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
_O. S. Jones of Lake county_ writes: “I began raising alfalfa on my
place two miles west of Madison five years ago. The soil is a dark loam
with some sand in it, lays level and has a sand and gravel subsoil.
Water is obtained at a depth of eight to ten feet. I have used both the
Turkestan and the common alfalfa, and I consider the latter the better
for my land, as it grows ranker, with more leaf and better color than
the former. I have had the best success in sowing about the first of
May, without a nurse crop. On one four-acre piece seeded three years
ago, I pastured 150 to 175 head of hogs and spring pigs for two months
this year and also cut between 15 and 16 tons of hay in two cuttings. I
sowed 12 acres this year in two six-acre fields, that have been
pastured, continually, with 175 head of hogs and pigs and ten head of
young cattle since early in July, and a great deal of it matured seed.
I could have cut these pieces in August with profit had I so desired,
and then had plenty of growth to have kept the stock in pasture,
changing pastures each week.”
_N. O. P. Synoground of Brown county_ writes: “I consider alfalfa and
clover culture practicable in this locality. I also consider the
Turkestan variety superior to the home-grown varieties. Cut the field
twice the first year and received four tons per acre. I have never cut
any for seed. These crops have not winterkilled here.”
TENNESSEE
_Prof. H. A. Morgan, Director Tennessee experiment station._--Alfalfa
has been known in Tennessee for many years, but not until the general
failure of Red clover, due to one or more species of _Colletotrichum_,
and the search for substitutes for Red clover, were any serious efforts
made to grow alfalfa in this state. On alluvial land along the
Mississippi river in west Tennessee, in what is known as the Central
Basin section of middle Tennessee, and on the richer lands of east
Tennessee, alfalfa has been grown very successfully, and each year large
areas are being sown to this clover. Mr. L. Donaldson, of Lake county,
gives the following relative to the preparation of soil, etc., for
alfalfa in the alluvial area of west Tennessee: “The land is plowed deep
with large moldboard breaking plows in September or about the first of
March. It is then harrowed until thoroughly pulverized, and either about
October 10 or April 1, two gallons of seed are sown, by machine or by
hand. The harrow is used for covering the seed. We have no more trouble
with the crop after seeding. The plants germinate and take root
rapidly. I have known alfalfa roots to reach a length of two feet from
the last of March to June 25. We frequently cut the crop five times per
year.” George Campbell Brown of Maury county states that he has sown
alfalfa in March using spring barley as nurse crop, and in September
with success. Land sown to alfalfa in 1901 yielded four cuttings per
year in 1902, 1903, and 1904, averaging from 16 to 18 tons per acre in
the three years. Mr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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