Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1911-02-16
Agricultural Department
by f. Mataugh, Before Annual COnven
o. AgrOnomy Association.
Capital News
Capital News

Alfalfa is by no means g stranger
to the farmers of this country. and
many there are who consider it their
most loyal friend. and feel that it
is the real cornerstone upon which
their past successes have rested and
upon which their future fortune
must depend That all of their dreams
of fertile lands. banner crops and
of prize winning stock must be WOW
en- into a great wreath, of which
alfalfa is not only the background
but produces many of the most prom
inent figures and its flowers lend
their beauty and fragrance to the
decoration of the whole.
The fact that it is of high vi
tality should not lead MS to abuse
it but consider it worthy of the
best care.
A good seed bed for alfalfa is
made by fall blowing or by very
light cultivation of stubble land,
such as shallow discing so that
good, firm seed bed can be obtained.
This helps the slender thread-like
roots to get a good start and get
depth enough to push it along fast
while young. Land that has been
cropped one or more years is more
satisfactory than new land However
I have seen fine stands on ground
that was simply cleared and seed
ed without blowing, but do not adj
wise this. only when crowded for
time
A most important step is to pre-
pare your field for the crop in such
manner that it the years that fol-
low all unnecessary waste of time
and water shall be avoided both pre-
cious in the growing season. Smooth
the surface just as good as you pos
sibly can. 1t will not only pay you in
alfalfa crop but in all crops that
follow it, keeping in view the fact
that one day with a team and lev
eler in an open field will do more
than many hours of toll and patience
with a shovel while you are half
mired down in soft mud and your
water worse than running to waste,
while spots of grass are burning up.
Right here is the rock of discour-
agement over which more begin
ners have struggled than any other
and has actually been the cause OF
the struggle on the new farm being
abandoned by some. There is moth
ing more discouraging to the mar
: raising his first crop by irrigation
than to go out to his field in The
morning and find the water that h'
has set the evening before had en-
tirely abandoned she ordinary sys
! tenn he had pictured in his mind
That his well scattered head Of wa
ter. which should have done hin
valuable service, had gone only
short distance in the right direc
Z ton and then acting as if it wer
: thing with a mind of its own, ha
: started off in a different direction
= and when he finds it. it is all bunch
= ed ND. going it like a runaway col
: and has probably cut its way RICH
< down through the field and made
Z wash that will take him days
3 smooth. You will never regret it,
: is one of the prime factors leadin
= to successful farming. intensive farm
9 ing. if you please. for the day
: coming when people will ask whs
: can you raise per acre. not how man
= acres have you.
z But few farmers are experts
= seed selection. OF course we all kno
( that nice, plump, rich-looking see'
z uniform in color and size. free frol
. impurities, is what we want. br
: seldom find this perfect seed on tn
3 market. Most of us take what is o
9 fered in a half helpless sort Of wa
. feel like we don't know what. tn
3 harvest will be. Sometimes ever.
= thing turns out all right. Sometime
we have all kinds of things we don
want
I would say. go to the most II
i liable seed man you have and bu
4 the best grade of seed he has
a few cents difference per pound Z
a rule amounts to nothing per acr
and may mean the difference betwee
a successful crop and worse than
failure. The high price of alfali
seed has been the cause of mu'
soui seed on the market. and it
a very discouraging to find GOO