The daily banner., 1919-07-14
County Agent Davis
Advises Our Farmers
TO Grow Mere Alfalfa

corn ration and leads to live stock
farming. Alfalfa is well adapted to
our conditions i'll Dorchester county,
as the many excellent stands in near
ly every locality proves. Alvey CouI-
bourne, of Secretary, cut five tons
per acre, in five cuttings, from a fif-
teen acre field, last year, but the av-
erage yield will probably rim around
three tons per acre. Thousands of
dollars that now go out of the coun-
| ty every year for hay might be kept
at home if those farmers who have
difficulty in getting hay crop would
plant small acreage of alfalfa.
How To Grow Alfalfa.
Alfalfa, wher1 once established, of
ten stands for from four to ten years,
but like any other valuable crop, we
must meet certain conditions in or
der to get a good stand. A good
seed bed, well prepared, On ground
that is fairly rich, and we'll drained,
with an abundance of lime in the
soil and innounclation of the seed, o.
of the soil, will practically assure us
of a stand.
Personally, J. like to seed alfalfa
on ground that has been planted to
a hoed crop like early peas or pota-
toes. If this is not possible, it may
be seeded on ground from which q
crop of wheat has been removed. In
this case plow as soon as the wheat
is off, and work thoroughly with a
disk harrow, going over the ground
two or three times. Then harrow
this ground with a smoothing har-
row every ten days until planting
time. Where the ground has been
planted to cultivated crop, it is not
necessary to plow, as the field can be
put in good shape with disk alone.
Lining.
Alfalfa not only requires that
enough lime be present to neutralize
acidity, but we must have an excess,
because alfalfa actually feeds on lime
to greater extent than any other
crop. Apply from 1900 to 1000 lbs.
of burned lime or 5000 to 1000 TBS.
of ground limestone per acre, if you
would be on the safe side when seed
| ing alfalfa. The lime should be
put on at least thirty days before
seeding, so that it will have chance
to become thoroughly incorporated
with the soil.
Seeding.
With no crop grown on the farm
is it more important to get good seed
than with alfalfa. Be sure that you
get northern grown seed from a re-
liable seed house. which will guar
antee the purity and the germina-
ton. Better still, get a sample Of
| the seed and have it tested at the
State Seed Laboratory before buying.
The price on the best grades of alfal-
ia seed now ranges from s16.50 to
l$17.50 per bushel.
With good seed, a well-prepared
seed bed, and plainly of lime, there is
| yet one other condition that you
must meet. That is innoculation of
the seed or of the soil at seeding
time. The roots of all the clovers,
peas, beans and other leguminous
crops have living on them little Or
ganisms, which in return for the food
which they get from the plant ex-
tract nitrogen, our most expensive
fertilizer, from the air, ami store it
where the plant can use il. An ex,
cess beyond the needs of the particu-
lar .legume is always left in the soil
and consequently all clovers are soil
| iimprovers. When we sow alfalfa we
must provide the kind of organism
that lives on the roots Of alfalfa
plants. This can be done by the
pure culture or by the soil transfer
method. The pure culture emthod
consists in sprinkling on che seed a
solution containing these organisms.
The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture will
supply free to any farmer enough of
this material to inoculate one bushel
of seed in order to prove the value
of this method, or the material may
be purchased from any seed firm.
The soil transfer method consists in
taking from field where alfalfa is
now grown successfully, about 800
pounds of fine soil for each acre you
intend to sow. Scatter this soil broad
cast over the field late in the even
ing or on a cloudy day, and harrow
in Immediately. Then as soon as
possible sow the alfalfa. Either
method is good and both are success
full
Alfalfa should be seeded between
August 18th and the fifth OF Septem-
ber in this county. The object in
early seeding is to enable the plant
to make enough growth so that it
will go through the winter safely.
Seeding should be made at the rate
Of twenty to thirty pounds per acre,
depending on the fertility of the soil.
The lighter seeding is for the better
soils. A wheelbarrow or knapsack
seeder may be used, and 1 prefer to
go over the field twice, once each
way, putting on one half of the seed
each time over.
The seed may then be covered
with smoothing harrow to depth
of about one inch in very light soils
or not over one-half inch in heavy
soils.
About thirty farmers in different
parts of the county have already ask.
ed me to help them start a piece of
alfalfa this season, and am now de-
voting considerable time to that
work. I will be very glad to help
anyone else who will write or tele-
| nhone to me- JNO. f. DAVIS.