The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits: Its Uses as a Forage and FertilizerCoburn, F. D. (Foster Dwight)
History
The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits: Its Uses as a Forage and Fertilizer
Coburn, F. D. (Foster Dwight)
Alfalfa
ranged from $5 to $15 per ton, and of seed, from 8 to 20 cents per
pound. The straw has almost no value, as it is cut up very fine, and can
be used only where it is threshed; if fed there, it is very fattening.
For feeding horses for slow work, the hay is better than clover or
timothy. For fattening purposes, it is the best in the world, for, while
the animal lays on fat, it is never feverish, but always healthy. For
pasturing cattle and swine, alfalfa is superior to anything else, and,
after it is mown, it makes very excellent feed for horses and sheep. If
the alfalfa is wet, ruminants pastured on it bloat and die very quickly.
It is not properly a pasture plant, and such animals should be kept away
from it, but the hay, properly cured, is superior to any other food
raised for fattening purposes. There is no difficulty in ridding land of
the plant, as a good team and sharp plow will cut it out without any
trouble. I have plowed fields of alfalfa under and put in oats,
obtaining three or four times the usual yield, and have known of 50
bushels of wheat to the acre on broken alfalfa land.
_L. W. Markham, Prowers county._--I have had four years’ experience with
alfalfa. Have under my charge 500 acres. It is on both second bottom and
upland; part has clay subsoil, other dark loam, and all has more or
less sand. Water is reached at from 10 to 40 feet, and on land not
irrigated the soil is dry all the way down to the water veins. The
preferred time for sowing is either April 1 or August 1. Have as good
success right on the sod as on old land. If to raise seed only, 10
pounds is sufficient to the acre; for hay, 20 pounds is not too much.
Seed not more than two inches deep. About June 15 cut weeds and tops of
young alfalfa, and then irrigate well, and you get one-half to one ton
of hay in September. It is best to not try for seed the first year, but
give all the strength to the roots. It does not winterkill here. We
irrigate from the Arkansas river, and the number of irrigations depends
on the soil. The first year requires twice as much water as later ones.
Usually three applications are needed: in early spring, mid-summer, and
late fall. I have 160 acres not irrigated for three years. We have three
cuttings, yielding 1¹⁄₂ to 2 tons per acre each. Cut for hay just when
coming into full bloom, and stack in the field--never in barn--in long
ricks, 12 feet wide by 80 to 120 feet long. It will not heat in the
stack. Let all pods become dark brown or black before cutting for seed.
The second crop is preferable, unless there is a large acreage, when I
take one-half the first crop and one-half the second, in order to help
the farmer out with work. Have men follow the machine closely, and cock
up, to remain four or five days before stacking. Never cut for seed with
a mowing machine, as you will lose one-third of the crop in trying to
gather it. The cost of alfalfa in the stack is not over $2 at the
outside.
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