Philip weekly review. [volume] (Philip, Stanley County, S.D.) 1907-1912, 1911-02-23
DAN B|ERWAGEN ON ALFALFA
Address Given ut Pierre at the Farm
ing Congress

by Professor Chamberlain. shall
give you short recital of my
efforts in the line of alfalfa culture.
My experience with this great
forage plant dates back to the year
1902. In that year ] tried a pound
or two of seed raised in the Black
Hills. | sowed it on land which
had been broken up the year before.
The first season it did very we'll.
1t stood thick on the ground and
was what is commonly termed a
good stand. The winter following
was very dry and my alfalfa was
mostly killed out, only few isolat-
ed plants which had sprung up in
an adjacent cornfeld being left.
These few plants lived for several
years after. and became quite large.
This encouraged me.
Two years later l tried two hun
dred pounds of Montana seed. l
followed the general instructions
and sowed twenty pounds to the
acre with the result that it came
up very thick. The second year
it began to die out, and this is on
ground that has since, and is still
growing good alfalfa.
Had it not been for two facts |
should have quit the alfalfa culture
for good; but this is what kept me
trying. The same year on one
little upland plot l had sowed a
small amount of Turkestan and an
equal amount of Montana seed side
by side giving the Turkestan the
highest and poorest part of the
plot.
On examination l found that the
Montana was killed out in spots,
while the Turkestan had withstood
the winter we'll and showed no
signs of dying out even though, as
said before, l had given it the
poorest ground, higher and dryer.
While I had seeded the Turkestan
as thick as the Montana, luckily, or
better perhaps, fortunately, large
per cent did not come up and SO
left the stand thin: but the plants
showed great vigor, stoOled out,
and made a very strong root.
This same little plot is still alive,
and the past year, in spite of the
exceedingly dry summer we ex-
perienced in this part of Stanley
county, yielded three abundant
crops of hay. But what became
of the Montana! Well it simply
became a minus quantity. Three
years after seeding there was no,
a trace of it left.
Now. gentlemen. want to state
what learned from these expert.
ments. In the first place, / learned
that the Turkestan variety is the
best for our country west of the
river where the summers are Otter
hot and dry and the winters are
variable and changable, with gener
ally speaking, little or no snow
Second, l learned this; that one
must seed thin if one wants to ge
a field of strong plants. Five
pounds to the acre is q great plenty
| 1 also learned that one should no
expect alfalfa to be at its best be
fore it is three years old.
| l am convinced today that more
men have failed in alfalfa cultur'
by reason of too thick seeding thar
from any other cause. Seed thiI
and give the plant chance to de
velop a strong root and it will grow
just as many spears of hay as j
finds room for. l have counted a
many as one hundred and fift.
spears on one plant. / think tina
one good strong plant to the squar
foot is better than one dozen, an
really, l think it is enough. O
q trip through Colorado and Uta
last August, noticed in tn
) famous Jordan valley that th
majority and best Of the alfalf
fields had the plants thin on th