Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-06
ALFALFA AND CLOVER


in these days that the young folks. es-
pecially among tn farmers, are teach
ing the old folks how to do things, 1t is
not safe to take this statement too
seriously. OF course the world Is pro-
crossing, people generally know more
than formerly and the young people
are, coming more directly under the
influence Of the higher educational in
stitutions that make a specially OF
dispensing practical scientific knowl-,
edge; but still there are among the
elders many who are still learning,
and who without making a great deal
Of fuss can show the younger genera
tion the way. .f .,g.= ..s. ..aa $50.
The correctness Of these observa-
tions were strongly impressed upon
the writer last Tuesday afternoon as
the result of conversation with Mr..
Elias Falls, from up Bethany way,
who came in to enjoy the generous
hospitality of the ladies of the Winnie
Davis Chapter, u. D. c., and who In
the afternoon, paid The Enquirer office
a pleasant visit Mr.. Falls brought
with him half a dozen sprigs Of alfal-
ia, tn longest Of which was just for
ty-e eight inches in length, and he ex-
planned that his purpose was merely
to give US the opportunity to examine
a reasonably creditable specimen of
the famous legume about which 30
much has been printed in The Enquir-
er, during 80 many years past.
Answering questions Mr.. Falls said
that he has only about half an acre OF
alfalfa. He sowed it first some three
years ago and has made frequent cut
ltings. He finds that all kinds Of stock
are fond of 1t, and that the chickens
would rather have 1t than small grain.
His patch has been doing nicely: and
| It Is his purpose to enlarge 1t; but the
conversation developed that he Is
rather more interested in crimson clo-
yer, than in alfalfa, not because he
thinks the crimson clover superior;
| but because he got started on 1t first,
found 1t SO easy to handle and withal
so generally valuable.
81 had crimson clover under consid-
Grafton for long time," Mr.. Falls said,
| before I could quite make up my
mind to go into it. Most Of my ex-
perience had been with the old red
clover which, on good, strong red land,
would stand for several years, and I
found 1t hard to make up my mind to
go into experimenting with clover
crop that had to be sowed every year
But at last, about eight years ago,
tried 1t sowing eight pounds between
the corn rows in July and August.
Every year after that I have been
sowing more, and last fall I sowed
four bushels of seed on about sixteen
acres. I tell you 1t makes hay right,
and do not know of crop that Is
worth more to the land. My plan Is
to SOW in the corn rows, cut down the
corn stalks after getting the corn, and
leave the clover to cover the land
during the winter and be ready for an
early hay crop in the spring. Then
turn the clover under, plant corn again
and the result is something worth
while" n
do you know" Mr.. Falls added
that when l was boy, there were
but few patches of red clover in this
county. It is a fact. Red clover was
scarcer than is alfalfa now-only
few patches here and there"
Asked as to how he happened to be-
come q grower of red clover, he re-
piled that although he had seen lit
| tie clover previous to then, he got MS
ideas Of the real value of the crop uI
| in Virginia during tn war. When
saw great fields Of fifty and hundred
acres covered with knee-deep clover
he said, "and barns filld with countless
head of horses, mules. cattle. pigs and
sheep, all fed from the clover fields,
began to wonder whether there was
any reason why we could not do the
same thing down here, and when
| went to farming began to try It."