The Benson signal., 1917-02-10

portance expand every season.
~ Most of the alfalfa heretofore
seeded in this section has been of
the Chilean or hairless kind, but in
the last year or two the tendency
has been to put in the hairy species
from Peru. Strange to say the lat
ter stands the chill much better
than that from Chile. That little
fur overcoat helps some.
The Arizona governmental ex-
pertinent station comes near being
the final authority on alfalfa culti-
vation and production. The ex-
perimental farms at. Phoenix and
Yuma have been testing out alfalfa
for ten years, and those in charge
have got so they can tell all about
it in the dark. AS a result of their
adventures in alfalfa they are now
strongly recommending the whis-
kered brand from Peru as a great
advance and improvement over all
other varieties. Some reasons for
their faith are here given in official
reports: It is more hardy win
ter grower, more upright and more
prolific. It is much easier to har-
vest, since there is very little SO low
that it cannot be cut by a machine
We get better cuttings early and
late than on any other varieties we
have ever tried It maintains a
good stand for an unusually long
period without reseeding, It gives
at least two cuttings more than are
obtained from other varieties. l
seems to have greater seed-pro-t
ducing characteristic and to be less
susceptible to disease than other al
falfas. Likewise it thrives at a
much lower temperature than ordi-
nary varieties, which gives a late
fall or winter pasture; also it re-
wives much quicker, which enables
early spring cuttings In cutting
for hav it outvields other varieties
20 per cent.
Up i'll Inyo County, at an alti-
tude of 5000 feet, and frequent win
ter temperature below zero, this
fuzzy Peruvian has given four splen-
did cuttings year as against two
of the old sort. In Imperial Valley
it has shown ten cuttings a year
and the crop has gone three tons to
the acre beyond the common vari-
ETY..
An apparent advantage like that
is worth the attention of every
rancher.
A local firm secured approximate
ey fifty tons of seed last fall and
now has very little of it left. This
quantity is enough to seed about
5000 acres.
An extensive and progressive
rancher at Calipatria who put in 60
acres of the hairy Peruvian tive
years ago was so enthusiastic about
it that he plowed up 40 acres of
the common variety last fall and
seeded it with the new. This fall he
will put in 100 acres more. III the
course of letter concerning his ex-
periences he says: The foliage of
the plants is, more dense than other
varieties, the leaves coming out in
clusters all along the main stem.
The common alfalfa has leaf short
and round like the clover. This
has a long, slender leaf more like a
rabbit ear, and is covered with a
fine coating of hair. This hair
gathers heat from the sunshine and
! absorbs it, making it grow by day,
and at night the hair collects the
frost and holds it away from the
plant, which prevents killing.
have a field of smooth Peruvian
which | resolved with hairy Peruvi-
an. In passing through the field
after our recent cold weather l
found the smooth Peruvian yellow
and Wilted as if by fire. It had
been frozen to, the ground, while
the hairy Peruvian standing be-