Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1922-12-28
From Stone Fences To Alfalfa
By L. F. GRADER in Hoard's Dairvman

1t is an old saying that prosperity
follows the plow. In parts of Wis
| consin the use of lime on the land is
helping the pillow back to prosperity
via the alfalfa route, in this postwar
depression. There is no question
about it-experiment and experience
have proven that the secret of sue
cess with alfalfa is largely matter
of the supply of lime in the soil.
| eve have here" says County Agent
| H. r. Noble of Iowa county, who will
figure in this story, thousands of
acres of high, sloping, we'll drained
land which grows good corn and
which would grow good alfalfa if it
were properly lined And such
| is the case in hundreds of other
places not only in Wisconsin but
| throughout all the north central
states.
Alfalfa Profits Protected
We have recently heard much
about tariff legislation. Home
grown Wisconsin alfalfa is complete
| ly fairfield" by natural, immut-
able, "non-legislatable" tariff in the
form of high transportation costs
from the surplus alfalfa areas of the
! West to the consuming points of the
/ Mississippi Valley and eastern points
| Alfalfa hay of splendid quality has
been selling for SIS to SO ton in the
stack in Kansas, Utah, Idaho, and
other western states; but add to this
! the tremendous transportation costs
of hauling for long distance bulky
| product like hay and the baling and
other incidentals and you can fully
understand why the retail price of
alfalfa in the central and eastern
states has ranged from $40 to $50 a
ton, and will continue to do So
Why not grow our own alfalfa?
1t gives us an average of one ton an
acre more hay than any other crop,
which in itself is clear profit over and
above timothy growing, say nothing
of the superior feeding value of al
falfa.
Not Loving Glover the Less But
Alfalfa More
This was Mobiles, plea in Iowa
county where beef cattle and dairy
ing are of equal Importance, and to
his credit are 5000 tons of lime
stone ground out of stone fences and
quarries at saving in cost of not
less than $4,000. Asked why the
clover would not fill the bill for Iowa
county conditions, Noble stated
practically all the hay seeded here
is a mixture of clover and timothy,
but real good clover fields are not
plentiful. The trouble with this tim
othy-clover mixture is a good deal
like the rabbit sausage maker who
developed such a tremendous trade
for his product that to meet the de-
mand he mixed with his sausage a
large amount of horse meat. The
matter was investigated and on in
quiry the investigator was informed
by the sausage maker that the pro-
portions used were about $3.50.
DO you mean so per cent horse meat
and so per cent rabbit?' questioned
the credulous inspector. No, one
horse to one rabbit was the makers
reply. 1t is just this sort of thing
| with timothy and clover. Many
fields are mostly 80 per cent timo-
thy and 10 per cent clover. We need
lime on these soils to make them
grow clover and to make alfalfa a
! sure crop. We have the very best
high testing lime rock all over this
country. Why not make use of it by
| having it ground and applied to the
soil to grow more alfalfa?"
LILO Olu VIuCI S1IdIIS,CaA
In the early days of Wisconsin ag-
riculture when wheat growing was
of greater magnitude than dairying,
and for a time of greater profit, the
land was treated with land plaster
and salt to produce bigger crops. No
doubt these crop stimulants temper
arily increased the yields of those
fields whose fertility was just fading
| away from the continuous drain of
cropping with grains and hay sold off
| the farm. But with the ever increas-
| ing raids of the chinch bug and the
ever deceasing fertility of the soil
live stock farming found it's way
into the hearts of Wisconsin farmers
and they began to build fences both
of stone and of rail to enclose their
fields and maintain their herds and
focks. Barbed wire has largely re-
| n1ocod tho rails hut down in Iowa