Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-08-15
FOR MORE ALFALFA
The Crop That Will Make $500.
Land in Audubon County Just at
Present Merits Attention.

ties in this section of the state. The
only one, of which the Journal
knows in the immediate vicinity of
Extra, is that on the Maytag Stock
Farm, owned by Mr.. Scott Herrick.
It consists of two acres, sown four
yeans. ii has produced an average
yield OF two tons of hay per acre.
While the experiment. must perhaps
be regarded as only partially sue
cessful, it must be remembered that
this particular kind CO hay is worth
very nearly a cent pound, and that
yield Of even two tons per acre
means more valuable crop in dol
lars and cents than either corn or
anylhiEt: else that is grown on Au-
dubon County soil. At any rate Mr..
Herrick is preparing to put in five
acres mere within the next few days
Some Facts about Alfalfa
There are very nearly 10000 acre
In the state of Iowa devoted at pre-
sent to alfalfa. The average yield
of all alfalfa fields in the state,
whether good, bad, or indifferent,
rs about two and three fourths tons
per acre. One field of seven acres
yielded more than five tons per acre
per year, for four years.. On this
same farm, sixteen seedlings have
tn NV eatoin taoin stehardoinaonio
been made in the last nine years,
and the average production of all
seedlings has been more than 40
tons of hay per year.
II is as easy to get stand of
alfalfa as of red clover. OF one
hundred an twenty eight farmers
who reported to the state exper.-
imental station last year, one hun
dred and nine had succeeded in get
ting good stands, seventeen had
been partially successful, ana only
two had failed.
Alfalfa does not winter-kill so
badly as is generally supposed. Ma
n2 growers consider it more hardy
in this respect than red clover,
How Successful Growers Do It..
The men who are succeeding in
alfalfa culture are following the
general rules given below:
They are beginning on a small
scale. One or two acres are enough
to determine how the plant will
behave in a given soil, and it is SAT-
er than plunging.
Flat, poorly drained land will
MOT do. The land must be We'll
drained. Gently sloping or rolling
ground, that is we'll drained, is the
best, though hill sides or tops will
do provided the soil lis fertile enough
which is usually not the case.
Unless the soil is unusually rich,
it is absolutely necessary to manure
ut heavily. This is the most com
mon mistake that has been made in
the past. AS in the case of corn,
the richer the better. And it is use
less to expect alfalfa to thrive -
ground too poor for corn. for it will
not do so. The farmer, who ignores
this, courts failure. Ten OF twelve
tons of well-rotted manure per acre
lis the proper treatment.
One hears considerable talk about
tnocu'ating the land and applying
lime before sowing it to alfalfa. The
tact is that most Iowa soil does not
need either. 1t is the occasional
piece that needs one or the o+her.
However, if one can dig up some
soil firm GA sweet clover patch, and
scatter it broadcast over his alfalfa
ground at the rate of about 800
pounds per acre, it makes success
almost certain, provided other re-
quirements have been observed.
The best method of preparing tic
way for alfalfa is to summer fallow
the land after plowing in the spring
However, it is possible to take off
a crop of small grain, especially if
it is cut early for hay, and then
get it ready for alfalfa.
If the ground is summer fallowed,
it should be disced and harrowe
thoroughly ever ten days or a1i"r
every rain. This is to germinate the
weed seeds, and conserve the moist
ure. The young alfalfa plants are
delicate. and ca.n NOT fight uh ,
weeds. And the seed will not germ
inate unless the ground is moist.
This d;sking and narrowing is one
of the most important things to re-
member in alfalfa culture. Some OF
the best growers say to do it until
your neighbors think you are crazy.
The seed should be Gown, then,
inround free from weeds, and suf-
ficiently moist, about the middle :
August or perhaps little later. Ihe
variety to SOW is what is known as