The Dickinson press., 1912-03-30

~A IA SAS "V06OA1x
part of the state is the securing of safi-
cient and suitable feed.
CORN AND ALFALFA.
Considerable more corn was crown
last year than previously and those that
put in an increased acreage of this crop
feel well repaid. Anton Burda. living
of Dickinson, who put in IS
acres of corn in 1911, finds himself
in the spring of 1912 with plenty of
feed. Corn is going to find a very i'm
portant place in farming operations all
the state, including the west Mis-
souri, country. There are some draw
backs about corn n is the securing
of suitable seed each year. In course
of time farmers will learn to secure
their OWE seed corn and to take care of
it properly. Evidently that time has not
yet arrived for most of the seed corn in
North Dakota is dead. There is another
crop besides corn which in the future
will prove a very important crop in
western North Dakota. l refer to the
alfalfa crop. At the present time this
has only made a beginning.
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ALFALFA ON LOWLAND.
If alfalfa can be planted on low land
where the roots can 90 to permanent
moisture. such land will yield bounti-
FULLY of alfalfa. which is conceded to
be the best forage crop. There are thou;
sands and thousands of acres of excel
lent North Dakota land lying along the
creeks that is splendidly adapted to this
wonderful crop. When,s.put into salfalns
fla, these acres will yield greatly, more
than they did when given up to virgin
prairie. The income of such land when
put into alfalfa will'be considerably,
greater than that secured from probably
any other crop, whether il be a grain or:
forage crop. =,
ALFALFA ON UPLAND.
1t is not commonly conceded that al;
falfa will be CORRESPONDENCE success,
full upon upland in western North Da-
kota. In the mind Of the writer this
is unquestionlaby true. Personally 1
am beginning to believe that on much
of the west Missouri country upland,
alfalfa would pay better returns as q
hay crop if grown in cultivated rows 80
or 36 inches apart. There is this
about it. if one finds. that alfalfa sown
in 36-inch rows forms too thin a stand,
the stand can be readily thickened by
sowing additional rows. alternating
with those first sown. Perhaps some
farmers are inclined to throw up their
hands in disgust when one suggests cul-
tivating a hay crop. I am of the opin-
ion that alfalfa handled in 3-foot rows
will give nearly as large yields during
the season per acre as many of the
corn fields. We do not balk at giving
the corn crop cultivation and in addition
it has to be seeded every spring.
We have not gotten sufficient figures
to allow us to give much of an estimate
upon yields of alfalfa grown in 3-foot
rows. In 1910 we found that the frs,
cutting of alfalfa from 30-inch rows
yielded 2. S55 pounds of air-cured hay
per acre. The second crop vas left foa
seed. The plat sown in the ordinary
way yielded also pounds of hay pei
acre the first cutting. In 1911 we hat
alfalfa grown in cultivated 3-foot row'
which made three cuttings. The frs
cutting yielded 1. 955 pounds of hay
per acre. the second cutting yielded
1. 260 pounds of hay per acre and tn
third cutting yielded 600 pounds of ha!
per acre. The total yield from thi
piece for 1911 was at the rate of $3.50:
pounds of hay per acre. This alfalf,
was sown in 1910. ~
Whatever the actual figures may be
we have gone far enough SO that W
strongly urge each farmer to start
small piece of alfalfa in cultivatei
rows for hay production. 1t should b
remembered that alfalfa grown in thi
way is more liable to winter kill thai
when sown thickly-spaced or broadcast
as it is commonl, grown. Therefore
if one has not seed of known hardi
ness it will be necessary to SOW NOR
seed per acre than would otherwise b
necessary. With our results with th
Montana grown seed we Judge it woul
be we'll to sow from 8 to 4 poundsse
seed per acre in three-foot row.