Graham guardian., 1911-11-24
ALFALFA ON DRY FARM
Row Cultivation viii Have Great
Place.
Stoollng Habit 10 Of Extreme I'm.
portance to Dry Farmer-Grow.
er Can Thin Out Drills az
Beets arc Trimmed.

It Is doubtful II the system Of SOW
Ing alfalfa In rows would be success
IN the middle states. l doubt 1t, as
! do not believe sufficiently thorough
cultivation could be maintained in a
humid climate to keep out the
grasses. That row cultivation will
have a great place In dry farming Is
beyond question. for hay as we'll as
for seed production. Where ordinary
seeding is practiced there are usually
too many plants and they often ex-
haust the entire available moisture.
resulting In general death instead
of the survival of the flttest. writes l..
Ogilvy in the Breeders Gazette. The
yields of hay on dry and irrigated
lands, 80 far as experiments have
been tried. have been greater when
drilled in rows than where the plants
occupied the whole field. With the
Spanish or straight-growing kind the
hay is coarse, but with Grimm and
varieties having somewhat the same
stooling habit this drawback does not
exist.
This stooling habit is Of extreme
importance to the dry farmer. as will
be easily seen If we consider what
usually happens to alfalfa. There is
as rule fair amount Of precipita-
ton in the spring or an amount Of
stored water in the soil in June. All
the little plants start at once and
flourish for awhile, and then as the
little tap roots reach down through
the cultivated land and engage In a
desperate struggle to pierce the plow
sole and harder uncultivated sub.
stances, the heat, grasshoppers and
other adverse conditions check plant
growth on top. On the other hand,
alfalfa planted in rows "a inches apart
has three times the moisture to draw
on even II the drills are continuous.
II the grower desires he can thin the
drills as beets are thinned and thus
make practically certain Of sufficient
supply of moisture except in very
abnormal season. He can with har-
row, weeder or cultivator cheaply re-
tain soil mulch to prevent evapora-
alfalfa that he can for any other cul-
tivated crop. This will amount to
great deal more than 1t does with
big plant like corn, producing a
heavy tonnage and calling for lots of
moisture for Transportation.
II the alfalfa plants are thinned to
"a inches they can almost be made to
grow, and that Is what the dry farm
er has to do--make plants succeed
where conditions are at any rate not
normal even II not entirely adverse.
Adverse they are If he persists in
farming as If they were normal, and
he must come to see this If he Is to
succeed.
Given alfalfa with stooling habit.
the plant can first be established and
its roots reach deep permanent mois-
ture before 1t produces a crop Of any
magnitude. Once firmly established.
1t will no doubt, like all other plants
that have enough room, begin to stool
out and do business to the limit of
its capacity. In dry seasons for a
time at least the stools will not be
so well established, but they will first
succumb. leaving the main part Of
the plant still in possession.
The same methods will apply equal
ly to the Spanish or non-stooling va
rieties and will be great success for
seed, but the hay will be coarser.
They can never fill the ground with
multiplicity Of shoots as the others,
but must coarsen their branches and
stems at the expense of the leaf
bearing properties Of the plant This
disadvantage can be largely overcome
by early cutting. AS it will be long
time before there Is sufficient sup
ply of seed of other kinds on the
market, row cultivation of the kinds
available should be begun and pushed
at once in the dry region.