Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-01-25
AnAfa Diseases.

Alfalfa is relatively free from dis-
eases and enemies. However, there ts
one disease which frequently attacks
alfalfa, and is known as leaf. spot
stem blight" etc. This Is more apt
to occur in seasons that are rather
cold and wet. and the first appearance
is black spots, IN the leaves. Quite
frequently this appears to start in
spots yer the Held. It will be no.
ticed that where this has started the
growth Of the alfalfa Is stopped. The
the leaves will drop Off. There will bio
practically no bloom, and certainly no
seed could be expected.
If the alfalfa is being cut regularly
for hay this trouble Is not apt to be
noticed, although il the alfalfa seems
to be making a very slow growth. it
should be examined, and II The. trouble
is found to be ''leaf, spot" it should be
cut Immediately: whether it is Of any
size or not. That is, It Will never r.
affected with the ""leaf spot" Cutting
the old growth seems to allow a new
growth to start, which is very often
not affected with this disease. Some
change in weather conditions, or
something, seems to favor the fresh
growth consequently the only remedy
for this trouble is to cut. the alfalfa
Immediately.
Alfalfa Enemies. %.
On many farms the pocket gopher
seems to be the greatest enemy of
alfalfa. The pocket gopher seems to
know that when q field Is seeded down
ITO alfalfa It will not be plowed up
sequently his runways and hills are
not SO apt to be bothered, as they
would be in the regular cultivated
fields. For this reason they seem to
conEregate in the alfalfa.
We have had numerous Inquiries re-
garding these pests, and on our farm
have tried to lessen the ravages by
poisoning the pocket gopher as fol-
lows: AS soon as the gopheris seen
to begin work in the spring, we take
either carrots or potatoes and cut
them into small pieces,a somewhat
smaller than for planting. With "a
sharp knife we slit into these pieces
and insert a small crystal Of strych-
nine, about the size of a small grain OF
wheat. At the drug stores thif
strychnine "a be bought in small
bottles, and one. bottle which usually
sells for Is to so cents will furnish
enough s%trychnine tor kill all the
! gophers that will found on 1e0, acres
we Prepare tAl000 QAoCe0 VI QOIoLt
| the night before putting them out, OF
! at least a few hours before we expec,
to use them. The s%trychnine will be
dissolved and absorbed by the potato
, or carrot. We believe that the gopher
hasa preference for carrots, and w
use them. when available. Then with
a sharp fork handle. or something o.
that kind, we locate the runway, b
punching into the ground about their
mounds. It will be found that the
mounds are connected by runway,
which may be only a few inches under
the surface. By punching into the
ground these can soon be located
Then when the fork handle enters q
runway we simply drop a piece OF
poisoned potato through the opening
made into the runway, and leave the
hole open. 1t has been said that thu
gopher will notice the light coming
into the runway, and suspect. that
ground, squirrel or some other sinai
animals has been trespassing. II
looking into this matters he will fine
the poisoned bait.
We go over the field putting out Thu
bait at all the new made mounds. w,
take the precaution to level of tn.