The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-03-29
one of these was to start in a small

one of these was to start in small
way"
He related some Of his early ex-
periences in this country for his
grandfather was an early settler
in this vicinity and he grew up in
this country. When his grandfather
came here the soil was rich.
| He then explained the growth of
alfalfa and other plants how the
acids mixed and were absorbed.
This soil has great deal of
| lime here but the constant growth
and tillage of the soil has taken out
| most lime from the surface and
the soil has become little sour.
Hence this must be supplied.
II hope that Minnesota farmers will
study their soil in order to prevent
| the purchase of commercial fertiliz-
| ers and thus prevent spending a
large part of your income. But
most of the soil in this country needs
a little lime in order to get more
nitrogen form the air; otherwise
plants will get yellow and nitrogen
costs the most-15 cents a pound i'm
/ the market. The large fertilizing
companies are very rich and farmers
must pay the expense However,
farmers here ought to join and get a
! lime crusher and crush all the lime
they need and fertilize their farms.
! Germs That Thrive on Roots.
Germs that live upon roots of
sweet clover are the same as those
on alfalfa. But if your alfalfa has
not these germs they must be in
/ noculated. These germs gather nj.
trogen from the air."
! Mr.. Glover gave practical sample
| where a farmer in Illinois sent to
Kansas for some soil with these
germs in and spread this soil on his
alfalfa field. The result was that
the alfalfa turned green instead of
yellow, which was considered a big
success. -.a .-.- ..... ..-,
Notwithstanding the opinion OF
many you can use alfalfa as rota.
ton crop OF course on a steriliged
soil you can't always raise a good crop.
But because of disease, insects, and
! from the standpoint of organic mat
ter, it becomes necessary to have
crop rotation and it is advisable to
grow alfalfa. ..a.-
Alfalfa is not only beneficial for
the soil but also for the stock. But
if you are dairyman it does not
pay to continue the business with
ont alfalfa" @ --.-'.".
The speaker then took up the sub
iect OF corn. He said that corn
and alfalfa will produce more diges-
tible nutrium than any other crops.
Mr.. Glover was heartily in favor of
raising corn. He thought that the
farmers ought to grow at least fiji
teen tons Of green corn per acre.
And together with alfalfa, these two
crops would make the best feeding
for the dairy COW.
Zone of the things we lacked in
the early days was protein which we
knew nothing about then. There
| fore, what is the use of feeding
cattle timothy continually and ex-
ciusively? The result of feeding
alfalfa and ensilage to cows is far
above that of feeding merely timo-
thy and ensilage. The cows will not
get the elements that make them
strong and that makes milk. They
need more protein than timothy can
! give You need protein to complete
the. ration. There is nothing phe-
nominal and nothing mysterious
about it.
Rotation of Crops.
! when you are growing a large
crop of clover or alfalfa you are
not enriching it but taking from
it. Rotation of crops does not add
to the soil but detracts except in
some elements. However it is bet
ter than raising one single crop con-
tinually." t sg .->--
Mr. Glover also touched upon
drainage in connection with the grow