The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1915-02-26
ALFALFA ON DRY FARM
One OF the Best Drought Resist.
ing Plants Known.
Cause OF Many Failures In Semi-Arid
sections Is Shallow Flowing
Good Stand Obtained by Plans
ing In Deep Seed Bed.
CBy f. r. PARSONSD


Years ago alfalfa was considered
as a sort Of watercress that had to
be irrigated every few days The
TACT Is, however, that it is one of the
best drought resisting forage plants
known. 1t has been the salvation OF
ury central Asia and also of the
South American deserts, where it sell
dom rains. 1t is considered so valu-
able in Peru and Chile and other coun-
tries adjoining that it is often raised
In seed beds and planted out by hand
n valleys where there is no rain but
some damp soil on account Of under
dow from the mountains.
Many plant alfalfa in the dry farm
ing states and fail. The reason is usu-
ally the same-shallow blowing. The
art of obtaining good stand of alfalfa
lies In planting it in a deep seed bed.
In dry farm paper some years ago
remember reading that a good way to
plant alfalfa was to pillow the sod two
to three inches. roll it, run Slanted
harrow over it and then put In the
seed. This was the worst advice that
could be possibly given to a dry farm
er Unfortunately, many believed It
and lost their work and their seed.
Some obtained a poor stand which
eventually died out, but few who
were farming over wet ground man,
aged to raise little. Alfalfa planted
In shallow plowed land seldom
amounts to anything, even If a stand
| Ia oh 1T I.
except in very wet year.
| Many will say Don't plant alfalfa
on sod" This is all right as far as IL
goes, but when these people talk sod
they mean the shallow breaking that
they are accustomed to.
In countries where it blows, alfalfa
should always be planted on sod, but
1t should be plowed as deeply as pos,
sible-eight to ten inches at least, and
| well worked up on the surface.
The sod, when plowed under deeply,
holds the moisture, and the old roots
hold the soil together and prevent 1t
from blowing.
The deeper the seed bed for alfalfa
the sooner 1t becomes established and
the heavier the crops will be as long
as the field lasts.
Almost any soil will raise alfalfa
II deep enough, but if there is any
rock or hardpan near the surface II
| will not amount to much unless there
Is some seepage or permanent mois-
ture to help it out.
When planting alfalfa on land which
has been previously cropped, or on
the new break, it is better in either
case to plow in the fall as deeply as
possible and winter fallow the land
for moisture as described in a Aste
issue. Nevertheless, if the winter has
been wet and the field contains about
two feet or more of moist earth from
the surface down, it will be quite safe
to plant in the spring, provided the
field is plowed as soon as the frost
Is out of the ground and allowed to
settle until planting time in May.
Land plowed either in the fall or
the spring should be disked and har-
rowed alternately until both fine and
firm The amount of seed to plant to
the acre depends on local conditions.
If every seed comes up and pro-
duces a profitable plant, four to five
pounds to the acre would be plenty.
but the ordinary seed we buy seldom
terminates over 80 per cent, therefore
we may as we'll double this amount
and plant 10 to IL, and if the condi-
lions are unfavorable or the seed
planted by hand and narrowed in, 1t
is much safer to plant Is than IL.