Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1911-04-13
THE VALUE OF ALFALFA
A Prolific and Profitable Crop That
is The Most Desirable

The selection of seed is a very
important matter. Northern CROWN
seed should be secured and It is con-
sidered best. 1t is usually desir-
able to secure samples from differ
ent sources and test them as to ger
mination and purity. 1t is an easy
matter TO make a home test Place
100 average seed between two blot
ting papers place them on plate and
turn another plate over them and
keep them moist and in a warm place
for a few days, an the number of
seed that sprout is the percent of
fertile seed. The greatest care should
be take to get seed free from danger
Gus weeds.
There should be about Is or IS
pounds sown per acre is reasonably
good seed, this would place about
rs seed per square foot. / evenly
distributed over the land and one
half of them grow, it would be
good stand. A we'll prepared seed
bed is a very important matter. In
thin spots, reseed and harrow. As
"a rule no treatment is required dur
ing the second season, though it is
advisable to harrow once or twice
TO help preserve the moisture and
keep the weeds from getting start
ed
1t should be cut for hay when it
is about one-fourth in bloom or when
the new crown of basal shoots are
starting. 1t is important to get the
hay of he ground as soon as pos
eible in order to give the new shoots
chance to grow. It should be raked
and shocked as soon after cutting
as the rake will take it up and al
lowed to cure in the bunch, keeping
out of the sun as much as possible.
The greatest feature of harvesting
alfalfa is to get it to the stack or
feed lot with the leas possible hand
ling and exposure to weather. 1t may
be stacked as soon as moisture can
no longer be twisted out of the hay.
In any event great care should be
be tai1en to save the leaves and get
il in the barn or stack in best pos
sible shape.
AS conditions vary so widely no
rule can be regularly followed. 1t
is a matter of good judgment on the
part of the farmer to meet local con-
ditions. 1t is usually advisable to
irfigate a short time before cutting
first time though this will somewhat
delay the curing of the hay, it will
be a great advantage in making a
quick start of the second crop.
Do not irrigate after the last cut
ting except in dry, warm countries
where the winters are mild. AS a rule
in Idaho the fall rains are ample to
place sufficient moisture in the soil
to take care of the alfalfa plants all
through the winter in good shape
without any winter killing. However
one thing certain, alfalfa will not
stand wet feet, and it's long top
roots penetrate the ground so deep
that the matter of drainage should
be looked into. though there is very
little danger in this part of the coun-
try, as practically all the land here
has perfect undertakings.
To get a good stand of alfalfa, the
writer is a firm believer in the prac-
tice of irrigating alfalfa as soon as
the seed is in the ground. Even II
the moisture in the soil seems ample
to terminate the seed, if the wealth
er is dry and hot about the time the
plans are coming through the ground
1t is apt to dry out before the seed
and kill it, as alfalfa plants at this
ctage arc tender and require some
nursing TO insure a perfect stand. Use
the corrigation system and at this
time lay out and put in a thorough
system of irrigating bitches, check
boxes and lath tubes for delivering
water through the bank TO; this car
ragations. This requires a little more
time and expense at the start, but
be more than made back in yield foi
having irrigated properly. 1t will aid
in the economical use Of the water
Where practical run the lateral Oh
a grade of OIL of foot per hundred
feet and run the corrigations straight
up and down the slope. Where there
is much slope use the lath tubes tC
feed the water to the corrigations
from the distributing ditch use q
piece of tin or a single to regulate
the flow Of water to suit. AS a rule
one lath box will deliver enough wa
ter for three corrigations where the