Norwich bulletin., 1913-12-17
HOW TO GROW
 CONNECTICUT AFALFA.
Professor Wheeler at State Agricul l.
 turaI Meeting Tells How to Do 1t.

turaI Meeting Tells How to Do It.
 The annual mid winter meeting of the state board of agriculture opened at Hartford Tuesday morning at 10.3o. There was an attendance of about 200. Vice President Wilson H. Lee of Orange presided
 The principal address at the morning session was upon the topic Some Things That Make for Success in the Growing of Alfalfa, which was given by Prof. H. J. Wheeler of Storrs, who is a member of the Agricultural Ser vice Bureau of New England
 The speaker emphasized the inn portance of alfalfa for New England. The best land for growing it, he said, is that with a gentle slope. Pockets in the land should be sown with grass. The land should be thoroughly fitted and the final touch imparted with smoothing harrow. Stable manure is desirable although there is some danger of weed seeds finding lodg- to SOW nitrogen. The plant catches it's own nitrogen. The field should be thoroughly lined if the soil has acid ity.
 Professor Wheeler outlined various methods of fertilization. From Is to 20 pounds of seed per acre is sufficient if the seed is well distributed. The time to seed alfalfa in New England is the first day the ground can be worked to get ahead of the weeds. If it is desfr- ed to seed down in the fall, the time to sow the seed is from the 1st to the 18th of August In New England it is the usual practice not to saw nurse crop. If a nurse crop is desired bar ley is the best grain to use.
 Professor Wheeler advocated the inoculation of soil with inoculated soil from field previously inoculated. Sup plementary narrowing should not be done until the plants are fully estab lished- The proper kind of a spring tooth harrow should be used. care be- ing taken not to use a harrow that will tear up the roots.
 When to Cut.
 The proper time to cut the crop for the first time is when the buds are just developing. Unusual conditions sometimes call for premature cutting to allow the second crop to get started quickly, After cutting the alfalfa 1t should be thoroughly wilted Hay caps should be used and the cocks turned daily until the whole of the cock is thoroughly cured Rain will iniure the alfalfa causing many val uable properties to leach out. Neither must the alfalfa be so long exposed to the hot sun that it crumbles to pieces.
 Professor Wheeler advocated the establishment of alfalfa seed farms in New England ande the purhase of seed from those farms. An alfalfa hul1er is to be built in New England very soon, said Pr0fessor Wheeler. Alfalfa plant ed in August should not be cut the same year, even though it grows a foot or more high
 Association Formed.
 Following Professor Whee1ers ad- f9l lf1 Ia lon was formed. Leonard H. Healey of Woodstock read a constitution and by laws, which were adopted. It was voted that the name be The Connecti- cut Alfalfa Growers association, and that the association affiliate with the New England Alfalfa Growers associa- ton.
 Governor Baldwin Speaks.
 The address by Professor Wheeler Mayor Louis R. Cheney, to which Gov ernor Baldwin responded. The gover- nor said in part:
 A midwinter meeting of a board of agriculture seems at first sight almost out of place in northern state. One likes to be able to put in practice. on the moment. what he hears and seems to be offered promise. But now is tue farmers time for thinking over things. The busy time of the year for thought and reading and friendly conference has come.
 l am not sure but in the end it may be made the most important time Of i the year. A mans success in maHu- featuring does not depend on the amount of his products or his sales. 1 It depends on whether what he pro- duees be produced within a cost that will enable him to profit by his saies i Many a manufactures has gone down to ruin because he had not made out proper cost sheets or had not studied with due care what such cost sheets showed. So with the farmer. There is a profit in raising peaches on one kind of soil and location and none in trying to raise them on another. We used to plant our orchards on low ground. Now. believe, the best crops come from those planted on high ground. i The profit in poultry may depend en- tirely on the number of fowls you keep l and the help the women of the family | can give in caring for them.
 The tariff laws have got to be | studied for some things, and the prices i here of foreign products. We used to | and breed silkworms. It paid once. ! It does not pay now. Foreign impor tations practically bar out domestic | in raw silk or cocoons.
 The agriculture of a country is it's | purest title to prosperity With that LII SCOd SOliAAi1OIls IIO OllSI iidlll4I CStl | easily starve it out. What Napoleon f wrote to George III in 1895 was true: Finances founded on fourishing agri- culture can never be destroyed"
 Agriculture in the United States is doufiShing. Our financial strength, | is great. We feed half Eu- rope. Under our constitutional guar a.nteeS of free trade between the states Connecticut has the benefit of the great { grain fields and cattle ranges of the t west. For a days wages a Connecticut i can transport to his home d years food for his family. Our farm CTS. therefore, are not raising much : wheat. As yet they are not raising much livestock for the butcher. but it ,nnkS to me as if il were about tina