Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-04-12
Alfalfa Yields Big
Acreage in Wisconsin
ALFALFA WIscoNsIN's BEST HAY
CROP CAUSES MARKET VAL
UEs TO INCREASE

4AO 64OWIn VI ulOI0 dud1ld IL Ou0
of the ways in which Wisconsin farm
ers will find relief from the economic
depression or after effects of the war
During the past two years some crops
have been SO low in price that after
deducting the cost of production, the
balance has often been on the wrong
side Of the ledger. All during this
time alfalfa hay has been purchased
by Wisconsin farmers at prices rang
ing from $40 to $27.5O a ton. With
high market values and the possibility
of producing yields of three tons or
more an acre, the financial advantages
of alfalfa have appealed to many
farmers who have begun growing this
remarkable crop
This situation has resulted in a
tremendous. demand for information
about successful alfalfa growing under
the varied soil and climatic conditions
in Wisconsin. Several years of extern
sive Investigations at the Wisconsin
Station made by L. f. GRADER (Agron-
soIny) and numerous cooperative
trials out in the state with the mem
bers of the Alfalfa Order have demon
strated that an abundance of lime in
the soil, incubation, good surface and
underdrainage reasonable degree
of fertility, firm, well prepared seed
bed and the use of early ripening or
early removed nurse crops are the
main essentials for success.
Application of these principles to
the growing of alfalfa has resulted in
success on some of the light sand
areas in the central part of Wisconsin
Experienced growers declare alfalfa a
surer crop on properly treated sandy
soil than red clover because of the
deeper roofing and greater drought re
sistance.
With the opportunity to produce
from two to four tons of alfalfa hay
an acre on the light soils the sand
farmer is finding his way to profits
which heretofore have not been realiz-
ed and at the same time he is built
ing up his soil to higher plane IF
fertility which will make all other
crops yield a greater profit per acre.
Splendid success has been obtained
with alfalfa on the sandy soils at the
Hancock Branch Station, and on a
measured acre at the Spooner Branch
Station the average yield for four
years has been over three tons per
acre in two cuttings. On an old worn
out sandy soil in Green Lake County
a stand of alfalfa was started five
years ago by means of lime, fertilizer,
and incubation, and has since pro-
duced continuously from two to three
crops annually with a total yield Of
not less than three tons to the acre
At the time the alfalfa was sown, the
average yield of rye on this field was
from nine to eleven bushels per acre.
Trials were conducted with Grimm
and Turkestan alfalfa where parts of
these two-year-old plots were cut twice
during the season at the full bloom
stage, while other portions were cut
three times at the early bud stage,
and still other portions were cut four
times at much earlier period. when
the plants were from 4 to inches
high. The last cutting for all of these
plots was made on August 81, 1922.
The results showed that the four
cutting treatment gave a yield of only
IL tons of hay per acre and practical
! ly eliminated the stand of alfalfa At
ter the first two crops had been re-
moved, the plants rapidly lost vigor,
turned yellow, grew very slowly, and
became very weedy. Those plots cut
twice in the full bloom stage maintain
ed thrifty, weed-free growth, and
yielded 4.3 tons of hay per acre, while
the three early bud cuttings reduced
the vigor, thinned the stand, and gave
a hay yield of only 80 tons an acre.