The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-11-02
DRYFARM ALFALFA
Secret of At i Aeeumulatioa Of
S,affie;eot Moisture.
Tith of soa at Tins of PIo~ing
Mattsrs Nothias, But at Time
o >aatiag Il Mattsrs Everything
Tine 30 Plant.

tBy E. R, Parsons. Parker, Colo
/ The art of raising alfalfa without ir-
rigation is to accumulate sufficient
moisture in the subsoil and then e the
roots down into it. Two to three feet of
moisture will carry the alfalfa whole
:, year and insure stand whether it
rains or not. By plowing in the fall ten
inches deep we can usually conserve
this amount of moisture by springtime
But for those who plow only six or
seven inches deep it is better to fallow
the land whole year.
Dry year blowing in the fall, as
explained in previous paper, is detri-
mental. provided the ground is not
planted until spring. The tilth Of the
soil at time Of blowing matters nothing
but at time of planting it matters every
thing.
The best time to plant is usually about
the Goth of April. Late planting is
dangerous for all small seeds which
have to be planted near the surface
for in hot weather the top inch or two
drys out very quickly, and if the seeds
sprout and the next rain is too long
in coming the whole stand may die out
before the rootlnts can reach the wet
dirt down below.
1t can be seeded broadcast by hand
or drilled, but the solid wheel drill is
not as good for the purpose as the split
VII. el which l am glad to see they are
eotl pcing to manufactures for alp ,r-
poses. The split wheel leaves an un-
packed streak in the seed row for the
sSoung sprouts to come through and
spbviates the necessity of forcing their
way through crust, which is a great
advantage when the rains are few and
far between. Ten pounds to the acre is
good amount to plant.
In 1908 we had two feet four inches
of moist soil to start with. We planted
April Is: soft snow May brought it
up. light rain May Is helped it along
then it turned dry and did not rainagain
until July %. total of ten weeks
drought. The alfalfa grew about six
inches high. and we had fine stand
We cut. weeds ard all, in August,
leaving it on the ground.
Alfalfa can be planted in rows and
cultivated as often as necessary, but
when planted in the ordinary way it
can be cultivated four times in tine
season, which is as often as the generi
run of farmers will culti, ate anything.
TIL first year 1t can be lightly narrowed
IN the fall OR if not very large it can be
left alone, for if it lives until August it
will hold its own anyway. The next
spring it can be narrowed before sprout-
ing and after each cutting. After the
second year the disk may be used cut
ting deep or shallow, according to the
size Of the plants.
Fal nfs sometimes complain that
after fear or two their alfalfa dies out.
There are two reasons for this. One is
shallow soil with a poor subsoil; the
other is not conserving enough moisture
at start to allow the roots to penetrate
deeply enough into the subsoil to be i.
come thoroughly established. The idea
is this, after crop is started ituses
up about all the moisture as it comes
and there is very little left over. If
there is no reserve OF moisture accum,
,lated before planting the subsoil never
becomes saturated and the roots can
lever get into it. The alfalfa is living
from hand to mouth and the first dry
winter knocks it out.
1t is the same with any crop, The
formal length of the roots of small
:rain, for instance, is somewhere about
our feet, but if man who never
observes moisture plows only six inches
is subsoil is bound to be dry, the roots
not go into it and he is trying to
row a four-foot root in six-inch
pace.