Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1913-05-01
ALFALFA in
S1UTSMAN COUNTY
GRADUAL EXTENSION OF THE
CROP-lTS PRACTICABILITY
DEMONSTRATED,

Today we find fields of alfalfa of
varying sizes all over the county.
Several have been cropped for eight
or nine years, says Prof. Borchert,
and one of these fields has been in
creased from the original eight acres
to its present size of one hundred
and thirty-five acres. The owner
says his average yield has been two
and half tons to an acre.
Another small field nine years of
age shows the adaptability of alfalfa
to our county. Sheep feed over it
spring and fall, and hay is made from
it during the summer. This field is
very Well inoculated. Because of
this it8is able to withstand such
rough treatment.
"A field southwest of jamestown
seeded about twelve years ago-prob-
ably Grimm from all accounts
sh0ws,.a very fine stand at the pres
ent time. Even portion of it which
has been closely cropped by hogs
shows an Al stand.
Another large field southeast of
town is very spotted, bromus grass
having gotten a strong footing; this
field shows but little incubation. 1t
was not artificially, but self inoculat-
ed, which probably accounts for the
poor showing Of the alfalfa.
A forty acre field in the north GEN.
trail part of the county portion of
which is three years old, is doing very
we'll. Part of it is pastured, part
used for meadow. The owner is i'm
mensely pleased at having marketed
both hogs and steers fed on it, and
will add twenty acres this spring
Several fields sown last spring, one
of forty acres, another of twenty,
went into the winter in fine shape.
The twenty acre field was somewhat
~eaa the. effects Of a beating,
packing rain just as the plants were
coming up. The farmer had no i'm
plement with which he dared towork
the ground for fear of injuring the
small plants. .
This year quite number of farm
ers will put in fifteen to twenty acres;
one of these has fine field now. He
prepares his ground most thorough
ly, plows deep, nine to ten inches,
and manures, an ideal preparation.
His soil seems to be filled with bac-
terra. Many others are putting in
small demonstration plots. Around
Streeter seventeen such pieces will
be put in under the direction of the
Better Farming association. These
plots range in size from half to
two acres. In this neighborhood
there are practically no alfalfa fields,
but there are several large fields in
Kidder county, northwest of this
point. They are doing remarkably
we'll.
There has not been very much arti-
ficial incubation done. The first
field mentioned was inoculated by
imported soil.
From our observation of the va
rious alfalfa plots and fields in this
county, we draw the following con-
clusions: We have no healthy, thrift
ty lasting stands unless the bacteria
are present. In some fields they APP
pear quickly, and in large numbers
without the assistance of the planter,
and in others they must be intro
duced; but they must always be pres
ent to get thrifty, lasting stand.
Therefore it is absolutely neces-
sary to inoculate to get a successful
paying stand. Unless 1t is known
that the ground selected for the al
falfa is already inoculated, it is nec-
essary to introduce the bacteria in
to theusoil, either by inoculated soil
or some Of the commercial bacteria.