One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture AnsweredWickson, Edward J. (Edward James)
Science
One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered
Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James)
Agriculture -- California
I have land which was seeded to alfalfa some 15 years ago and has been
pastured continuously until it was almost all Bermuda. I had it
thoroughly plowed, disk harrowed and sowed to oats; disk harrowed in,
and drag harrowed. After cutting for hay this year I intend putting it
in Egyptian corn in rows, so it can be cultivated to get rid of Bermuda.
I have also been advised to plow the land immediately after harvesting
corn and let it lie until next January and then plow and sow to barley
and alfalfa as I wish to grow alfalfa. Kindly let me know if method is
right. The land is sandy loam and under irrigation.
Whether you will fully succeed against Bermuda grass or not is doubtful.
It is probable, however, that you can reduce the Bermuda so that other
cultivated crops can be continuously grown. Common experience is that
Bermuda will hold on unless you have hard freezing of the ground to a
considerable depth, as they have in the northern States. The best use
that you can make of land infested with Bermuda is to get as good a
stand as you can of alfalfa and let the alfalfa fight for itself. The
combination of alfalfa and Bermuda grass makes very good hay or
pasturage. We should, however, sow the alfalfa alone and not handicap it
by sowing with barley. The Bermuda will smile at that advice. Egyptian
corn can be planted in rows, 2 1/2 to 3 feet between the rows to admit
of easy cultivation
Bermuda Grass.
What is the value of Bermuda grass as a forage crop for cattle, more
particularly dairy cows?
Bermuda grass is generally condemned because of getting in places where
it is not desirable and of being almost impossible of eradication
therefrom. Still, Bermuda grass will make good pasturage on land which
is too alkaline to make other crops, and therefore is highly esteemed by
some owners of waste lands in the San Joaquin valley. It is good
pasturage and is most easily propagated by cutting the roots up into
short pieces by use of the hay-cutter, nearly all the pieces retaining
an eye which will make a new plant. It is easy to get in and hard to get
out.
Salt Grass and Alfalfa.
I have some land in Sutter county and it has some of this salt grass in
spots. I am about to take a twenty-acre piece and put in alfalfa, but
some old-timers tell me that the salt grass on it is bad stuff to
handle.
Your trouble will probably be not so much the salt grass, but the alkali
in the soil which the salt grass can tolerate and which other plants
cannot stand. You cannot then substitute alfalfa for salt grass without
getting the alkali out of the soil, and you cannot do this without
having sufficient drainage so that the rainfall may wash the alkali out
from the soil and carry it away in the drainage water. You probably
cannot get a satisfactory growth of alfalfa on the spots where the salt
grass has established itself, although the land round about may be very
satisfactory to alfalfa.
Giant Spurry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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