American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1916-04-27

(Charles Green In western Farm Life)
With the vast and continued in
crease In the amount OF native sod
that is being broken up and the land
put into cultivated crops. the topic in
dicated by the title OF the article is
bound, in my opinion, and at no very
distant day, to be a very live one. In
~ believe that It Will have 10 be
LILY considered sooner than most
D. POA seem to realize.
che I'VE raise tame hay on the up
nro,o OF eastern Colorado? Probably
re- oeople will say, mo" Why? Be-
r. they have been taught so and
\ ~ not tried to disprove the asser-
Won. The same thing was said OF
ic>ntral Illinois sixty years ago, and
/ heard II said of western Iowa thirty
nine years ago, especially as to red
clover. But a few days ago / was
talking to q couple OF my n~eighbors
about why more of them were not
raising Bronze grass, and one OF
them said, I'VE can't raise II the way
you do" "WhyT / replied. you
haven't tried 1t yet" He had no more
to say because he knew that / had
stated the truth. They had not tried.
II those why say we cannot raise
tame hay are mistaken, 1t Is highly
important that the fact should be
known. Our land cannot continue to
raise profitable grain crops without
being seeded TO grass occasionally
any more than the land back east can.
In fact, my first land broken had be-
came 81 poor by eighteen or nineteen
years OF cropping, before ! seeded 1t
down to Bronze grass ten years ago,
that 1t no longer raised good crops
even when we had plenty OF rain.
Perhaps ! should say here that tame
grasses. or plants like alfalfa, that
can be used for permanent meadow, as
distinguished from the sorghums, mil
lets, etc. There are some objections
to them, but although I use them but
very little In my operations, this Is
not a Knock" on them. l hear Sudan
grass we'll spoken of by some who
have tried 1t, but, like all the others,
the ground must be prepared and the
seed furnished and sowed every year.
To revert to the previous question,
then, Can we raise tame hay?" my
answer is that we can. The best rea-
son I can give for my answer In that
/ am doing 1t; not merely In an ex-
perimental way, but proftably. / am
gradually increasing In acreage from
year to year and consider that II has
passed the experimental stage with
me. although. no doubt, I have much
TO learn as TO methods.
In 1915 I put up forty loads that
would average over a ton to the load,
besides i've acres OF Bronze grass cut
with the binder for seed. or the for
ty loads OF hay. part was clear alfalfa.
but most OF II was a mixture OF Bronze
grass and alfalfa. which I consider the
best for everything except mich COWS.
Also In ordinary or dry years, the
mixed hay will outyield the alfalfa.
Bronze grass not only withstands
drouth better than alfalfa, but a freeze
that will severely injure alfalfa does
not harm Bronze grass. Besides, at
the time OF the big snow, I found the
Bronze grass was a partial protection
to the alfalfa. so that the alfalfa in
the mixed fields was not 80 badly
frozen as II was In the fields of clear
alfalfa. SO. for an all-round perman-
ent hay crop. ! brag on the Bronze
alfalfa mixture. Bromus alone will
not make as much hay In most a as
alfalfa Will, but the mixture will make
more
Brome.Alfalfa Mixture.
Bronze grass In the mixture liz not
inclined to become sod-bound In a
few years. as II Is In clear stands.
My first acre OF Brome-elfalfa was
sowed In 1904. II is not so badly sod
bound as a field OF Bronze grass SOW
ell In 1910.
In a mixture of alfalfa and Bromus
the alfalfa is ready to cut a little earl
Ter than he Bronze grass, but the diff
Terence Is not greater than In the case
OF timothy and red clover, which was
our popular mixture back east" For
horse hay, ! think II Is fully as well
II the alfalfa stands a few days long
err. so ! aim to cut 1t about when the
Bronze grass Is In bloom. Cut at that
time, ! find my work horses show no
preference, but clean Il all up alike.
WEAVING colts, when first fed the
Brcme-alfalfa hay. seem to prefer the
Bronze grass, but after being fed on
1t awhile, they seem to like one as
well as the other.