assume
that it cost about $4,000 per acre
20 thoroughly pillow, fertilize and
seed the original field, but since that
time nothing has been dore except
to cultivate the alfalfa during the
spring of 1910 and 1911
| In the spring of 1910 soweC
about one acre OF alfalfa with oats a:
catch crop Early in 1911 | asked
DR.. Il. II. Jenkins, Director of th'
Experiment Station at New Haven
Connecticut, to measure the felt
and weigh each cutting so TO be SUR
of the yield per acre. Here is Dr.
jenkins report in his own language
The alfalfa field which you aske,
us to measure We found to contain
94-lO0 of an acre
The first cutting from this fielC
cured as hay, weighed, as determine
by our agent June 9th, 5,21
pounds.
The second cutting, weighed b
me as hay, August 18th. weighe
1868 pounds.
., The third cutting of hay, weighe
by me October 18th, weighed 2,275i
pounds.
Total OF the three cuttings as ha.
9,04Sh pounds. which calculated
an acre stand, is 1926 pounds, {
AS tons.
The scales at each weighing wei
proved as to accuracy.
Samples of each cutting are no
being analyzed and will be reportC
to you in due course"
This makes a total yield of alfa
IA on this particular field OF as tor
of well cured alfalfa hay. My G
perience shows that alfalfa improv,
with age for az least four or n,
years. so that have no hesitation
saying that on my sixty acres of
falfa which ! cut this year, the vie
was not less than FIVE tons of We
cured hay on every acre. When
say alfalfa hay, | mean alfalfa HI
| TINT uaa ,nr.d