"Alfalfa"; a handbook for the alfalfa grower and student

Foreword

^Tf^ISCONSIN'S state alfalfa grower's association is officially known f I I as the Alfalfa Order of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment ^^^ Association. It was organized to increase and extend the alfalfa acreage of the state by numerous state wide cooperative demonstrational and experimental tests which have and will most effectually solve the difficulties and problems that hinder the onward progress of our greatest hay crop — ALFALFA.

The association began its work in 19n. At that time Wisconsin produced about 50,000 tons of alfalfa hay. The United States Bureau of Crop Estimates credits Wisconsin with a total production of 361,000 tons for 1915 — which was the largest production of alfalfa in any single state of the Middle West. This seven-fold increase reflects what cooperation and demonstration will do when carried on by a live organization with a membership of over 1000.

During the past six years 1 have received, as secretary of the Alfalfa Order over 3,000 reports from our members of successes and failures with alfalfa. The experimental work at the Wisconsin Experiment Station includes over 600 plots of various strains and varieties of alfalfa which were sown under widely varying conditions and methods. This publication tells the story of these experimental tests and the experiences of our members.

Seven of the articles appeared serially in the Country Gentleman from December 1916 to June 1917. The article on "When to Cut Alfalfa" appeared in Hoard's Dairyman, May 1915. For permission to reprint these 1 am truly grateful. They were written to present the fundamentals of alfalfa growing in the East and Middle West in a readable and interesting manner and to start beginners right with alfalfa. The author desires to extend credit also to Peter Swartz, President of the Wisconsin Alfalfa Order, Waukesha, Wis., S. J. Henderson, Omaha, Nebraska, Dr. W. M. Williams, Harlem, Mont., John Waelti, Monroe, Wis., Ernest Thoma, Sugar Bush, Wis., the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, Columbus, Ohio, the John Deere Plow Co., Moline, 111., the United States Department of Agriculture and to the Agricultural Bacteriology, the Agronomy and Soils Departments of the Wisconsin College of Agriculture for illustrations provided.

L. F. Graber,

Madison, Wisconsin

Alfalfa Criticisms Answered

I'LL tell you why I don't grow alfalfa. It's because I've tried it!" A number of farmers were on their way to a Pure-Bred Grain Show which was being sponsored by a progressive banker in the southern part of the state. That they were having a lively discussion was indicated by the rather loud tone of the conversation. A short, robust fellow with a cigar of the same build was doing the talking:

"I got inoculated with the alfalfa bug three years ago. It's a mighty bad disease, I'll tell you. Cost me more'n a hundred dollars to get cured."

They all laughed.

"You see, there was so much being written and said about this blasted crop it naturally got my goat, and I began to dream about getting five or six tons to the acre of a kind of hay that's twice as good for stock as timothy. And the more I dreamed about it the more acres I wanted to plant. So I struck out the next spring with twenty acres. Seeded with oats, just the way I did my timothy and clover. Got an awful big crop of oats, but alfalfa — well, it looked all right in the fall; in fact 1 was pretty much tickled and I bragged a little to my neighbors about it.

His Alfalfa had the Jaundice

"But, sir, the next May I was plumb disgusted, and the alfalfa looked just the way I felt. It didn't amount to a whoop. It was thin, yellow and sickly. It had the jaundice! Wouldn't grow. I was sore, and plowed the whole business up and put it into corn. Maybe I wasn't guyed some by the neighbors. They haven't forgotten about it yet. 1 haven't either, and it'll be some time before I do. It's easy enough for some of these fellows to come here and talk more alfalfa, but it's another thing to grow it."

The last thrust hit the mark, for it was just exactly what I was going to do. But I kept my peace. A rather tall member of the group, smooth shaven and well dressed, who had had little to say, spoke up:

"I live eight miles from here, over at Winton. My name is Williams. We are growing alfalfa over there. I've got thirty acres of it right now — as fine as you ever saw. Let me tell you my experience:

"Five years ago I put in ten acres just the way you did and I got the same result. But I didn't quit. I made up my mind to grow alfalfa or bust. Lucky enough we had an institute that winter, and they had a fellow who was an old hand at alfalfa growing in this state. I'll never forget what he told me: 'If you think that this lime and inoculation business is all humbug, leave alfalfa alone. Stick to timothy and clover.' "

Inoculated with Right Ideas

"Well, sir, I've realized since that he inoculated me with the right ideas about growing alfalfa. I bought a carload of lime that winter, and I've bought two carloads since then. Every new piece of alfalfa I put in is inoculated and limed. That's the secret of the whole proposition. But I have had my troubles too. Last winter I lost ten acres. I cut it late in October and the patch killed out. The fields that 1 cut early in September came through fine. And believe me, you can't pasture it either if you want to keep a good stand." "But isn't it true that even with the best of care alfalfa winterkills?" asked a very much interested one of the group.

Fig. I. Equipped to grow his own feed with alfalfa for hay and corn for the silo.

"Yes, it does. When we get an open winter with little snow and then lots of alternate freezing and thawing and formation of smothering ice-sheets, alfalfa — especially on flat land — will kill out. That's what happened in many places last year. But clover goes, too, so I guess we have got to look at it as a weather proposition just as we would a hailstorm or a drought. We can't control the weather. But they say there are some kinds of alfalfa that don't winterkill. We'll hear about them later." (See Figs. 50 and 51.)

An elderly man with a long gray beard leaned over the edge of his seat. His voice was rather husky, but he had a clear, intelligent eye and a face that bespoke toil and success.

"I have been listening to this discussion and 1 suppose if we keep on there'll be no need of going to the meeting, "^^ he said. "We'll have it all threshed out beforehand. But I'm interested. I've turned the farm over to the boy. He's been introducin' a lot of ideas and practices that we never thought of years ago. At first I was a little scared the boy was going wild. But now I'm satisfied to let him go ahead.

Lime Pays

"When the boy bought his first carload of lime and then went to all the extra trouble of inoculating and getting a good seed bed and paying four to five dollars an acre for alfalfa seed, I figured he'd have to get some alfalfa yields to make it pay. But it's paid well. Alfalfa costs extra, but pays double extra. And do you know that after a field has once grown alfalfa it is much less expensive to get a stand than it is with a new field that has never grown it before^ "As my son argued with me when he first started out, 'If my alfalfa will last me for three years or five years the first cost of getting a stand does not amount to much when distributed over this period of years. With corn you have the expense of plowing and planting every year.'

The Hustler's Hay

"If you want to know what our greatest trouble with alfalfa is I'll say it's labor. When I grew a mixture of timothy and clover I cut it once for hay and in some years I got a crop of clover seed. But alfalfa gives you three jobs of haying every year. It's no lazy man's crop. You've got to be a hustler, like the plant itself.

Fig. 2. Proper soil treatment may double the yields.

"The boy now has fifty acres and he has his hands full. But he's a good manager and he keeps those barns full, too, and full of the finest hay in the world."

The elderly man grew enthusiastic; that he was proud of his son was very evident.

"Oh, yes, we have our alfalfa troubles. Two years ago we lost our first cutting on twenty acres. It rained so much that it just rotted. But the boy doesn't worry about curing alfalfa. It's no harder than curing clover, and alfalfa hay will stand more rain than either clover or timothy. If he loses the first crop he has two additional crops to bank on. And then he always hires extra help. It pa5'^s him. Look at the extra feed he gets,

"I know alfalfa doubles up the farm work round corn-cultivating time. It takes extra help, but the extra profits will take care of that.

Blue-Grass Troubles

"Many of the farmers in our section complain about blue-grass' crowding out alfalfa. But I've noticed that it's always those fellows who cut their alfalfa late in the fall or pasture it who complain the most. They expect too much from their alfalfa when they take a cutting in October or pasture in the fall. That causes winterkilling.

Then the blue grass naturally takes the place of the dead alfalfa plants and makes a very prominent appearance at the time of the first cutting. It then gets the blame for the thinned stand of alfalfa, though the condition was entirely due to winterkilling by the late fall cutting or pasturing. Of course, after the June grass has gained a good foothold it will then gradually crowd out the alfalfa, but most of this blue-grass tiouble is due to late cutting or pasturing or real hard winter weather. (See Figs. 14 and 37.)

Fig. 3. Alfalfa excels as feed for all kincs of livestock.

Alfalfa — 111 the Rotation

"Do you know what my boy is planning on doing now? Well, sir, he is going to put alfalfa into a regular rotation just as I used to handle clover. He has grown alfalfa on that faim until now it's just as easy for him to get a stand of alfalfa as of timothy and clover. He plans to plow his third crop every two years in a rotation of two years of corn, and then seed down to alfalfa for two years, using barley as a nurse crop. I guess this is alright, but it's one of these new ideas that are haid for fellows like me to see. I'd rather have an alfalfa field stand as long as it would produce satisfactory crops. But everybody to his o\\n judgment on this proposition. One thing, it's quite a job to plow up an old alfalfa field. (See Fig. 13.)

Don't Be Prejudiced

"Did you ever hear Jce Wing talk alfalfa? He used to say it took three things to plow an alfalfa field — a good sharp plow, a strong team and a Christian man." The old man chuckled. "I guess he was right too. Oh, 1 tell you, gentlemen, alfalfa like any other crop has its good points and its bad points. It's for the beginner to weigh the evidence on both sides as applied to his farm conditions. Perhaps his land is too flat and sour for alfalfa, or the necessary lime is too costly to haul and apply, or he may have a hard-pan sub-soil and poor drainage. (See Fig. 40.)

"In all events we should be open-minded on alfalfa — not like some who will stare a beautiful alfalfa field square in the face and still say 'It ain't adapted round here.' Nor should we be like some

Fig. 4. Comfalfa Farms, Waukesha, Wisconsin grow over 200 acres of alfalfa.

of these city farmers who hear all about the great merits of the crop and want to put their whole farm into alfalfa. One is just as bad as the other.

"We have got to be fair about it both in boosting and in knocking it. It has its objections and its big advantages. It's going to come, gentlemen, but that's up to you. Down in my own section not more than ten years ago everybody was talking against silos. There were all kinds of stories going round about silage eating out the cows' insides and making their teeth fall out and their ribs cave in. In spite of this the silo has come. I look on alfalfa the same way. It's going to come, boys. "

At this moment the train arrived. I met the group of men on the platform.

"Gentlemen," said I, "you have covered this alfalfa proposition so well in your discussion that I'll know exactly what to say this afternoon. Do you know that there are only 980 acres of alfalfa in this entire county against 70,000 acres of timothy? 1 don't believe it will hurt some of us to get inoculated a bit. That's what I am here for."

Arguments For and Against Alfalfa eEORGE FITCH once wrote that "alfalfa is the greatest known breakfast food for cattle . . . and possesses a flavor that makes the most blase cow brighten up and pass her plate for more" George Fitch has not been the only one to proclaim the merits of alfalfa. Bankers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, manufacturers, authors, professors, governors, agriculturists, and some farmers, have climbed on the band wagon to join the chorus of praises of alfalfa.

If it is worthy of all this approbation it is fair to ask why it is not more generally grown on livestock farms, especially in the Middle- Western and Eastern States. If its popularity is just a fad, what justification is there for all the numerous alfalfa campaigns, tours, demonstrations, associations, and never-ending alfalfa articles in the agricultural press? That there are two sides to alfalfa is indisputable. It has its enthusiastic friends and enemies. In many places it is like a prophet in his own country, without honor. In other places it is the leader among forage crops.

Alfalfa — Our Best Hay Crop

All the good things'about alfalfa may well be summed up as follows: Where it can be grown successfully it excels all other hay crops in yield p er acre, feeding value, drought resistance, soil enrichment and weed eradication. This covers the field of alfalfa enthusiasm. I have elaborated on these very points at farmers* meetings.

Not long ago 1 was asked to say a good wcrd for alfalfa at a large farmers' picnic in Illinois. They listened to me; they even applauded very energetically after I was through. But after the meeting a half dozen farmers gathered round and said:

Objections

"We have grown alfalfa. It may be all you say in some places, but not so on our farms. Our soil isn't right for it. It costs us too much to get it started, and then it doesn't last. It winter-kills and blue-grass and weeds come in. It brings too much work. Help is scarce. It would keep us haying all summer, leaving no time to cultivate the corn or potatoes, particularly in June when they need it most badly. It doesn't fit into a short rotation, as clover does, and it is mighty hard plowing alfalfa stubble. There are so many failures in growing alfalfa round here, and so much time, effort and money have been wasted in trying to get alfalfa started, that we believe we would be better off to let it alone and stick to our old friend clover."

That is the other side of alfalfa. What some people think is conservatism on the part of farmers may often be good common sense. Is it good common sense to get into the alfalfa business? We shall see.

Crops That Work Hardest for Us

This is a day and age of upward-soaring prices for land and labor. It is becoming necessary for livestock farmers to grow chiefly those crop s that wo rk h ardest for them — those crops that produce the most and bring the greatest net returns for the labor and effort applied. In the Corn Belt and the Eastern States there are two crops which stand foremost in the production of feed per acre for livestock — corn and alfalfa: corn for silage; alfalfa for hay. They are two crops which, if grown successfully, make a combination on any farm that for feed production, milk production, or meat production cannot be beaten.

DIGESTIBLE FEED

PER alfalf;

Silage

Fig. 5. Timothy, Our Poorest Feed Producing Crop.

Upper figures are average yields. Where they do not apply substitute yields obtainable under your conditions. Central figures give per cent digestibility and lower figures, the total digestilile nutrients per acre.

The yields of almost any crop for livestock are best figured in terms of the quality of feed and total yield of digestible nutrients per acre. An acre of alfalfa is capable of producing three tim^s as much actual feed as an average acre of timothy.

Timothy — the Poorest Feed Producer

Yes, 1 know that those of us who are timothy growers have argumerits in defense of this much-abused crop. We say it is easy to get a catch of timothy; that it seldom winter-kills; that it lasts for several years; that the hay is easy to cut and cure; that the harvest of timothy for hay or seed comes at a time when it does not compete seriously with other farm work.

I But in the final analysis it still remains that timothy produces the least amount of feed and the poorest quality of feed for cattle when compared with clover or alfalfa. Can we afford at this critical period to expend our valuable time — our high-priced labor on a crop that produces so little — that gives such minor returns as does

TIMOTHY

ALFALFA

Fig. 6. Alfalfa vs. Timothy.

This illustration shows (i) the deeper and far superior root feeding system of alfalfa (2) the nitrogen supplying nodule growths on alfalfa roots (3) the length of the new stem sprouts growing at the base of the plant, when alfalfa is in full bloom and past the proper cutting stage.

timothy? Of course there are conditions where timothy is more advantageous than alfalfa but on the $2C0 lands of our livestock farmers it will continue and must continue to give way in importance and area to those much sup2rior feed-producing crops, alfalfa, clover and corn.

Roots That Resist Drouglil

Lecturers on alfalfa spend half their time on alfalfa roots, which seem to grow deeper and deeper. Some enthusiasts are not satisfied until they have them reaching clear through to China and involving us in international difficulties! Of course, this could occur only with very old fields!

Fig. 7. Alfalfa Enriches the Soil.

Tall corn, average growth on alfalfa sod. Short corn, average growth on timothy sod. Both the timothy and alfalfa sods of this field were three years old, plowed and planted to corn at the same time and in the same way. Photo taken in July.

But the feeding system of the alfalfa plant is wonderful. Why is it that alfalfa grows so fast — often an inch a day? Why is it that alfalfa produces three crops a season and in the long-seasoned climate of the Southwest five or six crops? i

It is because the plant is equipped with a root system equaled by no other crop. 1 have seen plants in an alfalfa field in its second year with roots that averaged four feet long. Plants in same field when three years old had a root growth of more than seven feet. It is claimed that out West roots have attained depths of more than fifty feet, but the subsoil was loose.