Alfalfa Hay and Soil Fertility.

We are feeding all our hay to dairy cows, returning the manure to the soil.  At present prices of hay, my neighbors who sell theirs, seem to be as well off, with considerable less work; but how about the future?  Can this soil be cropped indefinitely and the crops sold, without returning anything to the land?

It is a mistake to think that you can sell alfalfa hay indefinitely without reducing the soil.  It may gain in nitrogen by the wastes of the plant, but it will lose in other constituents unless reinforced by fertilization.  No single act can make for the maintenance of the soil as the growing and feeding of crops and return of manure does.

Dry-Land Alfalfa.

I am in a country of strictly dry farming.  I have a wash or gulch on my place and would like to know if I could, with success, plant it to alfalfa without irrigation; soil is sandy loam, no evidences of springy moisture at all.  What kind should I try?

Alfalfa will endure much drouth.  What it will do in a particular place can only be told by trying.  Sow Turkestan alfalfa.  If the rains come early so as to wet the land down in September and October, sow the seed then.  The endurance of the plant will depend much upon its having a chance to root deeply before the drouth comes on.

Inoculating Alfalfa.

Is it profitable to inoculate alfalfa seed before planting to increase its yield?  Can it be done by leaching soil from old alfalfa ground, providing it has been plowed up and allowed to stand for a year?  Are commercial inoculants a safe thing to inoculate with?

Apparently alfalfa does not need inoculation in this State.  Probably not one acre in ten thousand now profitably growing alfalfa has ever had artificial introduction of germs.  You can make germ-tea, if you wish, of the soil you describe; one year’s exposure would not destroy the germs.  It is safe enough to use commercial cultures.  You will have to decide for yourself whether it is worth while.

Irrigating Alfalfa.

I am making parallel ridges for alfalfa, sending a full head of water down to the end of the field between each ridge.  Should I calculate the lands to be mowed one at a time in even swaths?  The mower being 5-foot cut, would you count on cutting a 4 1/2 or 5-foot swath?  This soil is sandy, water percolating rapidly.  The fall is 8 feet to the mile.  How wide, then, would you advise making the ridges to suit the mower, and to flood economically, using from 2 to 4 cubic feet per second?  The length of the lands is across 40 acres.