The copper era and Morenci leader., 1911-12-01
ALFALFA ON DRY FARM
Row Cultivation Will Have Great
 Place.
stoolins Habit Is of Extreme lnn- portance to Dry Farmer-Grow- CT Can Thin Out Drills as
 Beets Are Trimmed.

It is doubtful if the system of sow
 ing alfalfa in rows would be a success
 in the middle states. I doubt it, as
 do not believe sufficiently thorough
 cultivation could be maintained in
 humid climate to keep out the
 grasses That row cultivation will
 have a great place in dry farming Is
 beyond question, for hay as well 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 a general death instead
 of the survival of the Attest, writes L,
 Ogilvy in the Breeders Gazette. The yields of hay on dry and irrigated
 lands, so 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 a rule a fair amount of precipita- tion 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 blow RIIlt h. stances, the heat, grasshoppers and other adverse conditions check plant growth on top. On the other hand, alfalfa planted in rows 24 inches apart has three times the moisture to draw on even if the drills are continuous. If the grower desires he can thin the drills as beets are thinned and thus make practically certain of a sufficient supply of moisture except in a very abnormal season. He can with har row, weeder or cultivator cheaply re- tain a soil mulch to prevent evapora- tion-in other words, he can do all for alfalfa that he can for any other cul- tfvated crop. This will amount to a great deal more than it does with big plant like corn, producing a heavy tonnage and calling for lots of moisture for transpiration.
 If the alfalfa plants are thinned to 24 inches they can almost be made to grow, and that is what the dry farm CT has to do-make plants succeed 1 where conditions are at any rate not normal even If 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 a stooling habit, i the plant can first be established and | it's roots reach deep permanent mois- | ture before 1t produces a crop of any | Once firmly established. l it will no doubt, like all other plants | that have enough room, begin to stool | out and do business to the limit Of l 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 ot the plant still in possession.
 The same methods will apply equal Iy to the Spanish or non-stooling va rteties and will be a great success for seed, but the hay will be coarser. They can never fill the ground with a of shoots as the others. but must coarsen their branches and stems at the expense of the leaf bearing properties of the plant This can be largely overcome by early cutting. As it will be long time before there is a sufficient sup ply of seed of other kinds on the market, row cultivation of the kinds available ShOuld he bepI1n and DuShad I at once in the dry region.