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Show J Spontaneous (cifetion i J Of Alfalfa I Growers of alfalfa are sometimes troubled with its combustion after stacking. The Kansas station in one of its bulletins calls attention to this and cites a number of cases that have come to the notice of the station sta-tion officials. We quote two of them, as follows: O. L. Hull, Manhattan, Kan., cut 100 acres of alfalfa, beginning the cutting May 19, when the first bloom appeared. The alfalfa was on river-bottom river-bottom land and had made a heavy growth. The cut alfalfa was left in the swath about three days, when it was put in windrows with a side-delivery rake. It was left for about three days on an average in the windrows, wind-rows, when it was gathered by a hay-loader hay-loader and stacked. The alfalfa was so heavy that the tops of the windrows wind-rows got too dry and the leaves shattered shat-tered considerably,- while the bottoms of the windrows were too green to be in good condition for stacking. The entire first cutting from the 100 acres was put in one stack, and was estimated to be 150 tons. The stack settled more than usual and became very hot, but was not thought to be sufficiently hot to be in danger. July 9 fourteen loads of alfalfa hay from the second cutting from the same field were placed on the stack, to fill out where it had settled. This made 164 tons of hay in the stack. At one a. m. July 10, fifty-two days after the first cutting was made, a neighbor noticed a small fire on the stack that appeared like a locomotive headlight. An alarm was immediately given, but in a few minutes the entire outside of the stack was in flames, and all of the 164 tons were burned. Emmet McDonald, Manhattan, Kan., made his first cutting of alfalfa the last week in May. The growth of alfalfa was rank, and it was cut when the first blooms appeared. Cutting Cut-ting began Friday; the cut alfalfa was raked into windrows Saturday with a side-delivery rake, where it stayed until Tuesday, when stacking began. The hay was taken from the windrows with a hay-loader, and twenty-five to thirty tons put in a stack. The hay was so dry that the leaves shattered off considerably and, at the time of stacking, it was considered con-sidered that the stems were also well cured. Early in July it was noticed that the hay was quite hot and the stacks were examined frequently. Mr. McDonald- reports that the alfalfa took "spells" of being hot. It would be quite hot for about a week, then cooler for a few days, and then hot again. On the morning of July 25 one siack (vas so hot that it was thought unsafe to leave it longer, as other stacks stood near it, and work was started to tear the stack down and take it away. After a few feet were taken from the top of the stack the hay was found to be dry and charred, and so hot that water hissed when thrown on it. The stems held their shape, but were apparently thoroughly thor-oughly charred. The exposed hay was too hot to handle, and it was well wet down and left to see what would follow. In about three hours a blaze broke out of the side of the stack about four feet from the ground and the stack was consumed. Another An-other stack from the same cutting did not burn, but the interior of the stack was found to be well charred. |