The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-04-21
CCharles R. Hutchinson, in st.
Cloud Times)

curing Ine pdSI ~ years Slioul'
give sufficient proof that there i
little danger of it ever being over
produced, at least in the near flu
ture. Minnesota is not natura
alfalfa state, at least as the orig
inal plant was designed by nature
Our climate, our rainfall and GU!
soil was not favorable to the nat
ure of the plant that was develop
ed in Southern Europe and Asia
its native home. The creates
progress in increased acreage Of
alfalfa has come about during the
past four years. These four years
have been dry years. 1t is ques,
tionable to know what will happen
if we have four wet years. How
ever, Grimm and Cossack varieties
will stand a much higher water
table than the old native common
old deep tap rooted types of al
falfa. So the alfalfa fields that
are on well-drained soil with good
top soil drainage and good under
soil drainage when the seed is
genuine Grimm or CosSack should
stand up under the heavy rainfall
and wetter seasons quite well II
all other conditions are favorable,
such as plenty of lime in the SOIL
plenty of growth left in the fall or
winter protection against ice ami
sleet and sufficient cultivation and
incubation not only at the time OF
seeding but each grower should
study his fields by digging up
plants and seeing to it that there
is a good health setting OF nodules
on all of his alfalfa roots.
S1OO,OOO,OOO Feed Expenses
This past winter has been fav-
orable to a better understanding
of the need and importance OF haV-
ing more alfalfa in Minnesota:
MANY towns which are centers OF
great cream communities are re-
porting that farmers have bought
from 100000 to 100000 worth
of feed this year. Hundreds OF
farmers have had their first OPP
portunity to feed alfalfa hay. AS
an illustration of the great appre-
citation a farmer near Brooten,
Stearns County, Minnesota, said
he bought two tons of alfalfa hay
and one week after he started to
feed it to his cows the eight cows
had increased their flow of milk
two pailsful. He is putting in his
first five acre patch of alfalfa this
spring. Another dairyman in the
same vicinity purchased over
$1,000 worth of legume hay and
protein concentrates this winter
and he is seeding forty acres of
alfalfa. If more people had TAX
en- the alfalfa growing opportunity
and problem seriously three or
four years ago and started little
patch of their farms in Minnesota
this S1OO,OOO,000 that has been
spent this year for feeds could
have been saved at least to the
state because most of the alfalfa
and feed has been shipped in from
adjoining states. Much of the pro-
tein has come from far distant
points making freight rates a big
item in the cost. While if we had
can acre of alfalfa for every Min
nesota COW" farmers who did not
have sufficient feed could have
purchased alfalfa from their
neighbors or farmers in adjoin-
ing communities or counties, We
need 100000 acres for our dairy
cows and young stock and half a
million acres for our hogs. While
the facts show us that we only
have about 100000 acres in the
state and it was just seventy years
ago this spring when Wenielin
Grimm started his first patch of
alfalfa that has given us a de-
pendable variety of alfalfa that
will very seldom winter kill if the
grower will do his part.
Planting Is An Investment
Many farmers and land own
ers look at the purchasing of al
falfa as an annual expense. How
ever, many fields of alfalfa had
outlasted fence posts, roofing on
buildings and many farm imple-
ments.
Good Idea to Loan Companies
If every firm making a farm
loan would insist that one-eighth
of the cultivated acreage on the
farm that they are placing the
loan on would be kept in alfalfa
and sufficient money would he set
aside to properly put in that acre
age of alfalfa this would give a
great aid and avoid many fore
closures.
Many farmers have paid little
attention to the nature of the al
falfa plant and are too apt to see
it growing on their neighbors farm
and figure that all they need to do
is to seed it as they do some other
grain crops. This spring brings
up one of the most important es-
sentials to alfalfa. First that the
soil bust have a high lime content
and second the proper bacteria
for incubation must be placed on
the seed or spread on the soil so
that the little nitrifying bacteria
can take the nitrogen out of the
air and break it down so that the
plants can use it as food to make
the protein in the alfalfa hay. II
seems that in many sections where
alfalfa grows naturally and in a
wild state these little bacteria are
already in the soil. Many have
been mislead that sweet clover will
inoculate the soil with these bac.
terra. 1t does some times but the
soil has to be rich in lime and well
drained and there must be suffi.