Alfalfa-Growing in the SouthBy Joseph E. Wing, Mechanicsburg, Ohio.
By Joseph E. Wing, Mechanicsburg, Ohio.
JOSEPH E. WING.
JOSEPH E. WING.
JOSEPH E. WING.
(Ed. Note—Mr. Joseph E. Wing is regarded as the best authority in the United States on Alfalfa. He was born in 1861, took a common school education and worked with his father on a stock farm. Went to the Rocky Mountains when twenty-five years old, and became a cowboy, learning the business thoroughly and becoming manager of a large ranch. While in the West he saw the wonderful value of the alfalfa plant growing there, and determining to grow it in Ohio he came back to that State, bought the old home and went to work. He enriched and drained the old farm, laying fourteen miles of tile underdrain in a 320-acre farm. Last season he grew on that farm 400 tons of alfalfa hay. His two brothers, Charles and Willis, are partners with him on the farm, and they made last year, besides the alfalfa and other products, 50,000 pounds of lamb wool.—Ed. Trotwood’s.)
(Ed. Note—Mr. Joseph E. Wing is regarded as the best authority in the United States on Alfalfa. He was born in 1861, took a common school education and worked with his father on a stock farm. Went to the Rocky Mountains when twenty-five years old, and became a cowboy, learning the business thoroughly and becoming manager of a large ranch. While in the West he saw the wonderful value of the alfalfa plant growing there, and determining to grow it in Ohio he came back to that State, bought the old home and went to work. He enriched and drained the old farm, laying fourteen miles of tile underdrain in a 320-acre farm. Last season he grew on that farm 400 tons of alfalfa hay. His two brothers, Charles and Willis, are partners with him on the farm, and they made last year, besides the alfalfa and other products, 50,000 pounds of lamb wool.—Ed. Trotwood’s.)
Alfalfa will grow as well in the South, under right conditions, as it will in any country in the world without irrigation. Alfalfa sown in the South under wrong conditions will prove a discouraging failure. So, therefore, it is far from any desire of mine to encourage unwise experimentation or lead men to make unavailing efforts to grow alfalfa upon unfit soils or with wrong methods.
Let us consider the few essential things that alfalfa demands. First, a soil that is not sour.
Next, a soil that is well enough drained so that water does not saturate it at any time of the year, unless for a day or two following very heavy rainfalls.
Then a soil that is rich in the mineral elements that go to make plants grow, phosphorus and potash, and well supplied, too, with nitrogen.
And, to crown all, a soil supplied with abundant vegetable matter or “humus.â€
Given these things, and the South’s sun and skies, alfalfa will grow in most any part of the South and will yield annually four or five cuttings a year of the richest forage either to feed green, or to cure into hay.
An acre of proper soil devoted to alfalfa will produce double the total amount of available food for animals that an acre of corn will, and of a higher class of nutrients. That is because the alfalfa is so rich in protein, the muscleand blood-building elements that are so much needed in a ration for all young animals, for dairy cows or any animals giving milk to their young.
To prepare an acre of land for alfalfa may in some instances involve considerable labor and expense. If the work is rightly done it will be lavishly repaid by the grateful alfalfa plants, and after they have grown upon the soil for a series of years they will leave it richer than they found it.
If each farm in the South will grow alfalfa, even if no more than two or three acres, it will enormously increase its prosperity and wealth. There are sections of the South where easily there may be developed large alfalfa fields. There are other sections where to grow alfalfa will require thought, effort, expense and care. Success when reached will richly reward all this effort.
It is most unwise to sow alfalfa seed upon unfertile soils or without right preparation of the soil and attention to a few important details.
Nevertheless, the few things needful, are of easy attainment, for there is no mystery about alfalfa growing.
Let us take up the essentials of alfalfa growing: first, that the soil must be sweet.
It is a new thought to Southern farmers, perhaps, that soils are some times sour. They may be sour upon limestone land, but are more apt to be sour away from the lime.
If they are water-logged during part of the year, they are most apt to be sour. This acidity comes probably from the decay within the soil of vegetable matter, though some soils very deficient in humus are acid. An evidence of acidity is seen when clovers fail to thrive, and certain weeds appear in the meadows.
The appearance of “sorrel,†the little red-topped weed that is seen in so many meadows of recent years, is an indication of acidity. A surer indication is the gradual disappearance of red clover and the difficulty experienced in making it grow.
Lime is the cure of acid soils, though drainage is often needed along with lime. It may be applied to a freshly-plowed surface at the rate of from one to two tons per acre of air slaked or ground lime, and in some countries ground limestone is used with good results.
Lime is not itself a fertilizer, but it makes the land sweet so that clovers may grow and by their presence bring about enrichment of the soil.
Alfalfa is a clover, one of the best, since it is of very long life and surprising vigor upon proper soil.
The South needs the use of thousands of tons of lime, in connection with manures. Liming poor soils without manuring may not bring much benefit since there may be too little plant food even when the soil is sweetened.
The older regions of the world, where advanced agriculture has been practiced for centuries, use great amounts of lime. The writer has seen great chalk pits in England whence had been taken thousands of tons of chalk (a soft limestone) to enrich the adjoining farms.
In some parts of the South, however, where red clover thrives, the land has in it enough lime, and is in no need of sweetening. We will then consider the next requirement—drainage.
Alfalfa grows through the aid of little bacteria that inhabit its rootlets. These bacteria must have air. Therefore the flooding of the earth by complete saturation of water destroys the life of the bacteria and of the alfalfa itself.
If a post-hole dug three feet deep in the field where it is desired to sow alfalfa shows water standing in it for more than a few days in the year, that soil needs under-draining before being sown to alfalfa.
In general, the depth to the water level should be about forty feet. If there is a greater depth it is generally better.
Now, we will consider the matter of fertility. Alfalfa feeds deep in the soil after it gets established and it secures a part of its nitrogen through the aid of the bacteria from the air.
Nevertheless, it is a gross feeder upon phosphorus and potash and cannot secure these from the air. Nor will it at first secure all its needed nitrogen from the air.
Therefore, land destined to be sown to alfalfa should be rich when sown. Ifit is not rich it should be made rich before seed is consigned to it.
Next, comes the need of humus in the soil. Now “humus†is simply decayed vegetable matter, and is best supplied through turning under vegetable growths such as cowpeas, or through the use of stable manures. Humus in the soil does several very needed things.
First, it supplies a direct plant food through the nitrogen, phosphorus and potash that it contains, being especially rich in nitrogen.
Next, in decaying it forms compounds that attack the locked-up mineral elements of the soil and sets them free to be absorbed by the plants. Then it absorbs moisture and makes the soil more slow in drying, besides preventing the close packing that comes with puddling in clay soils deficient in humus.
And as important as anything, perhaps most important of all, it puts “life†into the soil. Soils with humus in them are really alive, for the decaying vegetable matter attracts bacteria of many sorts that in their life and death and decay form many compounds that the plants can absorb and thus directly increase fertility and make plants grow.
Good soils are truly “live†soils, filled with legions of microscopic forms of life, most of it beneficial to the higher orders of growing plants useful to men.
Poor soils, deficient in humus, cold, puddled clays, are literally “dead†soils and speak sadly of a dying civilization and decaying people.
Alfalfa, then, revels in a deep, rich, sweet soil. How are we to provide it in the South?
First, there are many river bottoms that are admirably adapted to alfalfa, being made up of rich alluvial loams, pervious to air and moisture, and not holding a surplus of moisture. On these soils alfalfa usually thrives splendidly.
Next, there are new lands freshly cleared where robber crops have not yet had time to take out the fertility. Often these newer soils will respond wonderfully with alfalfa. Some very steep mountain sides are growing alfalfa finely when sown on freshly-cleared surfaces.
Some lands are naturally fertile enough so that they will, with little aid, grow alfalfa very well. Nevertheless, even the best of the old cleared parts need manure before being sown to alfalfa.
We had best admit at the outset that most of the old fields of the South need enrichment to make them produce good alfalfa. And the best way to enrich them is with liberal coatings of stable manures.
Few farmers are aware of the great value of manures. They enrich far in excess of the actual potash phosphorus and nitrogen carried.
Liberal dressings, then, of barnyard manure, applied before it has leached in rain, is the best preparation for alfalfa sowing.
If one has not enough manure to prepare the soil for ten acres let him attempt to sow but five. If he can’t manure five let him content himself with two. Two acres of vigorous alfalfa will yield as much as ten acres of sickly, thin stuff on unprepared soil.
And the two acres will make forage enough to make a further supply of manure, so that he can next season enrich added acres and sow them to alfalfa. But while stable manure is the best thing and really almost indispensable to success in growing alfalfa upon old Southern fields, it can be greatly helped by being re-enforced by mineral fertilizers.
“Floats,†or finely-ground phosphatic rock not treated with sulphuric acid, is a very cheap supply of phosphorus. This phosphorus is not available when applied to some soils deficient in humus.
But when floats are mixed with stable manure in some way the phosphorus is made available and the plants can get it. Therefore, the wise farmer sprinkles his stables with floats which absorb the ammonia and makes the stable smell sweet, and when the manure is applied its value has been almost doubled. Stable manure fortified with floats is the thing to apply to the soil to make alfalfa grow.
This manure may be applied to a preceding crop of corn or tobacco, if it is applied heavily enough so that there is a large residue left.
Or it may be applied directly before the ground is plowed for alfalfa. This is a safe way. It may be turned under or harrowed in or disked in or left tolie on the surface through the winter and the land plowed in the early spring.
Just get it over the land in any way and as soon as convenient after it is made; it will do the work.
Apply as much as twenty-five tons to the acre and more if you have it. This will be a help, but in strong Southern clays there is no need to fear putting on an abundance; it will not leach away, and the more humus you get in that soil the better your alfalfa will be. Do not be discouraged by this information; you can afford to use the manure to start a crop that maintains itself and makes such a large amount of forage that will, if fed and the manure saved, in turn enrich yet other fields for many years.
Late in winter or early in spring the land may be plowed. It should be broken deep and as soon as the land is ready to work, it should be harrowed to a good seed bed.
Alfalfa wants a firm seed bed, so that the little rootlets find an unbroken way down into the moist earth beneath.
At a little later than time for sowing oats, say the last week in March, after danger of hard freezing is over, sow the seed. A peck of alfalfa seed, fifteen pounds, is enough to the acre; more is waste. There are in a bushel 14,448,000 individual alfalfa seeds. To sow fifteen pounds per acre would put on eighty-three seeds to the square foot. Twelve plants to the square foot are all that will grow to maturity.
The seed may be sown broadcast and harrowed in. It may be sown broadcast and covered by drilling in after it a bushel to the acre of spring barley, an excellent nurse crop. The beardless barley is the best. Or a half bushel of oats sown on an acre will serve as a nurse crop, only that in this case the oats must be cut for hay as soon as bloom appears and before they lodge.
The land after seeding must be left smooth so that the mower may be run over it close to the ground.
There may be sown fertilizer with the alfalfa to help the manure and it will probably be well repaid.
After the alfalfa is sown, if the land is very dry and cloddy it should be rolled. If it is moist, a plank drag should make it smooth and level.
At the time of sowing, if some earth from an old alfalfa field can be had, it is well to make it fine and sow it over the field at the rate of about 100 pounds to the acre, or soil on which sweet clover (mellilotus) has grown. The object of this is to transfer some of the bacteria that thrive on alfalfa roots to the new field. It is as the housewife puts yeast in her bread.
However, if the manure has been put into the soil and it is not sour, the seed itself will carry enough bacteria to shortly innoculate the field. These bacteria increase very rapidly in soils filled with humus.
A good test of whether a field will grow alfalfa or not is to observe whether it contains earthworms (fish worms). If it does not the condition is wrong for alfalfa culture.
After this sowing nothing should be done to the field until the barley is ripe or the oats in bloom. It may then be cut close to the ground. This close cutting is good for the young alfalfa, which needs clipping at this time.
Set the binder then to cut as close as possible, and if it must be cut high for any reason follow at once with the mower and clip the stubble close. Then let the alfalfa alone to make a second growth. If there should come rain it will grow rapidly for about forty-five days or a little longer. After that it may turn yellow and cease to grow.
That means that rust has struck it. Leaf rust is the pest of alfalfa in all Eastern States. The remedy for rust is mowing off the stems as close to the ground as practicable.
If there is enough hay to be worth saving rake it off and cure it. If weeds are the main growth, allow them to lie and mulch the land, supposing them not to be thick enough to smother it.
When winter sets in have a growth a foot high standing to protect the crowns and hold the snow. Do not ever pasture alfalfa the first season. Do not ever allow stock to tramp over it in cold weather, nor drive across it with wagons.
Oftentimes the fall is a good time to sow alfalfa in the South. When thereis enough moisture in the land to start it well in August or September it may succeed well, sown alone. The manner would be to plow a wheat stubble as soon as possible after harvest, applying a light coat of manure, and immediately working it down to a good seed bed, using every care to prevent its drying out.
The way to do this is to have a harrow and roller in the field when the breaking is done. Let the plows run a quarter of a day and finish out that half day by rolling and harrowing the ground to bring it to a degree of fineness that will enable it to hold moisture.
No nurse crop is needed when alfalfa is sown in the fall; it must be about an inch deep and should not be sown when there is merely a little moisture in the ground with dry soil beneath, lest it sprout and perish before rains come.
Weeds will not trouble this fall-sown alfalfa much and it makes four crops of hay the next year, though not quite so heavy crops as the spring-sown alfalfa should make.
The time to make alfalfa hay is when it is about half in bloom and before the leaves have fallen from the stem. That will be about the tenth of May. Take this first crop off promptly to secure the hay while it is in its prime and to allow the next crop to come on.
Cure the hay by raking into small windrows while it is yet tough and cocking in rather tall and slender cocks so that the air may get at the hay. Do not delay raking until the hay is dry or you will lose many of the leaves, and they are worth as much, pound for pound, as wheat bran.
The hay may cure in the cocks if the weather is fine, or they may be opened out and sunned and again piled up and hauled to the barn. When only a few tons are put together the hay must be pretty dry else it may mould. When putting many tons in one rick or mow the hay need not be so well dried, as the heat prevents moulding.
Alfalfa hay will keep well in mow or rick, but when ricked it must be covered with wild grass, straw or boards, as it will not shed rain well. There will be four cuttings the second year, and these should be taken off when the proper stage of growth has been reached, whether the alfalfa is long or short. When it begins to bloom, the leaves to rust, and buds appear on the bases of the stems, it must be cut, else it will cease to grow and no subsequent crop need be looked for.
If, perchance from drought, the second or third crop happens to be very short, it must be mown off as promptly as though it was a good growth and then the succeeding crop, should there be rain, may be very much heavier than the poor one removed. Had it not been cut, however, this good crop would not have been secured.
On land rightly prepared, with favorable seasons of sufficient rain, alfalfa in the South may yield as much as six or eight tons to the acre. A yield of four to five tons may more confidently be expected.
Alfalfa will endure in profitable condition on suitable soils for from six to twelve years. Grasses encroach upon it and may be destroyed by disking after the roots are tough enough to endure it. A spike-toothed harrow to follow the disk will more surely tear out the grass. The harrow will not injure the alfalfa roots.
When once well established an annual drilling in of liberal amounts of phosphorus and potash will greatly stimulate growth on most soils and be repaid several times over in the increased yield.
When it is desired to plow the field it may be turned with a very sharp plow and strong team and the roots are readily killed when cut off. Any crop will yield very abundantly after alfalfa, corn and tobacco being perhaps best suited to follow alfalfa, since small grain may lodge because of the exceeding richness of the land.
After one or two crops have been taken off of the land it should again be manured and sown to alfalfa, which will take much more readily and yield much more abundantly than it did the first sowing.
In conclusion I ask the farmers of the South not to sow alfalfa upon poor or unprepared soil or in a wrong manner, since by so doing, failure is almost assuredand the whole cause of alfalfa culture will receive a serious setback. I believe, however, that wherever a man has learned to grow alfalfa he will rejoice all his days and be the richer, more intelligent and better man for it and his neighborhood will be helped by the example of good farming.