Norwich bulletin., 1911-12-30
- 49, lAA IN
\ 1.-THE FARMERS TALK (
50 TO FARMERS 81
FITS AND MIsFITs IN FARM LIFE

! pastures and no natural fitness 10
grass. And Tom Jones may ainl,-.t
hate the sight and smell of a COW.
There we have two unlike farms al.'t
two unlike farmers. 1t isn't reasons lst.
TO suppose that both farmers on boz
farms will 90 equally we'll with the
same things. The farmer must follow
his bent on a farm that Is adapted TO
IT, if he is TO succeed to the utmost.
Right there, / suspect, is where We
come upon the explanation CT why one
man likes alfalfa and another hates 1t.
Not long ago a neiehbor of mine ex-
perimented with the stuff. lie first
/, put it on an old garden patch of about
four acres. The land was naturally
moist and rich. and it was in superb
| tilth. The alfalfa did nobly. I've for
gotten how much he cut off the lot
! the second and third years but it was
enough to make dairy farmers eyes
pop out of his head with establishment.
He took time to give it good test
at least three or four years. Then.
using the experience he had gained on
his four-acre patch, he put in a field
of about fifty acres The second year,
walked across that field. ! don't
think there were any two alfalfa plants
on il within three feet of each other.
while Canada thistles We're having full
run in all the unoccupied spaces. He
never cut spear of alfalfa or any
other sort of forage off the fifty acres
had to plow them all up again and
put in rye TO protect the sloping sur
face from disastrous winter washing.
This was "A case where, manifestly,
the trouble was in the land and not
in the farmer.
I know of another farm on which
an experiment with alfalfa, about ten
years ago, turned out a complete fiZ-
zle. Since then it has been success
fully grown the same farm. The
first time the work was done wholly
by the hired man. the then owner
not being a working farmer. The sec
ond time the work was done by the
boss himself who most emphaticaHy
is a working farmer Of the best sort.
This was case where, apparently,
The difference was in the farmer and
not in his land.
I have been privileged to read the
letter recently written by an Ohio
alfalfa grower, who succeeds with the
crop, to an inquiring eastern farmer.
This asst droughty summer ne made
about $50 an acre on one 1--WE and
half acre alfalfa field. from two cut
tings. HAD there been rain enough
10 make my third crop" he writes. Il
should have made much more than
500 an acre
This certainly is a good enough re-
turn-s90 an acre from forage III d
Gry summer which reduced the crop by
one third of Its normal. Perhaps you
may be interested in reading what this
successful grower writes to his eastern
questioner.
He says: about three things are
essential to succeed with ALFALFA
good quality Of land that viii produce
other farm crops, a soil containing
lime, or capable Of being supplied with
ii, the former much preferable; soil
that is perfectly drained naturally or
artificially. Then the grit OF the farm
to STAY with it till he succeeds. He
needs to use good seed on well pre-
pared lands, AMI to read up, as he goes
along, everything on alfalfa lie can
find, and learn what will work best
with him. My own land is a
whIte-oak clay, too wet without tile
to grow clover or wheat. Under my
seven acre alfalfa field 1 have about
500 rods of tile. The five and a half
acre field has had applied to il not
less than 100 tons of manure in the last
twenty-five years, with many crops of
rye logged down on it,
This particular farmer finds it pays
Finn to use a special harrow of the
spring-tooth style, bat with narrower
and sharper teeth than the usual kl-c.
This harrow does away" he says,
with the greatest practically difficulty
in the growing of alfalfa. in the de-
struction of the grasses and weeds"
1t is used when the alfalfa is a year
cid.
But he is very careful to intimate
that what may be best for him on his
farm may not be ideal practice for
some other farmer on. some other farm.
He cOmnends the widest possible
reading and study and the selection of
methods found adaptable TO the sort OF
soil on has.
! fancy. myself, that the somewhat
miIder climate which Ohio enjoys has
something to co with it. At the same
time that four-acre patch Of my
neighbor which succeeded so admira-