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Show DRY FARM ALFALFA Secret cf Art Is Accumulation of Sufficient Moisture. Tilth of Soil at Time of Plowing Matters Mat-ters Nothing, But at Time of Planting It Matters EverythingTime Every-thingTime to Plant. (By E. R. PARSONS. Parker.. Col.) The art of raising alfalfa without irrigation ir-rigation is to accumulate sufficient moisture in tho subsoil and then get the roots down into It. Two to three feet of moisture will carry the alfalfa al-falfa a whole year and insure a stand whether it rains or not. By plowing in the fall ten inches deep we can usually conserve this amount of moisture by springtime. But for those who plow only six or seven inches deep it is better to fallow the land a whole year. Dry year plowing li the fall, as I explained in a previous paper, is not detrimental, provided the ground is not planted until spring. The tilth of the soil at time of plcwing matters nothing, but at time oT planting it matters everything. The best time to plant Is usually about the 20th of April. Late planting plant-ing is dangerous for all small seeds which have to be planted near the sur face, for in hot weather the top Inch or two dies out very quickly, and if the seeds sprout and the next rain is too long in coming the whole stand may die out before the rootlets rnu reach the wet dirt down below. It can be seeded broadcast by hand or drilled, but the solid wheel drill is not as good for the purpose as the split wheel, which 1 am glad to see :hey are commencing to manufacture for all purposes. The split wheel leaves an unpacked streak in the seed row for the young sprouts to come through and obviates the necessity af forcing ti.eir way through a crust, which is a great advantage when the rains are few and far between. In 1 90S we had two feet four inches Df moist soil to start with. We planted April 13; a soft snow May 4 brought it up, a light rain May 13 helped it along, then it turned dry and Sid not rain again until July 29, a total of terl weeks' drought. The alfalfa al-falfa grew about six inches high, and we had a fine stand. We cut, weeds md all, in August, leaving it on the ground. Alfalfa can be planted In rows and cultivated as often as necessary, but when planted in the ordinary way it can be cultivated four times in the season, which is as often as the general gen-eral run of farmers will cultivate anything. any-thing. The first year it can be lightly harrowed In the fall or if not very large it can be left alone, for if it lives until August it will hold its own anyway. The next spring It can be barrowed, before sprouting and after each cutting. After the second year the disk may be used, cutting deep Dr shallow, according to the size of the plants. Farmers sometimes complain that after a year or two their alfalfa dies aut. There are two reasons for this. One is shallow soil with a poor subsoil; sub-soil; the other is not conserving enough moisture at the start to allow the roots to penetrate deeply enough into the subsoil to become thoroughly established. The Idea Is this, after a crop Is started It uses up about all the moisture as it comes and there Is very little left over. If there la no re serve of moisture accumulated before planting the subsoil never becomes saturated and the roots can never get into It. It is the same with any crop. The normal length of the roots of small grain, for instance. Is somewhero about four feet, but if a man who never conserves moisture plows only six inchep. his subsoil is bound to be dry, the roots do not go into It and he Is trying to grow a four-foot root in a six-inch space. |
