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Show ALFALFA ON DRY LAND Many Failures Are Due to Poor Preparation of the Soil. Experience of Farmer Who Started Right Will Be Found of Interest to Many Plant Will Not Grow Very Tall First Season. (By PHILO K. BLINN, Alfalfa. Specialist, Special-ist, Rocky Ford, Colo.) There is a wide interest in information informa-tion for growing alfalfa on dry land, and many attempts to seed alfalfa are made each year, but with almost as many failures. Quite often, due to poor preparation of the soil beforehand before-hand and trying the ordinary thick seeding method which over pastures the soil moisture, the result is a failure, fail-ure, but there are, however, successful success-ful attempts in growing alfalfa on dry land. The experience of a dry land farmer farm-er who started right will be of Interest Inter-est to many who are thinking of trying try-ing to seed alfalfa. February 9, 1912, Mr. H. E. Hess of Deer Trail, Colo., addressed an Inquiry In-quiry to the Colorado experiment station, sta-tion, which set forth the following: "I am living on a homestead eight and one-half miles southwest of Deer Trail, have farmed part of my claim for three years. One piece of about one and a quarter acres has been deeply plowed and well cultivated. 1 intend to plant it to Grimm's alfalfa In the spring; will plant in rows 42 Inches apart and cultivate for th purpose of raising seed. Where can I buy the Grimm seed, and how much will I need? "My land is not Irrigated, the altitude alti-tude about 6,300, the soil clay loam, originally covered with buffalo sod." The above Inquiry was answered as fully as possible by letter, advising that from description his deeply plowed plow-ed piece would be safe to try alfalfa on, and that his plan outlined should give Buccess. Hess again writes, as follows: "After receiving your letter I decided de-cided to try Baltic alfalfa, as you seem to think It equally good for hay and better yield than the Grimm. "I bought two and one-half pounds of the Baltic alfalfa seed and, after disking the 1-acre piece several times and harrowing It twice, on May 18, In the evening, I sowed in rows 3 feet 6 Inches apart, using about 1 pounds per acre. I used a garden drill to seed it, and on the morning of May 23, less than five days, the alfalfa al-falfa was up thick. "I clipped It July 12, when it varied from 6 to 9 inches high, and again August 15 It was clipped, averaging a little taller than the first time it was clipped. The alfalfa made a nice growth until the ground froze up solid. I was surprised that it grew bo late in the season and during such unfavorable weather. "The clippings were left on the ground for a mulch, and, although I Id not cultivate last season the ground did not crust over but remained re-mained loose, which I suppose was due to the deep plowing I gave it the year before. "I am glad you advised me to plant the Baltic. I know It will do well next season because It is deeply rooted root-ed and there are several feet of moisture mois-ture to keep it growing. "From what I saw here, I came to the conclusion of the following points: "First. Alfalfa will not grow very tall the first season. "Second. Alfalfa requires deep plowing and thorough preparation of the seed bed. "Third. Each plant requires plenty . of room to grow well." |