Show i Sketches of Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau v Edited by J. H. rL of Nature Study in the r FIFTY FACTS ABOUT ALFALFA i Improving the Crop u j. HOW THE CLOVERS SOLVE THE r J- The white or Dutch lawn with-flowers fully opened on the outer The blossoms now stand to attract the The same head a few days The outer ring of fertilized by the visit of the now hang down and seem to be The flower head still all fertilized but which are now just blooming to court the polite attentions of the The final stage- all After turning down the flowers seem to be fw an activity the t perhaps that the flower has yet is going on within The seeds are rapidly The dead look due to the dry and is but an appearance The plant is only pretending to be and is in order to deceive the crawling insects that would otherwise creep up the stems and devour the precious The worms and ants have no use for dead and so they let these But there is another In order to save the bees' time as well as its own the corollas wither and turn and neither- the bee nor the worm will dry or dead-looking The bee would find no nectar there since the like the stores just enough honey to induce the bee to come So when the plant is through Avith the bee and the bee with the such a sign as this will be of great value to The white or sweet clover adopts a course precisely First it masses its blossoms in spikes attract the Then as fast as the pistils are they droop and the corolla Covered with tough pods and high from the they are fairly well protected from the plundering A single clover The lucern not fully opened and its trap The lucern fully opened and the trap The pistil is seen pressing down upon the broad The sweet clover the lower fertilized and hanging the upper still standing to invite the Drawn from nature by Sixth grade A. government bulletin on this wonder thus summarizes the chief points of good culture Some Alfalfa 1 Don't fail to provide- for soil from an old alfalfa field is Don't sow poor or weedy i Don't sow on a weedy Don't sow on any but a well-limed Don't sow on poorly drained J Don't sow on any but finely well-set- j tied seed Don't pasture the first or second U Don't lose the they constitute the best part of the Don't seed a large acreage to begin ment on a small area Don't give Many prominent alfalfa growers finally succeeded only after many Several of these points will be elaborated To Improve the To improve it should be propagated from seed care being taken that the seed selected has not been contaminated by foreign pollen from By close pollinating numerous plants of distinctive giving to each its own pollen or the pollen from- a plant of equal merit and similar the strong and valuable types that arise from individual variation can be Alfalfa does not seem to degenerate from self-pollination the problem of artificial fertilization is a simple Hand v. If a flower cluster in full bloom is simply squeezed L between the thumb and the first and second fingers and at the same time lightly the trigger mechanism of the alfalfa blossom will be sprung in such a way as to cover the stigma with N One person might thus pollinate by hand several hundred plants in a It would be necessary to screen these plants till the seed thus obtained should be sufficient in amount for planting a large wherein the flowers would be most likely to get pollinated from the other plants in the same If alfalfa is kept caged in wire screens so that insects cannot reach only an occasional plant will bear a the remainder becoming The explanation of this curious fact was found out by our pupils in making some observations on the alfalfa two years and was given at length in the preceding Improves With The longer alfalfa is grown upon a farm the easier it seems to be to raise it there from This may be due either to the increased knowledge of the farmer asi to how to rear the or to the fact that the land probably becomes better adapted to the alfalfa plant perhaps from the multiplication of the necessary bacterial organisms of the Alfalfa acts in a manner similar to red clover and other leguminous crops in increasing the yields of the succeeding The roots add nitrogen directly to the soil and are efficient by reason of their deep-feeding bringing up other mineral constituents from the lower layers of the soil and thus rendering them accessible to the shallow-feeding On irrigated land the effect of alfalfa has been shown to increase the value per acre of subsequent crops as to These increased gains were made without cost in fertilizing the as the alfalfa had been regularly cut for hay for five In Colorado and Nebraska the yields of grain are times nearly doubled when immediately preceded by Succeeds in Various Alfalfa succeeds in a variety of from sandy to clay and A fertile clay loam well supplied with mineral ingredients is most but the plant does not thrive on a very wet or on one deficient in On thin land it starts yet even is usually after a few in making a thrifty Seed Should Be Clean and Good alfalfa seed has a characteristic clear inferior a dull weak a shrunken The only known way of testing the vitality of seeds is by making trials to ascertain how of them will The seed of the the worst of the weeds in the western may be recognized by its smaller and may be t screened from the larger seeds of alfalfa by the use of a dodder The amount to sow is or twelve pounds of good seed to the the season having much to with securing a successful Best Kind of The seed bed should be but finely about as deep only as the seed is while the soil beneath should be rather but not too hard or This condition may be attained by cultivating the surface of well settled fall or by and harrowing unplowed corn in Ten Heat and The firm under soil supplies the seed with moisture from the action of capillary attraction the lifting power exerted on the moisture that is still deeper in the while the mellow covering permits the air and heat to reach the seed from These three factors heat and air are indispensable for the germination of A proper seed bed for fall planting may be secured by summer plowing the field immediately after harvesting wheat or early spring or by harrowing or disking it at intervals until seeding time or by fallowing any semi-arid land with frequent cultivation during the summer previous to seeding in the For spring seeding on weedy it is best to start the preparation of the seed bed in early either by plowing or by cultivating with a disk The seed may be planted with a drill that covers the seed with one to one and one-half inches of the soft top and so presses it down upon the seed that the soil is compact enough to draw up water from beneath by the action of the capillary forces between the soil 1 N Use of the Harrowing may be repeated to conserve the moisture and to destroy the Late in the soon after a good sow the which will then germinate quickly and may outgrow the May to be our best and the press drill the best implement for sowing alfalfa If the seed is planted too the young shoots will be unable to reach the If a dry spell follows the it may be safer to roll the land in order to compact the soil about the seeds and so to supply them with moisture from but light raking should follow the rolling before many days otherwise the moisture will escape by evaporation from the compacted It Pays to Ten Eyck maintains that it pays to cultivate just as it pays to cultivate corn and other He says that the next season after a heavy straight-toothed harrow may be used in the spring to loosen the surface soil as soon as the alfalfa has become well established the field may be disked or cul- with the spike-tooth disk-harrow regularly each spring and perhaps during the season after By thorough cultivation late in the after the third or fourth it is often possible to destroy many weeds such as crabgrass and the worst enemies of Cultivation is likely to destroy the eggs and larvae of certain insect enemies of alfalfa the army cut-worm and fall Grasshoppers are in num-l bers by disking in winter or in early Improves The Other reasons for cultivation are that it loosens the favors forms a mulch to conserve soil and presents a surface favorable to the absorption of Fresh air is needed deep down among the soil since the roots must and the plants will perish if they are deprived of oxygen by too hard a The alfalfa bacteria on the roots must also have air from which to get the free for unless these organisms thrive and the alfalfa will fail to receive the important food element the nitrates which these microscopic plants supply to its cultivation fertilizing material into the splits open the crowns of the alfalfa plants causing them to stool out into a greater number of and on silt-flooded areas lets air and moisture through the dry crust that tends to form at the surface after irrigation or spring A Great Like all alfalfa is a great and requires much pure not only for the but also for the Slight smelter fumes will spoil the age and too much irrigation spoils the A deep soil is necessary for its roots reach a depth of from twelve to twenty for it is a great feeder and must have plenty of aerated soil from which to secure the nitrogen which it stores in its hence a well drained soil is since water in the ground fills up the soil spaces and drives out the literally drowning and starving the alfalfa which do the breathing and the feeding which sustain the requires a much more perfect drain- age of the soil than do other field In the such well-drained land is the though in irrigated districts the accumulation of alkali upon the lowest lands is often So great is requirement of this plant for plenty of soil air root breathing during the growing period that it is often killed by from During its growing period it will not usually withstand more than hours of complete submergence or more than forty-eight hours of partial During the dormant period of fields have been to remain under water for tAvo weeks serious is very particular about its home It will not grow in and dislikes a damp cold It is a dainty re- quiring a and Avell ventilated f r its enormous length of Needs a A soil it will not sour hence any 3 that exists must be neutralized by of there must also be an excess because the alfalfa feeds upon No other forage crop requires so much lime in the soil as does It is apparently necessary that the soil acidity be neutralized by the lime and that there be also an excess for the actual use the plant In one test of the mineral constituents of certain crops the percentage of lime in the alfalfa ash Avas red clover had but per and timothy had only per Throughout the East and alfalfa is most easily produced on the limestone soils' Even these soils often require liming for the best sue- cess of the as the rains tend to leach the lime out of the layers of the In the West especially in the Great has no outer drain- lime is generally so abundant in the soil that it rarely needs liming even for the plant ing the largest amount of Inoculation For It Avas in previous chapter that extraordinary things must be done at the roots oT the alfalfa before it Avill and that many of the tremendous though unnoticed of nature must be brought into requisition in order to propagate and ripen a single seed of the alfalfa and other nitrogen such as the the the the The commonest of them the lucern upon in this semi-arid a large part of our and well being absolutely is the most in in this respect-of all of the leguminous It is curious fact that throughout the half of the United the soil appears to be naturally supplied Avith the proper bacteria for the formation of the root In the eastern part of the the soil conditions are less favorable to the of these it is nearly always necessary to supply them at the time of This inoculation may be supplied either by scattering soil from a successful alfalfa field or in the form of artificial obtained from State agricultural experiment Inoculation by means of soil taken from a successful alfalfa field Avill nearly produce the desired Care is taken to avoid introducing along with this soil the seeds of noxious or harmful plant From to pounds of soil are necessary for each It has been found that soil from around the roots of the clover is quite as effective as alfalfa In most sections of the country this plant may be found in scattered clumps and especially along irrigating ditches in the The soil may be mixed Avith the seed and with It may be also drilled or If the soil should be scattered on a cloudy jay or toward evening and immediately harrowed in as sunshine is harmful to the Cutting- and According to Farmers' Bulletin which alfalfa growers should send for to the Department of Washington D. the best time to cut alfalfa is just as it is coming into Feeding experiments show that the feeding value is then the When alfalfa is cut when one-tenth in the protein content is per when in per cent and when in full per It is usually advisable to begin cutting just as the large field commences to the It is safer and to watch for the starting of the basal shoots which are to form the growth for the succeeding crop the new growth makes ready to take immediate possession of the as soon as the crop is if the cutting takes place before these shoots are the new growth is delayed until they can be If the cutting be delayed until these shoots have attained any considerable they will be cut off by the mower to the injury of the succeeding In dry wreather retards the development of the basal shoots until after the plants commence the crop should be cut at once so as to get the best quality of The Utah Experiment Station found that alfalfa hay cut when in full bloom produced pounds of beef annually to the while that cut in early bloom produced The hay that was not cut until half the blooms had fallen produced only pounds of beef to the of the In the leaves must be by raking into small heaps while the stems are but In the fair summer weather usual in the farmers mow one day and rake into the day and then stack two days or bale within three days after Alfalfa may be stacked as soon as moisture can no longer be- twisted out of a wisp of the but it should not be baled till the stems will break by heavy twisting in the The aim is to keep the The leaves comprise only two-fifths of the to- tal weight of the alfalfa plant yet three-fifths of all the protein is contained in That 44 pounds of the leaves contain as much protein as pounds of Analyses show that the leaves are somewhat richer than bran for feeding Much of the loss of leaves during harvesting may be saved by er attention to the curing Rain is very detrimental to the mowed since the crude protein m hay is somewhat and as much as 40 per cent it may be lost by two weeks of exposure to a rainfall of Even a slight rain the And since alfalfa hay does not shed water it should be scientifically stacked and then covered with a canvas or grass or with other loads of L fresh If stacked too it may and even take If only by it seems to lose none of its high feeding Alfalfa As In Farmers' Bulletin Westgate states that all kinds of live stock be may pastured upon Horses and sheep since they graze more are more destructive to the stand of alfalfa than are are likely to injure the stand by rooting unless their noses are Nearly every farmer throughout the alfalfa region makes a practice of using alfalfa for hog pastures it proves to be a very profitable method of utilizing the An field of alfalfa will support continuously during the growing season about ten large hogs to the acre and enable them to make good especially if a small quantity of grain is fed in The usual custom is to allow 1 pound of grain a day for hundred pounds live weight of the The principal drawback to the pasturing of cattle and sheep on alfalfa is their tendency to This danger be reduced to a minimum by precautions in not allowing the cattle to go on to the pasture with empty especially when |