Chapter VII: Part 7

The larger users of hay in the towns and cities are liverymen, deliverymen and teamsters. These have been unacquainted with or doubtful of the utility of alfalfa and have never given it a fair trial, or possibly any trial at all. Those who have used it and thought its effects harmful have perhaps not understood its highly nutritious character and may have fed it in too large quantities. Having such a large protein content it should not be used with the same prodigality as prairie hay. For driving horses it should be cut when more matured than for other stock, or when about half in bloom, and should be well cured. Fed then, in reasonable rations of from ten to twenty pounds a day, livery horses may be kept in vigorous thrift with a small additional quantity of grain, and thus a saving be made of twenty to thirty per cent in cost of maintenance. In the alfalfa districts there may be found many liverymen who, having had experience with alfalfa hay, feed their horses little of anything else. In the last few years there has been a growing demand for alfalfa hay for southern towns and cities.

The coat and general appearance of horses fed alfalfa are improved, as compared with those fed timothy or prairie hay and the tendency to constipation and indigestion is greatly lessened. It is rarely that an alfalfa-fed animal of any kind is constipated.

_CHAPTER XX._

Alfalfa in Crop Rotation

MAINTAINING FERTILITY

It is a fundamental principle of the best agriculture that every acre should be kept constantly at its highest productive capacity. In one sense the farm is a great machine for the production of food. All prosperity must originate on and emanate from the farm; the farmer is really the only original producer. The measure of the world’s material success must be the relative amount of the product of the farm. As lands decrease in fertility, the cost of living increases in direct proportion. As fertility decreases, land values decrease and rural population decreases. Already there are districts in America that are almost depopulated because of the barrenness of what was, but a short while ago, fertile land.

The fundamental principle of maintaining fertility is to restore to the land annually those chemical elements taken from it by the crops grown. A prominent importer of horses relates that he was once entertained on a great horse farm in France, whose owner told him that much of the farm had been in cultivation for over eight hundred years and was, he believed, as productive now as ever in its history.

Alfalfa ranks as the greatest fertilizing plant known to scientific agriculture. All cereal crops use large quantities of nitrogen. A field cropped for years in corn or wheat will come to have too little nitrogen for the production of a profitable crop. Alfalfa, as has already been stated, after the first few months of its life obtains its whole supply of nitrogen from the air; in fact, more than it really needs. As a soil improver it possesses at least five valuable properties:

1. It gathers nitrogen from the air for its own maintenance and a surplus that is constantly being added to the soil.

2. It is a deep feeder and its roots penetrate the earth to extraordinary depths, drawing toward the surface and utilizing moisture and valuable mineral elements that other crops would never reach, leaving the desirable elements there for future crops, of whatever kinds.

3. By capillarity, these roots and rootlets draw up moisture from below the surface until it modifies the very top soil, changing wonderfully the nature of the field. The analysis of a cubic foot of earth of a flourishing alfalfa field shows a marvelous change in moisture content since the sowing.

4. The mere mechanical effect of the extensive root system can scarcely be over-estimated. As soon as germination begins the plant starts its tiny roots downward on the search for moisture. Roots four feet long have been found on alfalfa but four months old; roots nine feet long have been found below alfalfa but nine months old. After the taproot reaches a few inches below the surface, it sends out smaller roots that have a lateral growth of but a few inches, when they too, take a downward course for moisture and for mineral elements needed for the growth above. These first smaller roots decay and others start out from the taproot lower down. These decay and still others start. The decaying roots add humus to the soil, and the openings left by them form a wonderful system of channels for the penetration of air and water into the soil. The erstwhile compact earth is honeycombed and air and water penetrate the graves of the dead roots until, when the alfalfa field is ready to be used for a different crop, the soil has been wonderfully changed not only in its chemical elements but in its physical character.

5. The regular deposit of alfalfa leaves, from the cuttings, under the best care, has been estimated at one-half ton or more per acre every year. As these leaves contain a great percentage of protein, it can readily be seen that they make a heavy contribution to the soil’s fertility.

VALUE OF STUBBLE AND ROOTS

When in his system of rotation the farmer is ready to plow up his alfalfa, he has another inestimable contribution to the land’s fertility in the stubble and roots. It is not recommended to plow under any considerable growth as a green manure, as the hay crop is too valuable. Its market value would buy more fertilizers than the same growth is worth for humus. After a field has stood for five or six years, the roots have added largely to the humus content. Prof. W. P. Headden of Colorado, estimated that the fertilizing value of the stubble and 6¹⁄₂ inches of roots plowed under is about $20 per acre, while the value of the stubble and entire root system is not less than $35 per acre.

The New Jersey station estimated that the amounts of plant food gathered by an acre of alfalfa in two years were equivalent in nitrogen to that contained in 3500 pounds of nitrate of soda; in phosphoric acid to that contained in 600 pounds of boneblack superphosphate, and in potash to the amount contained in 1200 pounds of muriate of potash, or equal to what would have cost $124.

EFFECTS ON SUCCEEDING CROPS

The Wyoming station, at Laramie, under direction of Prof. B. C. Buffum (Bul. No. 44) made some tests that proved the market fertilizing value of alfalfa. A plot of ground that had been in alfalfa for five years adjoined a plot of the same size that had been in varied crops, wheat, oats, potatoes, etc. After the alfalfa sod was broken the two plots were prepared together and planted crosswise to wheat, oats and potatoes, with half of each on the broken sod and half on the other plot with the following yields and gains:

After
After Other Money
Alfalfa Crops Gain
Wheat 30 bu. 18 bu. $8 to $12
Oats 78 bu. 37 bu. 16
Potatoes 81 bu. 52 bu. 16

Stating the results in another way, Prof. Buffum says: “The value of alfalfa harvested from one-half acre of land for five years was about $50 more than the cost of producing it.

“The value of potatoes and grain from an adjoining half-acre for five years was about $44 more than the cost of producing, at local prices.

“When the alfalfa half-acre was plowed and planted to wheat it produced $8 to $12 more value in wheat per acre than the land which had grown potatoes and grain before.

“When the alfalfa half-acre was plowed and planted to oats it produced $16 worth of grain more than land which had grown potatoes and grain before.

“When the alfalfa half-acre was plowed and planted to potatoes it gave $16 worth more of potatoes per acre than was obtained from land which had grown potatoes and grain before.

“By growing alfalfa the increase of yields and values were produced with absolutely no cost for fertilizing the land.”

This gain, it will be noted, cost nothing in the way of fertilization, as the alfalfa had every year been more profitable than the other crops. A Marion county, Kansas, manager of large estates reports that a field of wheat after alfalfa averaged forty bushels per acre while an adjoining field of equal original fertility averaged but fifteen bushels. These results have been duplicated in innumerable instances where alfalfa fields have been plowed and planted to other crops. A Colorado man who farms 1000 acres, with 200 acres of it in alfalfa, says he cannot afford not to plow his alfalfa after he has had from it four years’ crops; that it is necessary to maintain the general farm fertility and obtain big crops of corn, oats and potatoes. In the potato districts of Colorado alfalfa is used systematically as a rotation to maintain the yields and quality of their potatoes, both of which are so famous.

In the corn belt, which may be said to extend from the central meridian of Kansas to Pennsylvania, alfalfa used in rotation will do much to prevent the disgrace of raising an average of but twenty or twenty-five bushels of corn to the acre. And so in what were once famous wheat belts, alfalfa will restore the crop records, if properly used in a rotation.

ROTATION A NECESSITY

Some experiment station men insist that where alfalfa is allowed to stand for many years it will cease to have a fertilizing value; that alfalfa draws heavily on the potash and phosphoric acid in the soil, and will after, say, eight or ten years begin to deplete it of these important elements. Therefore they insist that alfalfa should not be allowed to stand for over six or eight years unless it is given an annual top-dressing of manure. They favor plowing up the alfalfa after about five years and cropping to corn or cotton.

Former Governor Hoard in speaking of the value of alfalfa as compared with that of clover in a crop rotation says that, “alfalfa having a much larger root development goes deeper down, thoroughly subsoils the ground, brings up phosphorus and potash from the lower strata, and leaves much more vegetable matter to decay and furnish humus. Nothing else we have ever tried equals alfalfa for putting the soil in good tilth.”

SPREADS THE BACTERIA OVER THE FARM

Men who are raising alfalfa for use in a regular rotation never leave it over six years; many prefer five, while others make it a rule to plow up their fields every four years; thus the bacteria becomes fixed in the soil of the whole farm. Such farmers use alfalfa as they formerly used clover, to restore fertility needed for profitable crops of grain, hay and forage.

The sod is hard to plow. It is well to do the breaking immediately after the season’s cutting, if possible; disk and harrow it several times and sow to rye for winter pasture, and plant to corn or cotton or potatoes in the spring. The winter’s freezing will help to put it in fine tilth. If it is desired to follow with wheat (not always advisable, however, on account of causing a too rank growth), the sod may be plowed after the year’s second mowing, disked and sowed to rye to prevent the soil from leaching.

Breaking up a well set alfalfa field is no trifling matter. It may be done with three heavy horses, but it is hard work for them, and they will not be able to break more than one acre a day. An authority says the best plan is to use five heavy horses--three in the lead and two on the end of the beam. They can go right along and plow two acres a day. Alfalfa roots are very tough and strong when the plants have attained full growth, and they give a jerky motion to the plow, which is severe on horses’ shoulders. A cast steel plow is the best to use and if it is tempered right a file can just cut it. It can be hammered out thin at the blacksmith’s shop when it becomes too thick to file easily. “The reason for filing, rather than using the hard, thin edge as in other plowing is that the edge needs to be rough as well as thin, or the roots will slip along the sloping edge of the share and not be cut.” It is important that the furrow turned shall not be wider than the plowshare will all the time cut clean, as any main roots that are left uncut will send up a more vigorous growth of stems than before, which, in another cultivated crop will be the same as weeds.

In untreated soil

In inoculated soil]

_CHAPTER XXI._

Nitro-Culture

AN OLD-NEW THEORY

The inoculation of soil, like many other lately exploited theories, has no doubt been known for hundreds of years. There are evidences that it was practiced in England at least a century ago, and it is thought to be an old custom among the Chinese. Some space was given to “soil inoculation” in a preceding chapter, attention there being devoted to the simple methods of infecting soil with bacteria.

IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES

Some twenty years ago a German scientist, Nobbe, discovered that the small nodules found on the roots of the leguminous plants contained bacteria that took nitrogen from the air and transferred it to the plant. It had been known that cultivated soils were rapidly losing their original supply of nitrogen and there seemed no practicable way of restoring it in sufficient quantity. Commercial nitrogen costs fifteen cents per pound and the expense of applying it to the land to equalize the loss from an ordinary farm crop is almost equal to the value of a crop. Hence, the discovery that the legumes were nitrogen-gathering, by means of these bacteria, was hailed as one of the greatest of the age. With millions of pounds of nitrogen over his land there seemed now a method whereby the farmer could utilize some needed portions of it. The bacteria live in tubercles upon the roots of various leguminous plants, such as Red clover, Sweet clover, Bur clover, alfalfa, cowpeas, garden peas, vetches and beans. These tubercles are the home of the bacteria, minute forms of vegetable life, too small to be seen with the naked eye. The legumes have no power in themselves to draw nitrogen from the air, yet these bacteria seem to have the power to absorb the free nitrogen and cause it to combine with other elements, forming nitrates or other assimilable compounds suitable for plant food. It has also been demonstrated that, as a rule, there are different species of these bacteria for different species of legumes.

After German scientists had made their discoveries, one of the existence of these bacteria on the roots of the legumes and another that in the laboratory, these organisms could be bred and multiplied, they seemed unable to develop them of sufficient vigor to survive any general distribution. At this point Dr. George T. Moore of the United States Department of Agriculture, hit upon a plan of cultivating them in a way by which they could be preserved for many months, and he also gave them a much greater power. This nitrogen-fixing power was so developed that seeds soaked in the solution, it is claimed, sprouted and produced plants in sand that possessed no nitrates. He then found that these bacteria when grown upon nitrogen-free media will retain a high activity for a long time, if carefully dried out and then revived in a liquid medium. He also devised a plan by which they could be mailed to any part of the world and arrive in perfect condition.

Most experiment station men have given to Dr. Moore great credit for his discoveries and have tried, with rather marked success, his method of nitro-culture; on the other hand a few have been opposed to the method from the beginning and are still opposed. It would seem that the tests made prove that nitro-culture does introduce bacteria when directions are followed.

Of course if a farmer’s soil has the alfalfa bacteria, it is not necessary to use any system of inoculation. If Sweet clover or Bur clover is growing in the vicinity, or if alfalfa is thriftily growing near without the aid of inoculation, it is hardly necessary to make there further efforts for the introduction of bacteria.

SUGGESTIONS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

In a preceding chapter the opinion was expressed that in most states, and in most localities in those states, inoculation was unnecessary because bacteria were already present; yet it is true that these bacteria are present, if at all, in varying quantity. If comparatively few are present, any method of inoculation that will introduce more into the soil, to hasten the growth of the tubercles and promote the gathering of nitrogen, will be helpful. The fact is, we know as yet comparatively little of all there is to be learned about this wonderful principle. It is altogether probable that the use of nitro-culture is as practicable and as free from objections as the use of inoculated soil, especially from distant and unknown fields. In one of its bulletins the United States Department of Agriculture has summarized its advice as to inoculation as follows:

_When Inoculation is Necessary._--Inoculation is necessary--

1. On a soil low in organic matter that has not previously borne leguminous crops.

2. If the legumes previously grown on the same land were devoid of nodules, of “nitrogen knots,” thus showing the need of the nodule-forming bacteria.

3. When the legume to be sown belongs to a species not closely related to one previously grown on the same soil. For instance, soil in which Red clover forms nodules will often fail to produce nodules on alfalfa when sown with the latter crop for the first time.

_When Inoculation May Prove Advantageous._--Inoculation may prove advantageous--

1. When the soil produces a sickly growth of legumes, even though their roots show some nodules.

If the cultures introduced are of the highest virility, their use will often result in a more vigorous growth.

2. When a leguminous crop already sown has made a stand, but shows signs of failing, owing to the absence of root nodules.

The use of the culture liquid as a spray or by mixture with soil and top-dressing may save the stand if other conditions are favorable.

_When Inoculation is Unnecessary._--On the other hand, inoculation is unnecessary and offers little prospect of gain--

1. When the leguminous crops that are usually grown are producing up to the average, and the roots show nodules in normal abundance.

Cultures of nitrogen-fixing bacteria are not to be regarded in the light of fertilizers, or as capable of increasing the yield under average conditions. They do not contain nitrogen itself, but bacteria, which make it possible for the legumes to secure nitrogen from the air (through the formation of root nodules). Where the soil is already adequately supplied with these bacteria, it will not usually pay to practice artificial inoculation.

2. When the soil is already rich in nitrogen.

It is neither necessary nor profitable to inoculate a soil rich in nitrogen when sowing legumes. Not only does the available nitrogen in the soil render the formation of nodules less necessary, but the nitrogenous materials in the soil largely prevent the bacteria from forming nodules.

Any increased virility in nitrogen-fixing power possessed by any of the types of bacteria yet distributed, may be rapidly lost in a soil containing an abundance of nitrogen, because the bacteria are in a medium in which there is no demand for activity in securing atmospheric nitrogen.

_When Failure is to be Expected._--Inoculation will fail where other conditions (aside from the need of bacteria) are not taken into account, among which are the following--

1. In soil that is acid and in need of lime.

Liming to correct acidity is as important for the proper acidity of the bacteria as for the growth of the plants.

2. In soil that is deficient in fertilizers, such as potash, phosphoric acid or lime.

The activity of the bacteria in securing nitrogen from the air and rendering it available to the legumes does not do away with the need for such fertilizing elements as potash and phosphorus.

3. It must also be remembered that inoculation does not “act like magic”; it will not overcome results due to bad seed, improper preparation and cultivation of the ground, and decidedly adverse conditions of weather and climate.

In the use of the cultures, also, failure is almost certain where the directions are not carefully studied and intelligently followed.

SWEET CLOVER SOIL USED TO INOCULATE ALFALFA FIELDS

The discovery in Illinois that inoculation of the soil for alfalfa was necessary in certain places and not in others suggested the theory that bacteria living on some other, probably native, plant were identical with the alfalfa bacteria. Investigations led to satisfactory evidence that this was the case and that the native plant was the ordinary Sweet clover (_Melilotus alba_). The illustration facing page 230 shows the results of a series of pot culture experiments made at the University of Illinois and reported in Bulletin No. 94 by Prof. Cyril G. Hopkins. The four photographs were made five, six, seven and eight weeks, respectively, from the time of planting. Alfalfa seed were planted in each of the five pots, in carefully prepared soil practically free of combined nitrogen, and at the same time four of the five pots were inoculated as follows:

Pot No. 1.--Not inoculated.

Pot No. 2.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from infected alfalfa soil.

Pot No. 3.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from alfalfa root tubercles.

Pot No. 4.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from infected Sweet clover soil.

Pot No. 5.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from Sweet clover root tubercles.

The results indicate that the same effect is produced upon the growth of the alfalfa by the nitrogen-gathering bacteria obtained from Sweet clover as by those from the older alfalfa, and seem to prove that infected Sweet clover soil can be used for the inoculation of alfalfa fields. Investigations have shown that 100 pounds of thoroughly infected soil to the acre is sufficient to produce a satisfactory inoculation within one year from the time it is applied.

_CHAPTER XXII._

Alfalfa as a Commercial Factor

EFFECT ON LAND VALUES

Only a few years ago alfalfa hay was not named in the market reports. Now it is conspicuous in the lists of hays. Then there were thousands of sandy acres in Kansas and Nebraska being held at from $2 to $5 per acre that now, seeded to alfalfa, are selling at from $30 to $75 per acre. Then, cultivated farms in those districts could be rented for $1 per acre; now, seeded one-half to alfalfa, they rent for $3 to $5 and more per acre. In the South cotton lands rent for $5, and alfalfa lands at $15 per acre. Land in the Yellowstone valley was worth, wild, $1.50 per acre; now, under irrigation and seeded half to alfalfa and half to wheat it commands $100 per acre. A few years ago labor commanded in those districts that now raise alfalfa about $1 a day; since then, during alfalfa harvest, hundreds of men have been imported there and paid $2 or $2.50 per day. Then farmers were poor and trade was dull; now, a farmer who owns eighty acres well set in alfalfa, harvests about 300 tons of hay worth from $5 to $12 per ton and has the proceeds available for added comforts, improvements and luxuries.

A few years ago it was thought that America was approaching a crisis in the matter of beef and pork and mutton production because of the rapid diminishing of the free public ranges by the forest reserves, irrigation projects, and the like. It was insisted that the farmers could not nearly sustain the meat supply. Possibly they cannot, but alfalfa is doing wonders in helping to solve the problem of cheap meat production. Millions of sheep and thousands of cattle are being fattened annually on the alfalfa of California, Montana, Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, and in some portions where a few years ago the sandy prairies gave but a scant subsistence to scrawny range cattle.

ENHANCES DAIRY INTERESTS

In parts of the East since the introduction of alfalfa, the number of dairy cows in many townships has trebled and the dairy product more than quadrupled. When two acres of alfalfa will carry ten dairy cows through a summer, the day and opportunity of the small dairyman are certainly at hand. When, as is the case, alfalfa increases the rental and selling value and consequently the taxable value of land; when it increases the demand for and price of labor; when it increases the fertility of the land for other crops that may follow; when it brings enlarged profits to the entire stock-raising and stock-fattening interests, and puts more money in circulation, it is inevitably to be considered a commercial factor.

_CHAPTER XXIII._

The Enemies of Alfalfa

The most notable enemies of alfalfa are weeds, insects, parasites, and animals. More failures to raise alfalfa are caused by weeds than by all other enemies combined. The cause of weeds in a field is usually poor farming. Clipping alfalfa early in May will kill many weeds. If the weeds grow up, clip again and do the same every time they threaten to become rampant. If they are kept from seeding, and do not in a large measure crowd out the alfalfa, good crops may be had from it the second season. If sowed in the fall, disking early in April may kill most of the weeds. It is folly to sow alfalfa on a foul field, as it is far less expensive to kill out the weeds beforehand. Disking and clipping will do much to destroy them, but if they secure a strong foothold the best thing to do is to plow up the field, plant it in corn, give it clean cultivation, and sow alfalfa again when the weeds have been exterminated.

DODDER

Dodder is an annoying enemy. It is a parasite, belonging to the morning-glory family, growing from its own small seed but attaching itself very soon to the alfalfa stalk. It then separates itself from its own root and thereafter lives on the juices of the alfalfa until it ripens its seeds or has killed the alfalfa. The wisest and safest thing to do is to sow only seed so thoroughly cleaned that there will be no dodder with it. If, later, it is found that any dodder seed escaped the cleaning operations and is growing, the grower should go through the field with a knife or sickle and a large basket or sack and cut out and burn every dodder vine and every plant to which dodder is attached. If so unfortunate as to have sown seed with a considerable mixture of dodder, clip the alfalfa early in May, let the clippings dry for two or three days or longer, and then burn on the field, watching carefully to have the fire touch every part. It will facilitate a complete burning to sprinkle parts not burning readily, with kerosene. If there is a poor stand of alfalfa, largely infested with dodder, safety lies in plowing it up and cultivating the field in corn or potatoes for two or three years.

and distant from the large alfalfa roots. From Michigan Experiment Station Bulletin No. 225]

small and near the large roots. From Michigan Experiment Station Bulletin No. 225]

From an excellent article on the dodder that infests alfalfa (_Cuscuta epithymum_) by Mr. F. E. Dawley, a New York authority on alfalfa, and printed with illustrations in the _Country Gentleman_, the excerpts here following are taken:

“The only sure method of keeping alfalfa fields free from dodder is through exercising greater caution in the purchase of seed. There is no reason why thoroughly recleaned alfalfa seed should have any dodder seed in it, as reference to the illustrations will show. The relative sizes and forms of the seeds of alfalfa and dodder are shown herewith. It will be seen that there is a marked difference in both the sizes and the shapes of the seeds. The alfalfa seed is shaped like a little kidney bean, and varies in color from light yellowish-green to a rich golden-yellow, and in some instances, because of weathering, or sweating in the cock, or perhaps standing too long, it shows a reddish-brown color. The dodder seed is darker in color than the alfalfa, all of that which I have succeeded in gathering from the plants being a rich golden-brown. The accompanying illustrations show the form of the dodder and alfalfa seed respectively.

“The seeds, being sown, germinate in the soil, throwing up a slender, thread-like stem somewhat resembling a corn silk, which retains its connection with the ground until it comes in contact with the stem of the alfalfa plant. It twines around this tightly, sending its feeding suckers through the outside bark, and as soon as it is firmly attached to the host plant, the ground connection is severed and it is sustained by the plant juices which are taken in by the suckers. It continues to grow and spread, twining around other stalks and increasing very rapidly until a colony is established. Continuing to grow, it climbs toward the upper portion of the plants, feeding on their juices and sapping their vitality, but never goes to the extreme top, seeming to prefer the dampness and darkness of the matted alfalfa rather than sunlight. The plants first attacked begin to die, and the dodder, spreading out in all directions, forms a circle or ring.

“The rapidity with which the pest spreads makes it a serious menace to the alfalfa grower. Comparatively little work has been done by scientific men in studying the dodders and methods of eradication, and the fact that the little rootlets or suckers (haustoria) become so firmly affixed to the host plant that it must be destroyed together with the parasite, has made the work hard and the results obtained unsatisfactory. There are a number of methods by which dodder may be spread through a field. As soon as it becomes thoroughly established on a host plant, the many little branches, waving about like the shoot produced from the seed, attach themselves to other plants, and thus the colony is increased in size. In legumes, the host plant first attacked soon dies, but before this occurs, the parasite has become firmly established on adjoining plants and is reaching out and completing the colony. As soon as a host dies, the dodder also perishes, but before this happens it is very likely to have blossomed and seeded.

“In the operations of mowing, tedding, raking and drawing the alfalfa hay, these little colonies are spread about the fields by the machines and the workmen, and on the horses’ feet. The sale of infested hay is a prolific means of dissemination. Hunters and pleasure seekers, walking through the fields, notice the peculiar corn-silk-like growths and often, by picking up particles of it which are soon cast away, establish new colonies. The flower is very peculiar and attracts the attention of people passing, who are apt to pick them together with some of the maturing seed, and scatter these over the fields. In a pastured field, the animals spread the seed to some extent while moving from place to place in feeding. The most serious menace, however, is from the purchase of impure seed; farmers should always be absolutely certain that the alfalfa seed which they are buying is thoroughly recleaned and that no small weed seed is to be found in it. One should never sow clover or alfalfa from a field or even from a locality in which dodder is known to exist. It is probable that the seeds thoroughly ripened will retain their germinating powers for some years. The purchase of hay from dodder infested fields, or the purchase of manure from barns where infested hay has been fed, are sure sources of contamination.

“Where a newly seeded alfalfa field shows evidence of quite general dodder infection, it is useless to attempt to eradicate it, and the field should be plowed up and planted with some hoed crop for a period of years. Old fields that have been thoroughly infested will probably be more economically treated in this manner than in any other. In newly sown fields, one of the most effective methods is probably hoeing over the spots where the dodder appears, going over them once in two weeks and allowing nothing to grow on them until the dodder seed is germinated. A modification of this method has been used successfully by spading in fields where the colonies of dodder were seen, raking out all the tops, roots and branches, adding a little straw or hay and burning the mass, and then keeping the spot thoroughly hoed for a season. For fields where the colonies are small and scattered, this method of hoeing and shallow cultivation is probably the most practicable, as it helps to secure the early germination of any seeds that were left in the ground, and also kills them as soon as they are germinated. If the seed has developed, one must be careful not to spade it in too deep, as it may retain its vitality for some years if left covered in the moist soil.

“Burning has been recommended by some, raking the dodder vines and what is left of the alfalfa to the center of the colonies, putting brush or straw with it, together with some fine, light wood or chips and sprinkling with kerosene, so that the alfalfa plants will be burned close to the ground. This is necessary from the fact that the little coils of dodder close to the crown of the plants will retain their vitality and grow after a very severe burning, providing the alfalfa which is above the ground is not killed also. The most difficult problem to be confronted in killing out dodder where it has become established, arises from the fact that if these little coils which wind themselves closely around the plant are not killed or removed, the dodder will spread from these and make a new growth. Many experiments have been made with chemicals, but none of them have proved wholly successful, from the fact that these little rings were not destroyed. All the rest of the plant was killed and the production of flowers and seed prevented; but as these little rings were not killed, the dodder began growing again and continued to grow throughout the season.”

LEAF SPOT

Leaf spot is a very peculiar disease and, fortunately, not common in this country. It has been known in France since 1832. In 1891 it was destructive in Iowa alfalfa, the loss in the neighborhood of the experiment station being estimated at 50 per cent. In reference to this infliction the Iowa station, among other information, printed the following:

“Any time after the plant has attained a growth of four to six inches from the seed, but most commonly after the first year’s growth, there appears upon the upper side of the leaves small, irregular brownish spots, which enlarge to about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter and extend through the leaf to the under side, turning all parts brown. When many spots occur on the same leaf the whole leaf soon turns yellow and falls off. This falling of the leaves and the natural loss in vigor, due to the diseased condition before the falling, constitute its great damage. Frequent cutting of the crop materially prevents the disease.”

In eastern states farmers report that there are frequent patches in their fields where the leaves turn red and the plant dies. The probable explanation of this trouble is “wet feet,” which alfalfa will not abide. Don’t expect to get a crop of alfalfa from a field in which water is near the surface. Drain it or use another field.

ROOT ROT

A disease peculiar to portions of the southern states is called “root rot,” and similar to the root rot found in cotton fields. The alfalfa dies in spots, these spots widening in circular form. This is a fungus that spreads only in summer. The only means of eradicating so far (reported by the Texas station) is the application of common salt and kerosene. It has not proven a serious annoyance.

GOPHERS AND PRAIRIE DOGS

Gophers and prairie dogs are great pests in some parts of the Middle West, and about the only successful means of combating them is poison. The state of Kansas has, probably more than any other, made a systematic effort to destroy its gophers and prairie dogs, by liberal appropriations and a field agent to supervise the work to be carried out under provisions of law by local officials.

The injury done by the gophers consists chiefly in throwing up mounds of soil taken from the burrows and these greatly interfere with operating the mowing machine in harvesting. In the alfalfa fields there is also a noticeable thinning out of the plants, by reason of the cutting off of the roots. These root cuttings are stored in the burrows in considerable piles, and are used in cold weather by the gophers for food. It is claimed by some alfalfa growers that this process of thinning out the plants is a benefit rather than an injury to the field, but, says Prof. D. E. Lantz, the official formerly in charge of the Kansas work, “I have known fields where this thinning has continued until the crop did not half cover the ground at cutting time, and the fields were plowed up for the planting of other crops. The loss from gopher depredations to the alfalfa growers of Kansas during 1901 was probably fully one-tenth of the entire product, and had a money value of at least $500,000.”

According to Professor Lantz, carbon bisulphide and other poisonous gases have frequently been recommended for the destruction of the pocket-gopher, but the great length of the burrows and their irregularities in depth prevent the gases from flowing into every part, and the animals often escape. Trapping, if properly done, is a sure method of killing the gopher; but it is attended with considerable labor and is very slow. An excellent trap for general use is the No. O ordinary steel trap. Sink it in loose soil to the level of the runway, nearly conceal it by sprinkling fine earth over it, and leave the hole open.

Gophers are easily poisoned. They are fond of potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, raisins and prunes. The presence of strychnine, arsenic or other poisons does not seem to deter them from eating the food; but if the poison is sweetened they seem to eat it more readily. In summer it may be desirable to sweeten the poison, but in the fall and early spring it does not seem worth while. The poisoned food being introduced to the burrows below the surface, there is no danger of poisoning stock. It might be well, however, not to let swine run in the fields for a time after the poison has been put out.

The following method of introducing poison is recommended: Cut the potatoes or other food into pieces not more than three-fourths of an inch in diameter. Cut a slit in each piece and with a point of the knife blade insert a little sulphate of strychnine; as much as half the bulk of a grain of wheat. Having prepared the bait in sufficient quantity, go to the field armed with a round, sharp-pointed implement an inch or an inch and a half in diameter and of sufficient length. The tool here illustrated was made by a blacksmith.

It is a spade handle shod with an iron point. A bar is attached about fifteen inches from the point to enable the operator to use his foot in pressing it into the soil. With this tool it is only necessary to find the runway of the gopher. The handle is sufficiently thick to make a hole large enough to permit one to drop the poisoned potato directly into the burrow. The operator then passes on to another place, leaving the hole open. No digging with a spade or other hard labor is necessary. An experienced person can distribute poison to many acres of alfalfa in a day; and if proper care is taken to rightly distribute the bait, it will not be necessary to go over the ground a second time. Some experience is required to find the burrows quickly. It is best to insert the food as near as possible to the freshest mounds of earth. Two or three pieces of potato at that place are worth many scattered in other parts of the runway. The operator should avoid the larger mounds and those that are not freshly made.

For destroying prairie dogs, Professor Lantz says that out of thousands of suggestions nothing has been found more effective than strychnine poison and carbon bisulphide. Following are directions for preparing and using the strychnine:

“Dissolve one and a half ounces of strychnine sulphate in a quart of hot water. Add a quart of syrup--molasses, sorghum, or thick sugar and water--and a teaspoonful of oil of anise. Thoroughly heat and mix the liquid. While hot pour it over a bushel of clean wheat and mix completely. Then stir in two or more pounds of fine corn meal. The quantity of corn meal needed will depend upon the amount of extra moisture present. There should be enough to wet every grain of the wheat and no more. Care should be taken that there is no leakage from the vessel in which the wheat is mixed. Let the poisoned grain stand over night, and distribute it in the early morning of a bright day. Use a tablespoonful of the wheat to each hole occupied by prairie dogs, putting it near the mouth of the burrow in two or three little bunches. Do not put out the poison in cold or stormy weather. It will keep for a considerable time, and is much more effective after a cold period, as the animals are then hungry and eat the grain readily. A bushel of wheat should poison 1000 to 1200 holes. An excellent substitute for the oil of anise in this formula can be made by soaking two ounces of green coffee berries in the whites of three eggs. Let this stand for about twelve hours, and use the liquid instead of anise oil.”

A tablespoonful of carbon bisulphide, upon some such absorbent material as cotton, dry horse manure, or a piece of corn-cob, and rolled into the burrows, is effective. It is best immediately to cover the hole with a sod and stamp down firmly.

GRASSHOPPERS

Grasshoppers are a source of no little loss to alfalfa growers in some parts of the West. They usually do their greatest damage to the season’s second crop, the young not being very destructive to the first. The best remedy, or rather prevention, is deep disking in April and then harrowing to destroy the eggs.

Where the pests attack or are about to attack a field of alfalfa, Prof. L. Bruner, of the Nebraska station recommends the use of a “hopper dozer,” which is “simply a long, shallow pan of stove-pipe iron or galvanized iron mounted on runners and backed by a light frame covered with cloth. The pan is about four inches deep, from eighteen inches to two feet wide, and from ten to sixteen feet long. It is partly filled with water and a little kerosene. A horse drags the machine across the field over the stubble of the first crop and the half-grown hoppers jump into the pan where the oil coats them over and kills every one that it touches. The hopper dozer works best on level land. On sloping ground the oil and water run to one end and slop over. To prevent this the pan is usually divided into sections by a number of partitions. The runners should stick out in front of the pan about a foot and one-half, and a piece of chain or heavy rope should be stretched loosely between them to drag ahead of the machine and make the hoppers jump. On level fields there are no great difficulties in the use of the hopper dozer. Careless driving may spill oil on some alfalfa and kill it. If these machines are to be really effective, they must be used before the grasshoppers get their wings. The first crop of alfalfa should be cut as early as possible, and the hopper dozers should follow the rakes as closely as may be. On the whole, they should be used only where plowing and harrowing have not been done or have failed to keep the grasshoppers in check.”

Of the use of this implement or machine Prof. S. J. Hunter has this to say:

“The height of the runners depends upon the height of crop to be protected. It is important that there be no timbers in front of the pan, so that its front line may come in contact with the grain passed over. The insects then fall directly into the fluid. When ready for use place two buckets of water and one-half gallon of coal-oil in a pan, and then drive back and forth across the end of the field where the grasshoppers are entering until you have filled the pans; remove the insects, replenish with oil and water, and continue until the field is rid of the pest.

“Many grasshoppers will be seen strike the sheet-iron back, drop into the pans and immediately jump out again. Those farmers who observed the experiments were at first of the opinion that the locusts that jumped out had jumped away ‘to live another day.’ The writer asked those interested to watch the insects and note the actions of grasshoppers that had jumped out. In every case the report was that the insects became sick and soon died. In fact, persons going over fields where a day or so before the hopper dozer had been at work, were impressed with the number of dead grasshoppers on the ground. An examination showed the presence of coal-oil upon the body. This kerosene and water is an external irritant, and my observations have been that the mixture is more effective than the oil alone.

“The use of the machine may be best shown by examples. In Ford county, Kansas, a large tract of alfalfa was cut, and the locusts at once began moving into a large field of Kafir corn which had been sown broadcast. The hopper dozer was drawn back and forth across the end of the corn field nearest the alfalfa land until a portion of the field about twenty rods deep had been gone over. Here it was apparent that there were very few grasshoppers; or, in other words, the advance line of the locusts’ march only extended twenty rods into the field. Two days later the same area of ground was covered, but not as many insects were taken. Grasshoppers no longer entered this corn and the hopper dozer was no longer used at this point.

“It has been my experience with this machine that after it has passed over vegetation it does not injure the plants, but in some way renders the vegetation distasteful to the grasshoppers, so that they turn their course and seek food elsewhere. I have observed that these native grasshoppers enter a field from one corner or side, and that they are not as a rule scattered over the whole field, but occur in great numbers in patches. This being the case, it is evident that with very little labor with this machine the products of a field can be given full opportunity to mature.”

ARMY WORMS

In Nebraska the fall army worm has caused considerable damage. It is distinct from the true army worm, having small hairs growing out from small black spots; it has a whitish “Y” shaped mark upon the head. The parent of the worms is a moth of a yellowish, ash-gray color. The female moth deposits her eggs in clusters upon the leaves and stems. With the approach of cold weather the worms pass into the ground and enter the chrysalis stage about one or two inches below the surface. When very numerous the only effective treatment is to disk thoroughly in the spring.

BIND WEED

Bindweed, belonging to the morning-glory family, is one of the meanest weeds that annoy alfalfa raisers. It spreads from the root, and is more than liable to smother out alfalfa or any other crop which tries to occupy its ground. If infested fields could be grazed closely with hogs or sheep, they might keep the bindweed down and finally eradicate it. If this cannot be done, the only remedy is to plow and use the land for some other crop.

_CHAPTER XXIV._

Difficulties and Discouragements

Notwithstanding the fact that alfalfa is now grown successfully in all parts of the United States, in almost all kinds of soils and under many dissimilar conditions of climate, there are grouped here as a summary from preceding chapters the several difficulties and discouragements that may confront the one who would grow it.

1. _Securing a Good Stand._ Theoretically, the farmer should secure a good stand every year with every crop, but he does not. He obtains, however, poor stands of wheat and corn and potatoes oftener than a poor stand of alfalfa. Why does he fail with alfalfa? The following, at least in part, suggests why:

_a_ He neglects to prepare sufficiently in advance. He should select his alfalfa field one or two years before he intends sowing. If he raises wheat, he should sow a little alfalfa seed with wheat, one or even two years before ready for alfalfa. This will leave a few roots and the proper bacteria will have been introduced into the soil. For two years there should be a vigorous fight against weeds, the fewest possible being permitted to ripen seed.

_b_ He neglects to prepare properly for the preceding crop, and sometimes plants the wrong crop, although sorghum and Kafir corn are about the only very objectionable planting to precede alfalfa. These have usually taken too much of the land’s moisture, especially if the season has been somewhat dry, to permit a prosperous beginning of the plants from fall sown seed. Millet, oats or cowpeas are the best crops to precede, i. e. for the first trial. The plowing for this preceding crop should be deep. In clay land a subsoil plow (the kind which loosens but does not throw the subsoil to the surface) should follow. It is extremely important that a dressing of stable manure be plowed under for this preceding crop. The seed bed should be carefully prepared, and under favorable conditions. Working the ground when too wet would make it impossible to secure a proper seed bed later when preparing for alfalfa.

gathered up in a 20-minute walk through a “town” that had been poisoned. Nearly all the animals die inside their burrows. The cost of destroying them, according to Professor Lantz, is not over two cents per acre, not counting the labor, and a man can distribute the poison over about a quarter-section in a day]

_c_ He neglects to prepare the alfalfa seed bed properly. He should begin disking and harrowing as soon as the preparatory crop is off the ground, and continue this at intervals of ten or fifteen days until time for sowing, when the soil should be as fine as for an onion bed.

_d_ He uses poor seed; seed that is infertile, or adulterated with weed seeds--undesirable and unreliable in every way.

2. _Dying out the second year_, which in most instances is due to one of two causes, viz.: neglect to plow under stable manure for the preceding crop, or pasturing alfalfa in its first year. Not an animal should be turned on an alfalfa field for pasture until the second or, preferably, the third year. Another cause is disturbance of the soil and plants by severe freezing. This may often be prevented in a degree by a light top-dressing of manure in December.

3. _Failure through harvesting and stacking_.

4. _Injury from insects or disease_.

These are practically all the things that need occasion serious vexation. Of course alfalfa calls for more work in harvesting than corn, or clover, or timothy; but one acre of prosperous alfalfa is worth two or three of corn, or clover or timothy, even for market, while for feeding purposes the difference is even greater. The “poor” farmer, the lazy farmer, the “corner grocery” farmer should not sow alfalfa.

_CHAPTER XXV._

Miscellaneous

ALFALFA IN THE ORCHARD