SB 193 .F5 L914 Dopy 1 ^ URE FEED CROPS JOHN FIELDS Price 50 Cents Compliments of / - SURE FEED CROPS BY JOHN FIELDS Editor Oklahoma Farm Journal OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA FARM JOURNAL 1914 & Copyright 1912 Copyright 1914 JOHN FIELDS All rights reserved DEC \Tto* GI.A391018 CONTENTS General Statements 1 The Grain: Kafircorn 7 Milomaize 33 Feterita 41 Cottonseed Products 44 The Forage: Alfalfa 53 Cowpeas 100 Peanuts Ill Sorghum 118 Millet 123 Silage 125 The Pasture: Bermuda Grass 135 Other Grasses and Clovers 164 Annual Pasture Crops 177 Rainfall and Crops, by George L. Bishop 179 To the men, women, and children who are building and maintaining homes on the farms of the Central Southwest, and whose friendship and esteem are valued above all things else, this book is dedicated by THE AUTHOR. SURE FEED CROPS. GENERAL STATEMENTS 1. Abundant and regular supplies of feed for livestock are vital to individual and collective agricultural prosperity. Livestock always have been the basis of every permanently profitable system of farming. Without the certainty of production of abundant feed crops, in unfavor- able as well as in favorable years, the raising of livestock on the farm is as likely to result in loss as in profit through a series of years. If, at irregular periods, because of shortage of feed, it is necessary for farmers to dispose of their livestock, they must do so on a falling market at a great loss. Their investment in equipment for the care of livestock becomes unproductive and the entire system of farming becomes disar- ranged. When the time of plenty comes again, the building up of the breeding herds is a slow and expensive process. The supply is short and the demand is strong, making prices high. 2. Wide variations in climatic conditions in the United States call for greater differences in agricultural practice than have generally been recognized. The farmers from the Atlantic coast states who pushed into the unknown, set- 2 SUEE FEED CKOPS tling the Ohio valleys; the prairies of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa; the valleys and plains of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas; brought with them their stores of practical experience in farming. Each at first followed the methods and tried to grow the crops to which he was accustomed. Many still do so. Capital for the development of new localities was required; it must be had from the old states, and the men who controlled it must be convinced that condi- tions are as they expected them to be. Scientific ■investigation of all matters pertaining to agri- culture in the United States began along the eastern border; text and reference books relat- ing to farming have largely been written from the standpoint of conditions which do not exist in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Every influ- ence has tended to cause farmers in these states to follow the old methods and grow the old crops. 3. A system of farming, based upon experi- ence and experiment in these states of the Cen- tral Southwest, where rainfall is always vari- able and often deficient, and where strong winds and high summer temperatures introduce condi- tions unknown to farmers of the Northern and Atlantic coast states, must be developed and adopted. With limitations and modifications which are indicated elsewhere in this volume, the general plan of operations should be the following: Not less than ten acres of kafircorn or milo- GENERAL STATEMENTS 3 maize should be planted in April, May, or June every year on every farm. When drouth conies, they produce as much grain as corn averages in the best years ; and the better the soil and the season, the higher the yield of these drouth- resisters. Corn should be planted only on bottom lands. Every acre of good, rich bottom land should be put to alfalfa as soon as possible. The washy soils, hillsides, rough places, alkali lands, and low, overflow bottoms should be set to hardy bermuda grass, wherever this grass thrives. The smooth, tillable uplands and prairies should be planted to kafircorn or milomaize for a sure crop of grain for feed and sale, to cowpeas and peanuts for feed and forage and soil im- provement, and to oats, wheat, broom corn, and cotton for cash crops, wherever the soil and climate are suitable. Those who follow such a system, stick to it, and feed most of what they produce to good livestock, will be the ultimate owners of the farms of the Central Southwest. 4. Production must replace speculation before farming will be on a safe business basis. For^a period in the eighties and early nineties in Kansas, and until very recently in Oklahoma and Texas, the get-rich-quick idea seemed to dominate everything. The influence of the towns, where nearly everything centered around schemes to sell lots for greater and still greater 4 SURE FEED CROPS prices, extended to the farms. The purpose of those who farmed seemed to be to get the land into such shape and crops as would make it sell readily to someone else whose purpose was not to make it his home, but to sell at a higher figure to still others with the same idea. Per- manent agricultural prosperity cannot come until attention is turned from speculation to production. Whatever has been unfavorable in the past has been largly the fault of men who have hoped for a change in climatic conditions to suit their desires and who have failed to appreciate the fact that regular and certain production of crops, every year, is the only foundation for permanent land values. 5. Rainfall does not increase and the climate does not change as the result of the occupation of any region by men. "The So-Called Change of Climatic Conditions in the Semiarid West" is fully discussed in an article by Richard H. Sullivan, Local Forecaster, Weather Bureau, Wichita, Kansas, in the 1908 Yearbook of the IT. S. Department of Agriculture. He states: "It is the man that has changed, not the climate, and the face of nature has changed with efforts far exceeding those of the early eastern pioneers. The western man who has observed the wilderness blossom as the rose decries his own power when he charges to the account of change of climate the blessings resulting from his own initiative. It required much more than the buzzing of the drones while the climate was GENERAL STATEMENTS 5 ' changing' to make orchards, meadows, grain fields, and vineyards in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas." And again: "We are led to the conclusion that the so-called changes in climate have been nothing more than irregular oscillations; that a succes- sion of dry years has given way to recurring wet years ; that there are alternating series of warm and cool years; that drouths are possible in any part of the country at any time, winter or summer. ' ' 6. " Scientific agriculture' ' has in recent years come to be an expression with which to conjure and to obtain increased appropriations and additional jobs for friends of the adminis- tration, both national and state. "Scientists" who know but little of science have developed " systems' ' which they insist will grow corn, whether it rains or not. Those with lands for sale in regions of limited and variable rainfall have lured the hopeful settler on and, in count- less cases, left him stranded. The mysterious hocus-pocus which is supposed to make the im- possible happen with regularity has been in- voked in all of its forms. But it is coming now to be understood that the problem of profitable farming in the Central Southwest has been solved by many farmers. It may be solved by all who will grow those crops and follow the methods which experience has demonstrated may be depended upon to produce an abundance of feed for livestock, no matter how unfavorable 6 SUEE FEED CROPS the season. There is no better statement of the situation than that made by the late Dr. S. A. Knapp, who said: "Agriculture is not a science and it has but little science in it. That little science can be taught. The remainder must be acquired by observation, experience, and busi- ness methods. Agriculture might be defined as being about one-eighth science, three-eighths art, and half business.' ' THE GRAIN KAFIRCORN 7. Partial failures of Indian corn when the prairies of Kansas were being developed into farms brought heavy losses to many of the early settlers. In 1876, kafircorn was brought from South Africa, but it was not generally cul- tivated until 1890. The Kansas Experiment Station, from 1889 to 1900, investigated cultural methods and the feeding value of kafircorn. The Oklahoma Experiment Station, beginning in 1892, followed similar lines of study. The con- clusions were widely published, but they were not generally adopted and put in practice by farmers. Public sentiment opposed the admis- sion that it was necessary to grow this drouth- resisting crop. Farmers who persisted in doing so were called "kafircorn woolies" and urged to grow a "dignified crop," such as Indian corn. 8. Kafircorn made slow progress as an impor- tant crop. Butler county, Kansas, led in the production of kafircorn in 1911. In 1897, the farmers of this Kansas county planted 187,873 acres to Indian corn and it brought a return of $2.30 per acre. They had begun learning a 7 8 SUBE FEED CEOPS little of kafircorn and had 11,714 acres of it planted that year; it turned off $9.75 per acre. But the habit of planting large acreages of Indian corn is firmly fixed. In 1910, thirteen years later, these farmers had abandoned only one-third of the acreage of the crop which had brought in $2.30 per acre and had replaced it with the crop which cashed in for $9.75 per acre. In 1910, Butler county, Kansas, had 139,- 924 acres planted to corn; it yielded $6.60 per acre. And the 58,789 acres planted to kafircorn turned in $13.00 per acre. 9. The supreme test of kafircorn came in the season of 1911. Speaking of it, J. B. Adams of El Dorado, Kansas, who has had much to do with establishing kafircorn as a real crop in Butler county, said: "It was a season of un- usual severity, the dryest and hottest in Kansas as it was in Oklahoma since 1901. A pitiless sun burned up the Indian corn and parched the native grass upon the prairies. Throughout this trying ordeal, our unfailing friend, the hardy and indomitable kafir, stood sentinel upon the prairies with that patient fortitude inherent in its nature, born of centuries of hardship upon the desert; it bided its time and silently waited for rain, springing triumphantly into new life with the first downpour from the heavens. Our prairie hay turned out less than a third of a crop and our alfalfa only a little better than half a crop. But notwithstanding this accumu- lation of calamities, we pushed back the im- THE GRAIN 9 pudent face of famine, cheated the hot winds, and whipped the drouth to a standstill, with kafircorn. ' ' Referring to the influence of kafir- corn upon the fortunes of his community, Mr. Adams said : ' ' In 1896, half of the upland por- tion of our county was owned by eastern in- vestors, fire insurance and loan companies, the titles having been secured by that peculiar in- vestment process known as mortgage foreclos- ures. Uplands that had formerly been consid- ered worth from $15 to $25 per acre were of- fered without buyers at from $3 to $8 per acre. These lands, now selling at from $30 to $50 per acre, have been bought back by our farmers and most of them paid for with kafircorn.' ' 10. The cash returns from kafircorn and corn through a series of years show kafircorn 's true place among the crops grown upon the farms of the Central Southwest. The Kansas State Board of Agriculture issues annual reports based upon assessors' returns showing the acreage and value of every crop grown. The following statement of the cash value of kafircorn and corn for the past eleven years was compiled from these published re- ports. A careful study of it is commended to those who repeat the statement that Indian corn yields more than kafircorn, and who in other ways display their entire lack of knowl- edge of what they are talking about. 10 SURE FEED CROPS Value per acre. Kafircorn Corn 1901 $ 10.32 $ 3.23 1902 12.69 11.20 1903 9.30 8.74 1904 9.72 7.81 1905 9.94 10.11 1906 9.18 9.89 1907 11.13 9.25 1908 10.88 11.70 1909 11.23 10.77 1910 12.92 8.89 1911 15.72 7.68 Total, 11 years . . . .$123 . 03 $99 . 27 Average $ 11.18 $ 9.02 In Kansas, the average cash return from an acre of kafircorn during the past eleven years was 23.94 percent, greater than from an acre of corn. The figures are based on the total acre- age planted to these crops during that period. Corn turned off more money than kafircorn in but three years out of the eleven, and in each case the difference per acre was less than a dollar. In 1901, the value of kafircorn per acre was more than three times the value of corn. In 1911, an acre of kafircorn brought more than twice as much money as an acre of corn. It is not likely that the best land was planted THE GEAIN 11 to kafircorn, or that it had as good cultivation as corn. 11. Many landowners positively prohibit the planting of kafircorn on their land. Others en- courage it. One farm loan company, which has been in business in Kansas since 1881, and in Oklahoma since 1889, has adopted the following plan: "We have for three years been refusing to lease land under our charge to a tenant who will not put at least one-half of the land, in- tended for corn, to kafircorn, the blackhull white variety being preferred. On one farm in Kay county, Central Oklahoma, the tenant had in 1911 r 120 acres of Indian corn which made thirty bushels to the acre. On this same farm were 100 acres of kafircorn which made sixty bushels per acre. The land is of the same quality. The old idea that kafircorn ruins the land is passing away. If kafircorn is planted reasonably early, the grain harvested and the stalks plowed under while green, the land will be enriched. We write it in the lease that the tenants shall plant as much kafircorn as they plant of Indian corn." 12. Growing a crop of kafircorn is not diffi- cult. In general, the same methods of prepar- ing the soil, planting, and cultivating as are used in growing Indian corn should be followed. Kafircorn will produce a crop on any soil which will grow anything else; the better the soil, the higher the yields. Hard land should be plowed 12 SUEE FEED CEOPS during the fall and winter and worked down to a firm seed bed. Flat planting gives better re- sults than listing on such soils. Very sandy soils should not be plowed. The lister should be used in the same manner as for planting corn on such lands, but shallower. 13. Blackhull white kafircorn is the standard variety. It has yielded more than others in practically all comparative tests. Seed of this variety has been selected and improved by the Kansas and Oklahoma Experiment Stations and by growers so that it is now possible to obtain first class seed for planting. Different varieties of kafircorn cross-pollenize just as do different varieties of corn. It is an advantage if all farmers in a given locality grow the same va- riety. The grade of the product to be marketed is lowered by a mixture of varieties, which al- ways bring lower prices than the pure article. A germination test of kafircorn seed should always be made before planting. When stored in bulk, it heats readily. This injures the seed so that much of it may not germinate. Kafir- corn seed which has a musty odor or which sticks togther in lumps should not be used for planting. 14. A warm soil is needed for the germination of kafircorn seed. It should not be planted until after the usual time of planting Indian corn. In Oklahoma, the highest average yields have been secured from plantings made from April 15th to THE GRAIN 13 May 15th, though much kafircorn is planted as late as June. In regions where cotton is grown, kafircorn may be planted just before planting the cotton. Not less than four months from planting time until frost is desirable for the maturing of kafircorn. Five months is better, because in very dry weather, kafircorn waits and makes practically no progress toward ma- turity. 15. The distance between plants has an im- portant bearing upon the yields of kafircorn. The rows should be not less than three and one- half feet apart. Where the average annual rainfall exceeds forty inches, single plants should be about four inches apart. The dis- tance between plants should gradually be in- creased as the average annual rainfall dimin- ishes until they are a foot apart in regions with less than twenty-five inches of rain. Planters should be adjusted so that single grains are dropped at the proper distances. The tendency is to plant kafircorn too thickly, probably be- cause most planters are equipped with "cane" plates. Blank plates should be obtained and drilled especially for kafircorn. From two to five pounds of kafircorn seed will plant an acre, varying with the distance apart at which the grains are dropped. 16. The cultivation of kafircorn should be the same as that given Indian corn. Because of the fact that kafircorn withstands drouth, many 14 SUEE FEED CEOPS fail to give it the care and cultivation which it mnst have to produce maximum yields. The plant is smaller and weaker than Indian corn when it first comes up. The first cultivations may be given with the harrow, followed by whatever implements are available. Late culti- vation should be shallow so as not to disturb the extensive root system of the kafircorn, which fills the soil more completely than the root system of Indian corn. The harrow culti- vator with fourteen teeth, or a mower wheel dragged between the rows will do satisfactory work. No crust should be permitted to form on the surface of the soil until after the grain is practically mature. 17. The harvesting of kafircorn presents some difficulties to those unaccustomed to the crop. With experience, these are quickly overcome and, with proper equipment, the work of har- vesting kafircorn can be done more quickly and cheaply than can the husking of Indian corn. The stalk and leaves of kafircorn remain green long after the grain is mature, and usually until cut or killed bv frost. The general custom in Butler county, Kansas, is to wait until the kafir- corn has had a light frost. It is then cut with a corn binder and shocked. After curing in the shock for several weeks, the bundles are headed by a knife attached to a wagon box, (19) and the fodder is reshocked. The heads are stacked like headed wheat, a layer of hay or straw being- first placed on the ground to protect them. THE GBAIN 15 The threshing is done at convenient times dur- ing the winter. 18. In the Texas Panhandle, with its dry climate, the following method, described by a Swisher county farmer, is in general use: "When the grain is to be threshed, either for the market or to be ground and fed, we use an ordinary grain header of any of the standard makes. We allow the grain to mature thor- oughly and prefer, if possible, to have one or two good frosts before cutting. Handled in this way, the grain should not be put in too large ricks on account of danger of heating. With one man to run the header, two men to run the header wagons, and one or two extra men to help unload, from twenty-five to thirty-five acres per day can be harvested. This method puts the heads in the ricks ready to be threshed at one handling.' ' There is also a kafircorn header which is bolted to the side of a wagon box and does good work where the heads are produced at a uniform height. 19. Bound kafircorn can be headed more cheaply than corn can be husked. A farmer in Custer county, Western Oklahoma, gives the following description of his plan: "I use a knife made out of an old sixteen-inch plow lay. The landside piece should be taken off and the lay sharpened and straightened. Then have a hole drilled in the point, about an inch from the end. Bolt a piece of pipe five or six feet long 16 SUEE FEED CROPS to the side of the lay for a handle. Get a flat piece of iron a little longer than the lay. Have holes drilled in each end. Bore two holes through the sideboard of the wagon box to match this iron, about an inch from the top. Put the knife in the inside of the wagon box, then the front end of the piece of iron, and bolt it. Put a couple of washers between the iron and the wagon box at the back end and bolt it. Keep the knife sharp with a file. If possible, put your box on a wagon with low wheels and put on double sideboards. One man can cut off the heads as fast as two can place them under the knife. The bundles can then be reshocked very quickly.' ' 20. Heading kafircorn by hand is entirely practicable where only limited acreages are grown. A well balanced butcher knife or a very short bladed cane knife should be used and the heads should be cut of! with as short a shank as possible, so as to hasten curing. Some leave the heads in small piles in the field for a few days before stacking; others place the heads in long ricks, eight to ten feet wide, direct from the wagons after first putting down a layer of stalks to keep the heads from the ground. Covers should be provided for use in case rain should come before the stack is completed and to protect the finished stack. If these are not at hand, the stack of kafircorn heads should be topped out with some material which will turn water. Kafircorn heads may also be stored in THE GRAIN 17 roofed cribs, such as are used for storing Indian corn. 21. Kafircorn is threshed with the regular machines used for threshing wheat and oats. Small threshers with gasoline engine on the same truck are coming into general use in West- ern Oklahoma and are especially adapted to rough localities with poor roads. For use on the farm, it is not necessary in most cases that all of a crop of kafircorn be threshed. It is cus- tomary for the producer to do the threshing and it is well to delay this work until winter, when it may be done more cheaply, and the threshed grain will not heat so readily when stored. Ventilation from the bottom should al- ways be provided in bins where threshed kafir- corn is to be stored. Make one ventilator for each four feet of length of bin, extending across the bin and through the wall on each side, and raised about one inch from the floor. Two pieces of one by four lumber, spaced six inches apart with blocks of wood and covered on the two open sides with galvanized screen wire and open to the outside air at the ends, make good ventilators. 22. Concerning markets for kafircorn, H. M. Cottrell, Agricultural Commissioner of the Rock Island Lines, after extended inquiry among the largest buyers of grain in Chicago, made the following statement : ' i Kafircorn and milomaize are worth ninety percent, as much as the same 18 SUBE FEED CEOPS weight of corn for feeding work horses, beef and dairy cattle, hogs and sheep. The limited supply on the markets and the strong demand for these grains for poultry feeds has kept the price at or above that of corn. This has made it impossible for stockmen to buy these grains for the regular feeding and fattening of live- stock. A number of grain men have been con- sulted and every man stated that whenever the supply of kafircorn and milomaize became so large that it assumed an important place in the markets, it would be absorbed just the same as corn, oats, barley, and other feeds, selling at a price compared with the price for other grains proportionate to its feed value.' ' To reach the markets, enough must be grown close to a ship- ping point to make it to someone's interest to buy and ship. There may have been no cash markets for single loads of kafircorn. But a thousand or ten thousand loads will find a ready market, no matter what the size of the corn crop. Kafircorn is usually quoted on the markets by the hundred weight instead of the bushel of fifty-six pounds. From seventy-five to eighty pounds of kafircorn heads, if well cured, will thresh out fifty-six pounds of grain. 23. Methods of feeding kafircorn differ but little from the best methods of feeding Indian corn. Kafircorn must be ground to obtain its full feeding value. In digestion experiments conducted by the writer at the Oklahoma Ex- periment Station in 1897- '98, two-thirds of the THE GRAIN 19 weight of whole kafircorn fed to steers was re- covered from the dung, practically unaffected by the digestive juices. It is true that hogs following steers fed whole kafircorn will put most of it to good use, but steers being fattened should be at more profitable work than pre- digesting kafircorn for hogs. Coarsely ground kafircorn contains 5.79 percent, digestible pro- tein and 56.54 percent, digestible carbohydrates and fat. Average corn meal contains 6.13 per- cent, digestible protein and 74.36 percent, di- gestible carbohydrates and fat. Average analyses of kafircorn show that it contains a total of 11.2 percent, protein and 3.1 percent, fat; Indian corn contains a total of 10.4 per- cent, protein and 5.0 percent, fat. 24. For horses, kafircorn heads may entirely take the place of corn. The heads may be fed without grinding, but the feed is improved by running the heads through feed cutters which will cut them into quarter to half-inch pieces. The ration is improved by the addition of a limited amount of bran, shorts, or cottonseed meal, but this is not necessary if the horses have alfalfa, cowpea, or peanut hay. (81) It is de- sirable, however, when prairie hay is fed. 25. As feed for calves, kafircorn meal fed dry has been shown by the Kansas Experiment Station to be well suited to feed with skimmilk. Kafircorn meal has a tendency to constipate 20 SUEE FEED CEOPS animals to which it is fed and this overcomes the scouring effect of the skimmilk. 26. For fattening steers, ground kafircorn may entirely take the place of Indian corn. Ex- cellent results have been obtained when ground kafircorn was fed with enough alfalfa hay or cottonseed meal to balance the ration. The re- sults are not as satisfactory when ground kafir- corn is fed alone and kafir or corn stover, prairie or sorghum hay, is used for rough feed. Comparisons of corn meal and kafircorn meal made at the Kansas Experiment Station, where some alfalfa hay was fed, showed ground kafir- corn to be worth only 7 percent, less than ground corn for fattening steers. Beginning in 1899, the Oklahoma Experiment Station made a series of feeding experiments to ascertain the com- parative value of corn meal, kafir meal, alfalfa hay, and kafir stover as beef producers. The trials were repeated three times. In the last year of the experiment, corn meal and alfalfa hay produced an average daily gain per steer of 2.39 pounds. Each pound of gain required seven pounds of corn and six pounds of alfalfa hay. The steers fed ground kafircorn and al- falfa hay made a dailv gain of 2.36 pounds each and each pound of gain required seven and one- third pounds of grain and six and one-half pounds of alfalfa hay. 27. Fed to dairy cows, kafircorn should al- ways be ground and it is especially important THE GRAIN 21 that something be fed to balance the ration and overcome the constipating tendency of the kafir- corn. Alfalfa, cowpea, or peanut hay is excel- lent for this purpose and when they are on hand, no feed need be purchased. If ordinary roughness is fed, the grain ration should con- sist of two-thirds ground kafircorn and one- third bran or shorts; or three-fourths ground kafircorn and one-fourth cottonseed meal. It is wasteful to feed unground kafircorn to cattle of any sort, and especially to dairy cows. The grain need not be threshed before grinding. Ordinary sweep mills, with proper attachments, will grind kafircorn heads just as they grind corn. Ground kafircorn heads are entirely satis- factory for all classes of cattle, but the ration should always be balanced with alfalfa, cowpea, or peanut hay, or cottonseed meal. 28. Growing pigs should be fed alfalfa, cow- pea, or peanut hay, or shorts in addition to kafircorn heads, or ground kafircorn, which should be moistened before feeding. Kafircorn heads should be fed on a slightly sloping floor so that the refuse will be worked to one side. As an exclusive ration, kafircorn will not take the place of corn in pig feeding. Kafircorn con- tains less oil than corn, and pigs fed exclusively on ground kafircorn quickly become constipated and get out of condition. This trouble may be entirely avoided by balancing the ration with home-grown feeds which are rich in protein. (150, 172, 184.) 22 SUEE FEED CKOPS 29. For fattening hogs, ground kafircorn or ground kafircorn heads may practically take the place of corn, though the addition of some- thing to balance the ration is desirable and profitable. There is nothing better than alfalfa, cowpea, or peanut hay for this purpose. There is less waste if the hay is cut into short lengths before feeding, but the cheapest gains will come from feeding the hay in low racks where the hogs can get at it without wasting it. At the Oklahoma Experiment Station, one lot of 115 pound shoats was fed what cowpea hay the pigs would eat in addition to a mixture of one-half kafircorn meal and one-half corn meal. They consumed four and three-fourths pounds of grain for each pound of gain. Another lot fed the same kind of grain but no cowpea hay con- sumed eight and one-fifth pounds of grain for each pound of gain. The lot receiving cowpea hay had better appetites, ate more grain, and made much better gains than the lot which did not receive cowpea hay. If none of these hays is to be had, cottonseed meal, if judiciously fed, may profitably be used. Five pounds per day of ground kafircorn heads with one-half to one pound of cottonseed meal will make a good ration for a hundred-pound hog. In a trial at the Oklahoma Experiment Station, pigs fed a ration of four-fifths ground kafircorn and one-fifth cottonseed meal made a daily gain of 1.28 lbs. each, using 3.19 lbs. of grain costing 1.72 cents to produce a pound of THE GKAIN 13 gain. At the same time, other pigs fed a ration of one-half ground kafircorn and one-half corn meal made a daily gain of 1.04 lbs. each, nsing 5.71 lbs. of grain costing 2.55 cents for each pound of gain. (84.) 30. As poultry feed, no single grain is supe- rior to kafircorn. It need not be ground, except for chicks. It does not tend to fatten hens rapidly as corn does and consequently is a better egg-producer. Much of the kafircorn which is marketed is used in the preparation of poultry feed and its use for this purpose is rapidly increasing. 31. Kafircorn makes good silage. 0. E. Eeed of the dairy department of the Kansas Agricul- tural College says: "For silage, kafircorn is better than cane but not as good as corn. Kafir- corn ranks between the two in food value, acre- age yield, and effect on the soil. Its special advantages over corn are that it is more drouth- resisting and yields higher. It generally yields about seven tons to the acre. ' ' Other points in kafircorn 's favor are: it is practically certain to produce a crop of grain and forage, corn may not do so in very dry seasons ; the plant remains green long after the grain is mature, thus giv- ing a longer time during which the silo may be filled; the corn plant dies quickly after the ear is formed; kafircorn is more conveniently handled by corn binders and ensilage cutters. 32. Kafircorn smut sometimes reduces the 24 SURE FEED CEOPS yields. It is different from corn smut and may be prevented by treating the seed with a solu- tion composed of one pound of formaldehyde to thirty gallons of water. With this strength of solution, the seed should be soaked for one hour and then dried. It takes about four and one- half gallons of this solution to treat one bushel of seed and the treatment costs about five cents per bushel. At the Kansas Experiment Station, untreated seed produced about thirty percent, of smutted heads while treated seed produced no smut whatever. 33. Kafircorn blight is popularly supposed to be caused by rain washing the pollen from the heads while in bloom. The Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, has recently reported the results of investigation of grain-sorghum production in the San Antonio region of Texas. The results indicate that the blasting of heads of kafircorn is due to the work of the sorghum midge instead of to rains while the plants are in bloom. The experiments also showed that when kafircorn is planted early, it has a much better chance of escaping this trouble than if planted late. Eelatively little loss has been caused by blight of kafircorn, especially where it is treated as a real crop instead of an afterthought. 34. Kafircorn seed may be selected and im- proved more easily than can seed corn. The entire plant, including the head, may be taken THE GEAIN 25 into account when selecting kafircorn seed. Plump, well-filled heads, borne by sturdy stalks of uniform height should be selected after the crop is fully matured. These should be hung- up in a dry and well- ventilated place and the grain should be left on the heads until just before planting time. Tall stalks which appear in the field should be removed before they bloom. These show a mixture with broom corn, sorghum, milo, and other related varieties and are even more undesirable than a mixture of grains of different colors in Indian corn. • The Oklahoma Experiment Station, by continued selection, developed a strain of blackhull white kafircorn having much larger grain^than the kind usually grown, and still retaining all of the other desirable characters of the crop. Many farmers have also, by continued selection, worked similar improvements in the kafircorn which they grow. 35. "Kafircorn ruins the land" is probably the most frequently offered excuse for not grow- ing kafircorn. Many farmers who carefully located their feed lots and barns near the head of a draw, so that a heavy rain will haul out the manure, say that they will not plant kafircorn "because it will ruin the land." When urged to plant kafircorn, they seem suddenly to become much concerned about maintaining the fertility of their soils. Eecent analyses published by the Oklahoma Experiment Station show that a crop of thirty bushels of kafircorn removes from the 26 SUEE FEED CKOPS soil 32.9 lbs. nitrogen, 6.5 lbs. potash, and 10.4 lbs. phosphoric acid; a crop of thirty bushels of corn removes 30,7 lbs. nitrogen, 6.8 lbs. potash, and 11.0 lbs. phosphoric acid. The differences are so slight that they amount to nothing. But since in 1911, kaflrcorn on the farm of the Okla- homa Experiment Station yielded fifty-six bushels per acre while Indian corn alongside yielded nothing, there is no question in this instance about kaflrcorn removing more of the elements of plant-food than Indian corn did. 36. Kaflrcorn dries out the soil because of its extensive root system and the fact that it con- tinues growing until killed by frost. Corn dies while kafircorn still finds enough moisture in the soil to keep it in good condition for growth when rains come. Corn is dead in August or September and quits taking moisture from the soil. Kafircorn keeps on growing until killed by a freeze and usually leaves the soil very dry in November. Land which grew kaflrcorn, unless it is sandy, should all be plowed before Christ- mas. The effect of the thorough drying of the soil can be overcome by turning the land over and giving the frosts of winter a chance to break it up so that it may absorb and hold the rain which falls. Many farmers in Butler county, Kansas, insist that kafircorn actually improves the soil. There are fields on which kafircorn has followed kafircorn for fifteen years without any reduction of yield. But on this land, the kafiroorn is headed high and the fodder THE GEAIN 27 is turned under early in the winter. The de- cayed vegetable matter has improved the phy- sical condition of the soil so that the removal of the plant food by the successive crops of grain has not yet been noticed on the yields. Kafircorn should be rotated with other crops, such as oats, cowpeas, peanuts, and cotton. With proper attention given to early and thor- ough preparation of land which has grown a crop of kafircorn, its fancied ill effects upon the soil fertility will disappear. 37. Actual experience in the growing of any crop under the varying conditions of farm prac- tice finally determines its place in a system of farming. Kafircorn is actually being grown,, marketed, and fed with profit by many thou- sands of farmers in the Central Southwest. Brief statements from a few of them, relating their experiences in 1911, follow: 38. Washita County, Western Oklahoma. "I have been planting kafircorn for three years and expect to continue planting it and to increase the acreage each year. I have my barn full of kafircorn heads now and it looks good to me." "I have lived here eleven years and have tried all of this time to grow Indian corn. Made two good crops of corn, three short crops, from ten to twenty bushels per acre, mostly trash and smut, and six complete failures. In all of these eleven years, I have never seen a failure of 28 SUEE FEED CKOPS kafircorn. It has always produced a crop, wher- ever it had any show at all, and I have never seen any kind of a crop respond more readily to good land and good cultivation than kafircorn does/' 39. Custer County, Western Oklahoma. "I have been in the state only since December 1, 1909, and got my lesson with Indian corn the first year. If it had not been for about twenty acres of kafircorn which I planted that year, I could not have pulled through. One acre of my kafircorn made more than all my crop of corn. In 1911, I had fifty-seven acres of kafircorn and milomaize and, regardless of the extreme drouth and torrid winds, it made good yields. I am billed for kafircorn, milomaize, cowpeas, and alfalfa and, unless my wife does the planting, we will not have a patch of roasting ears. The old-timers here call me a ' kafircorn wooly' and I am proud of the name." • 40. Kiowa County, Western Oklahoma. "I planted some kafircorn in April and May, 1911. In July, after it began raining, I planted two hundred acres more to kafircorn and milomaize. It made so much feed that I had to come to the Oklahoma City stockyards to buy steers to eat it. They weighed 700 lbs. and cost me $4.48 in October. They were fed this kafir and milo with just enough alfalfa and cottonseed cake to provide lubrication. On March 19, 1912, they weighed 1060 lbs. at the Oklahoma City stock- THE GEAIN 29 yards and sold for $6.25, topping the market for that weight. I'll have to grow kafircorn for a few years before I can afford to make any more attempts to prove that I live in a ' great corn country'. After this, my corn acreage will be limited to a roasting ear patch." 1 ' In 1911 from fifty-five acres of sod kafircorn, I raised 1590 bnshels of threshed grain. All the attention this had was to break the sod about three inches deep in March, and in April to plant three and one-half bushels of kafircorn with an ordinary two-horse planter. It was cut in September with a corn binder. The total expense of planting, cutting, and shocking was $104.50. Figure the crop of 1590 bushels at sixty cents, $954. Deducting $75 for threshing and $104.50 for other expenses leaves a net re- turn of $774.50 and enough roughness out of the stalks to last a natural lifetime. ' ' 41. Woods County, Western Oklahoma. "I have finally got around to the conclusion that kafircorn is the only grain for this part of Okla- homa. As long as I remain sane and live here, I shall waste but little time on corn. It is hard to give up, but these hot winds are too much for it. Even moisture and the best of cultiva- tion are no guarantee of a crop of corn." 42. Dewey County, Western Oklahoma. "I had fifteen acres of kafircorn in 1911 which made twenty-five bushels per acre. Thirty acres of corn in the same field made about six bushels 30 SUEE FEED CEOPS per acre. I shall put out another fifteen acre ' accident insurance policy' of kafircorn each year hereafter. ' ' 43. Texas County, Western Oklahoma. "To satisfy my curiosity, I measured out one bushel of kafircorn and kept it before my chickens until consumed. During the period, exactly one week, twenty-three laying hens laid eighty-one eggs, worth eighty-one cents on the market. That looks good, considering that the top price paid for kafircorn here this year has been sixty- two cents. But there were also twenty-eight early hatched pullets that helped consume the kafircorn. Most of them had recently been bought and were not used to grain except what they rustled from a milomaize field. The pul- lets must have also added considerable weight to their poor frames; at any rate, they con- sumed much of the grain." 44. Woodward County, Western Oklahoma. "I have raised kafircorn for eleven years and have always found a market for all I had to spare. Kafircorn surely gave this country a lift in 1911. There was a large acreage, on account of the failure of wheat, and the yields were from thirty to fifty bushels per acre. I raised about 1600 bushels." 45. Kay County, Central Oklahoma. "You advised planting ten acres of kafircorn. Why did you not say one hundred? Kafircorn has never failed since I have been here. An aver- THE GRAIN M age acre of kafircorn will make more beef or pork in Oklahoma than an average acre of corn will in the north. And it will make five to ten times as many eggs. ' ' 46. Pawnee County, Central Oklahoma. " Where kafircorn and milomaize were planted at the right time in 1911, they made good yields. My own made from sixty to seventy-five bushels per acre. Corn in the same field did not make over two bushels per acre." 47. Lincoln County, Central Oklahoma. "I plant plenty of other stuff for feed so that I will not need the kafircorn stalks. As soon as the heads are ripe, I cut them off with a tree pruner. As soon as I am through heading, I plow the green stalks under good and deep. I first tried this on a five-acre piece which I con- sidered the poorest spot on the farm, but it made forty bushels of Indian corn to the acre the next year. If it had not been for kafircorn in 1911, 1 would have been compelled to dispose of all my pure-bred Berkshire hogs, but I have been able to keep the best of them. ,, 48. Kingfisher County, Central Oklahoma. "I have been in Oklahoma three years; came from Canada. I have been trying to raise corn but have not been very successful. I had one hun- dred and thirty acres the first year and it aver- aged about four bushels; the next year Mtj acxGS which averaged about eight bushels; sixty 32 SURE FEED CROPS acres in 1911 and it made a total crop of about sixty bushels. I have three hundred acres for crops in 1912, and will have one hundred and forty acres of wheat, twenty-five of oats, ten of cotton, fifteen of corn, and the rest in kafir- corn. There will not be much corn for me after this." 49. Osage County, Central Oklahoma. "When the dry weather came on in 1911, we saw that we were going to lose the corn crop. I relisted the ground and planted one hundred and fifty acres to kafircorn. This made an average of forty bushels per acre and was sold for fifty cents a bushel. You can see that hereafter, kafircorn will always be good enough for me." 50. Murray County, Eastern Oklahoma. "We never had much experience with kafircorn or milomaize until in 1911 when we got all kinds of experience. Much of the corn and stubble land was planted at different dates, ranging from May 20 to August 20. Kafircorn planted in^May yielded about twenty bushels per acre. Milomaize didn't yield as much grain as kafir- corn and made much less fodder. Corn was a complete failure." 51. Johnston County, Eastern Oklahoma. "Last spring I asked you about planting kafir- corn and milomaize and you gave me what I Ve found to be facts. I told you then that I in- tended to plant thirty acres of kafircorn and am THE GRAIN 33 kicking myself for not doing it. I planted only twelve acres and it made good." 52. LeFlore County, Eastern Oklahoma. "I planted Hive acres of kafircorn on oats stubble and it was fine ; thin land too. I got more from it than from three crops of oats." MILOMAIZE 53. The value of milomaize and its final place among the crops grown in regions of limited and variable rainfall have not been determined as fully as for kafircorn. The crop is of more recent introduction, having first been grown in the United States about 1885. Many farmers in the Central Southwest got their first experi- ence with both kafircorn and milomaize in the very dry season of 1911. After all else had failed, these crops were planted in July and early August. It is but natural that many should use the comparative returns from these crops, planted late and under unfavorable con- ditions, as a basis for determining which crop to plant on at least a portion of the land usually planted to corn. Because late planted milo- maize generally matured more grain than kafir- corn planted on the same dates, many jumped to the conclusion that milomaize is a more satis- factory crop than kafircorn. 54. Both crops have their place and the writer has given much attention to determining the 34 SUEE FEED CEOPS conditions under which one is to be preferred to the other. For fifteen years, and especially throughout the season of 1911, information bearing upon this has been gathered by cor- respondence and personal investigation. In the fall of 1911, the entire matter was gone over with W. D. Bentley, G. L. Bishop, and F. F. Ferguson, agents of the farmers' co-operative demonstration work of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, who travel constantly over Oklahoma, inspecting the work of county agents and visiting farmers who are striving to improve their methods. 55. The grain crop to replace all or a portion of the corn, if it is to attain much importance, must be planted at about the same time that corn is usually planted. There is an interval of about a month between the time corn and cotton are planted, approximately April 15 to May 15 in Oklahoma. Planted between these dates, kafircorn is more resistant to drouth than milomaize. In 1911, early planted kafircorn generally matured a good crop while much of the milomaize planted at the same time died. Many instances were reported where milomaize heads had blasted in the boot, like corn tassels, while kafircorn merely stopped growing and waited for rain. 56. Harvesting with machinery is necessary in order that any grain crop may become of commercial importance. Kafircorn may be THE GRAIN 35 harvested with machinery in common use, such as wheat binders, headers and header binders, wagon box kafircorn headers, and corn har- vesters. Milomaize, even under the best con- ditions, is not easily harvested by machinery and if planted early, is usually very difficult to gather. A close examination of fields of these two crops will make this difference very clear. Very few men would choose the job of harvest- ing one hundred acres of milomaize instead of a like acreage of kafircorn. And these few wouldn't do it again. 57. Milomaize matures grain in a shorter time than is required by kafircorn. This char- acteristic makes it more desirable than kafir- corn for regions with high altitude and short growing seasons. Where the average annual rainfall is less than twenty-five inches, milo- maize is preferred as a grain crop. In those localities, the crop is usually planted in June, If planted earlier, milomaize will furnish early grain feed for hogging down. Where the aver- age annual rainfall is between twenty-five and forty inches, milomaize may be planted on wheat or oats stubble immediately after har- vest. Kafircorn resists the work of chinch bugs better than milomaize and if the bugs are pres- ent in the stubble, the former is safer, even for late planting. 58. Dwarf yellow milomaize is the variety most generally grown. It generally yields fully 36 SURE FEED CROPS as much and is harvested more easily than the standard yellow variety. Careful selection of seed is required to maintain the dwarf habit. The number of stalks bearing the head erect instead of on a crooked shank may also be in- creased by planting seed from erect heads ov by close planting. A white variety of milomaize is also grown to a limited extent but its value in comparison with the yellow variety has not been determined. A farmer in Beckham county, Western Oklahoma, reported: "I had two plats planted to white milomaize last year and they made forty-one bushels per acre. Some kafircorn and yellow milomaize were also raised and they made good yields. The men who raised them have plenty of feed and are selling it to those who raise cotton and plant corn." 59. A uniform product is more desirable if the grain is to be put on the market. If dif- ferent farmers on the same day offer to the buyer one load of blackhull white kafircorn, one load of red kafircorn, one load of yellow milo- maize, one load of white milomaize, one load of "fodderinktum," one load of "buncoita," and several loads of miscellaneous mixtures and crosses of these with each other and with broom corn and different varieties of sweet sorghum, the market is apt to go off. This can be shipped only as mixed stuff, no grade, and will bring low prices in comparison with what would have been obtained if full cars of either blackhull THE GEAIN 37 white kafircorn, or of yellow milomaize had been shipped. 60. Methods of growing milomaize differ but little from those used in growing kafircorn. (12-16) Thorough and early preparation of the soil and killing the weeds before planting pays well. If the crop is to be planted after wheat or oats are harvested, the stubble should be disked as the crop is cut. As soon as possible, milomaize should be planted in shallow lister furrows at about the same distance between plants as for kafircorn. (15) Frequent, shal- low cultivations should be given until the crop is well along toward maturity. 61. When a corn crop fails completely, as it did over much of Oklahoma in 1911, milomaize may yet produce good yields of grain. A farmer in Tulsa county, Eastern Oklahoma, re- ported: "I have a good bottom farm; raised from fifty to sixty-five bushels of corn to the acre with the exception of 1901 and 1911. I made twenty-five bushels per acre in 1901 and the hot winds cooked one hundred and twenty acres for me in 1911. I cut the corn off of forty acres and disked the land good. On July 19, I began planting milomaize. It came up and grew fine ; cultivated it three times. When the seed began hardening, we cut and shocked twenty acres; we headed the other twenty acres and it made better than fifty bushels per acre. The eighty acres of corn left made from 38 STJEE FEED CROPS three to twenty bushels per acre on better land." But July cannot always be depended upon to have sufficient rainfall to make this practicable every season. 62. Harvesting milomaize is usually done by cutting the heads off by hand. The irregular height of the stalks and their tendency to sprawl around, and the crooked stem on which the head is borne, make heading by machinery dif- ficult. But milomaize may be headed as cheaply as^ corn can be husked. Since the fodder of milomaize is of but little value, heading is usually put off until after frost. The heads are thus fully matured and cure out readily, though it is well to take the same precautions as with kafircorn to prevent heating. (20-21.) 63. Markets for milomaize are becoming es- tablished, the same as for kafircorn. But the best market for both of these crops is livestock to consume them on the farm which produced them. Milomaize may be threshed with the usual machinery and the methods are in gen- eral the same as for kafircorn. (21.) 64. For feeding, milomaize has about the same value as kafircorn. It has not been studied so fully by the experiment staions but there is a large accumulation of the results of practical experience. Average analyses show that milo- maize contains 10.7 percent, protein and 2.8 percent, fat. (23) The grains being larger THE GRAIN 39 jtfian kafircorn, grinding is not so essential and ( this is one of the chief points of preference by those farmers who grow milomaize instead of kafircorn for feed for their own stock. While desirable, it is not so necessary that a ration of jinilomaize be balanced with other feeds, as is the case with kafircorn. (24-30) A Tnlsa county, Eastern Oklahoma, farmer summed up his experience briefly: "Milomaize is as good feed as corn to feed whole to horses and nearly as good as corn for hogs. For poultry it is the best feed that grows, but for cattle, it should be cracked.' ' 65. "Horses doing heavy work should be given three feeds of milomaize a day," says H. M. Cottrell, Agricultural Commissioner, Eock Island Lines. "It is usually fed in the head, one-half more heads being given than would be fed of ears of corn. Most teamsters prefer to feed milomaize in the head, cutting the stem off close. The main stem of the head and the many little stems with the seed attached force the horse to do a large amount of chewing before the grain can be swallowed, and this mastica- tion grinds the grain and mixes it with the saliva, increasing the proportion digested. Ground milomaize makes a good horse feed. Horses and mules have stood well hard work all summer, such as breaking prairie, with no grain but milomaize.' ' 66. Laxative feeds, rich in protein, such as 40 SURE FEED CROPS skimmilk, alfalfa, cowpeas, and peanut hays and cottonseed meal, add to the returns obtained from feeding milomaize, either whole or ground. Ground milomaize is excellent for feeding to skimmilk calves, the starch of the milomaize re- placing in feeding value the fat removed from the whole milk by skimming. It is not neces- sary to grind milomaize to be fed to hogs. For cattle, the grain may be fed in the head but re- turns will be better if the heads or the threshed grain are ground. 67. Experience of growers and feeders of milomaize on the farms of the Central South- west is a reliable guide for others not accus- tomed to growing the crop. Conditions vary widely and general conclusions strictly ap- plicable to one locality may not entirely apply to others. For that reason, the location of the farmers making the report is given in what fol- lows: 68. Kiowa County, Western Oklahoma. "You requested us to report on the relative drouth- resistance of milomaize and kafircorn. I find that the latter stood the drouth of 1911 best. When the rains came on the fifth of July, the kafircorn was still standing and waiting to pro- duce a good crop while milomaize seemed too old to head well. These were planted the last days in April. ,, 69. Major County, Western Oklahoma. "In THE GEAIN 41 1912, I shall plant at least one hundred acres of kafircorn but no milomaize. I had both in 1911, but the milomaize isn't in it at all. I found that it was extra good for chinch bugs, while they didn't harm the kafircorn.' ' 70. Lincoln County, Central Oklahoma. "In July, 1911, I planted all of my oats stubble and other idle land to milomaize. It all matured and made a good crop. If all farmers had done the same, there would have been enough feed for all of Oklahoma without shipping any in from other states." FETERITA. BY GEORGE BISHOP. 71.— Feterita, as a crop for the certain pro- duction of grain for feed, has made such a fine showing over Western Oklahoma and other parts of the Southwest that it seems destined to fill a permanent place in the family of sure feed crops for farmers of the Plains country. Feterita is really a competitor of milo and is far superior for production to any of the mongrel strains which have been grown on most of the farms of the mid- western country. Nothing but the pure dwarf milo and pure dwarf kafir can compete with it in production when extremes of drouth have to be overcome. Eeports coming from the Amarillo, Texas, Experiment Station show that in a six years' test, feterita has out- yielded their milo but one year. This was so 42 SUBE FEED CHOPS contrary to results shown in Western Oklahoma and other parts of the West that a special trip was made to determine the reason. The cause was found to be that the milo used at the Experi- ment Station was a carefully-selected, high- yielding strain of dwarf, early red or yellow dwarf. Until the farmers of the Plains country get more of the early dwarf milo, they may expect feterita to be their best yielding grain crop on dry years. 72.— As soon as feterita matures one head— if it has moisture enough left, or if rains come — it begins with another crop of sucker heads from the side of the stalk. This makes it top-heavy and causes it to lodge badly if winds come. The erect head makes it more convenient to harvest by hand than milo, if it does not grow too tall or fall down before you harvest it. Heads cut too green and put in bulk will heat quickly. The fact that it has a large, soft grain makes it a crop suited especially for the cotton farmer who wants just enough to have grain for his team and to fatten a few hogs. It fits the needs of the small farmer who needs more grain, but is not equipped to thresh or grind. Feterita may be made to fill all the requirements of a grain feed or a finish feed for hogs, without doing anything more to it than you would to an ear of corn. It will very likely show to have THE GRAIN 4S a feed value about the same as that of milo or kafircorn. Some reports from farmers claim that it is not as good. The analysis shows it to be from one to two per cent, below milo and kafir in protein content. This crop belongs out West, where the crop is not so much a matter of choice as a matter of production. And so long as its ability to produce is enough greater than other and perhaps more desirable crops, it will be a good plan to stay on the safe side of having grain for feed every year by planting some feterita. 73.— Feterita is the quickest and surest catch crop for grain production that we have as yet found in the West. Nothing is gained by planting feterita early in the spring unless early feed is desired. Never plant it be- fore cotton planting time where cotton is grown. Plant it thin. Stalks two feet apart is not too thin. It suckers enough then to make it too thick. Thinner planting seems to make a stockier stalk to stand up and wait for harvest. Feterita will undoubtedly make good ensil- age. Varying reports have come from those having used it for ensilage. Do not grow it for ensilage where kafir will produce, but if kafir might not make the yield, plant feterita to fill the silo. Feterita is earlier than the common milo and twenty to thirty days earlier than the 44 SUKE FEED CROPS standard kafir. It has the natural drouth re- sistance of kafircorn, and when this is combined with its earliness, it makes a wonderfully sure crop. 74. " Desert wheat/ ' sometimes called "Egyptian wheat/' "Mexican wheat," or "wheat corn," is one of the "three much mis- represented sorghums" about which the U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a Farmers' Bulletin. Of it, Professor A. M. Ten Eyck of Kansas said: "The tests of this crop at this station indicate that it is not so valuable as sorghum or kafircorn either for fodder or for grain. The yields of the grain have been less than the yields of kafircorn, and the crop is objectionable because the stems are usually very slender and the crop lodges badly and is hard to harvest. In my judgment, seedsmen are sell- ing it at a high price simply because it is a novelty, or not well known." COTTONSEED PRODUCTS 75. Cottonseed is a sure feed crop not fully appreciated in any of the states which grow cotton. Oklahoma alone, in 1911, pro- duced more than 500,000 tons of cottonseed. But because of the tendency of the cotton crop to dominate and almost to drive out other lines of agriculture, resulting in very limited num- bers of livestock on farms which grow cotton, THE GRAIN 45 most of this valuable feedstuff, in the form of cottonseed meal and cottonseed cake, was shipped to northern, eastern, and European feeders. This great economic waste is caused by the failure of cotton growers of the south- western states to grow the sure feed crops with which to make a properly balanced ration of cottonseed meal and thus obtain and retain the full value of the grain crop produced along with the lint of cotton. . 76. Cottonseed should be sold to the cotton oil mills and cottonseed meal should be bought back from the mills and fed, whenever prices bear their proper relation to actual feed values. Cottonseed oil has a much higher commercial value than feeding value and is present in ex- cessive amounts in cottonseed. The exchange value of cottonseed for cottonseed meal and the relative economy of feeding one or the other depends upon the kind of animal to be fed and the rough feed which is available. Approxi- mately, a ton of cottonseed has the same feed- ing value as twelve hundred and fifty pounds of cottonseed meal, but the actual returns ob- tained from feeding a ton of cottonseed may fall far below those secured from feeding twelve hundred and fifty pounds of cottonseed ^ meal, properly balanced with kafircorn, milomaize, or corn. 77. A ton of cottonseed produces about 300 pounds of oil, 800 pounds hulls, 750 pounds cot- 46 SUEE FEED CROPS tonseed meal, 30 pounds linters, and 120 pounds waste and trash. The fertilizer constituents of a ton of cottonseed are 63 pounds nitrogen, 23 pounds potash, and 25 pounds phosphoric acid, worth not less than $12.85 if bought in the form of commercial fertilizers. Cottonseed contains 12.5 percent, digestible protein and 17.3 per- cent, digestible fat, and the difficulty in feeding cottonseed lies in properly balancing this ex- cessive amount of fat. 78. Cottonseed meal contains 37.6 percent, digestible protein and 9.6 percent, digestible fat. The fertilizer constituents of a ton of cotton- seed meal are 113 pounds nitrogen, 36 pounds potash, and 54 pounds phosphoric acid, costing at least $21.45 if bought in the form of com- mercial fertilizers. 79. Cottonseed hulls are produced in slightly larger amount than cottonseed meal by the oil mills. Cottonseed hulls contains 0.3 percent, digestible protein and 1.7 percent, digestible fat; for comparison, corn stover (fodder with the ears removed) contains 1.4 percent, di- gestible protein and 0.7 percent, digestible fat. The fertilizer constituents of a ton of cottonseed hulls are 13.4 pounds nitrogen, 20.8 pounds potash, and 8.6 pounds phosphoric acid, costing $3.38 if bought as commercial fertilizer. The most extended use to which cottonseed hulls have been put is as roughage for short-fed THE GEAIN 47 steers receiving cottonseed hulls and cotton- seed meal as practically their sole ration. 80. Cottonseed may be fed profitably to stock cattle being wintered on rough feed, the amounts being limited to about two pounds per day per head. This is about the only purpose for which it is advisable to feed cottonseed in preference to cottonseed meal or cake, and if the roughage contains considerable grain, such as kafircorn or milomaize, the feeding of small amounts of meal or cake is likely to be more generally satisfactory. Cottonseed should never be fed to hogs. They may eat some of it and get away with it if they have free range and plenty of green feed, but some of them are very likely to die. The feeding of any con- siderable amount of cottonseed to cows makes the butter hard and tallowy, and it is practically impossible to compound a properly balanced ration using any considerable amount of cotton- seed. 81. Por horses, cottonseed meal combined with three to five times as much kafircorn, milo- maize, or corn is an improvement over any of these grains fed alone. But cottonseed meal should not be fed to horses in larger amounts than this and should never be fed as the sole ration of any animal. A few experiment sta- tions have used cottonseed meal as a part of the feed for work horses and the results have been generally satisfactory. Horses do not seem 48 SURE FEED CROPS to like cottonseed meal, and the amount fed per day should in no case be more than two pounds. 82 For 'dairy cows, cottonseed meal is gen-~ erally a very economical feedstuff. It should never be fed alone. Three parts of ground kafircorn, milomaize, or corn, mixed with one part of cottonseed meal, at the usual prices, makes a cheaper, and always a more effective ration than any of these grains fed separately. The excess of protein of the cottonseed meal is balanced by the excess of starchy materials of the kafircorn, milomaize, or corn and both classes of food materials are more fully utilized by the cows. The ration should gradually be increased to the amount which the different cows will put to good use in the increased pro- duction of milk. The certainty of production of kafircorn, milomaize, and cottonseed meal in seasons of extreme drouth, and their high feed- ing value, make them of great value in main- taining the stability of the dairy industry in regions of variable rainfall. (27) Fed as sug- gested, there is absolutely no danger to the health of cows receiving cottonseed meal. In- stead, their condition and production will stead- ily improve because of their needs being sup- plied with properly balanced food nutrients. 83. For fattening steers, cottonseed meal is very satisfactory as a part of the ration. Nu- merous feeding experiments have established THE GBAIN 49 its value and determined the general manner in which it should be used. Where the rough feed consists of kafir, milo, or corn fodder, sorghum or prairie hay, the grain ration should consist of two parts ground kafir, milo, or corn to one part of cottonseed mea]. If alfalfa or cowpea hay constitutes a portion of the rough feed, the proportion of cottonseed meal in the grain ration may be reduced to one-fourth or one-fifth for the most of the feeding period, and increased to one-third toward the close. If kafir or milo fodder or silage containing consider- able grain is fed, cottonseed cake may be fed, gradually increasing the amount to four pounds per day per head. The fact always to be kept in mind is that in feeding cottonseed meal or cake to cattle of any class, they should receive kafircorn, milomaize, or corn to balance the ration. Where rough feed is abundant and con- tains some grain, cottonseed meal or cake may be fed without admixture with other grain, but slower gains will be obtained. Unless the roughage supplies grain, cottonseed meal should not comprise more than one-third of the total grain ration. 84. Hogs may follow cattle being fed cotton- seed meal and will make profitable gains, es- pecially if there are hogs enough to clean up the droppings completely and to require a lit- tle ground kafircorn, milomaize, or corn in addition. This is the most satisfactory manner 50 SUEE FEEDICROPS in which to feed "cottonseed meal to hogs and losses are very rare when this is the practice. Cottonseed meal will not do at all as an exclu- sive grain ration for hogs, bnt it may be fed with profit in amounts of from one-tenth to one- fifth of the total grain ration of fattening hogs. Long continued feeding of larger amounts of cottonseed meal to hogs frequently results in losses and when there are the first symptoms of trouble, it is well to drop the cottonseed meal out of the ration for a week or two. Many feeders sour the ration containing cottonseed meal by soaking in water; others find that hogs receiving wheat or rye pasture while on a ration containing cottonseed meal are rarely troubled from its effects. The feeder who will use cot- tonseed meal judiciously in fattening hogs will find it very profitable. The careless feeder, who will not go to the trouble of taking the sim- ple precautions necessary, is very likely to suf- fer losses. A feeder in Washita county, West- ern Oklahoma, reported : "I have never soaked nor soured a pound of cottonseed meal before feeding to hogs. I have fed cottonseed meal to as high as one-fifth of the grain ration, usually from a sixth to a tenth, for the last six years and I have never lost a hog. In the spring of 1912, for a tail-end bunch I fed them for ninety days on one-fifth cottonseed meal and ground kafircorn. They had the run of a small wheat pasture. Another man in Washita county fed out two car loads in 1910, and a finer and better THE GEAIN 51 finished bunch of hogs I never saw. He fed them soaked corn and one-fifth cottonseed meal. He soaked his corn separately and then put, it in the trough and poured the cottonseed meal over it. The hogs were all alfalfa-grown hogs. He fed them sixty days and they gained two pounds a day. Another Washita county feeder in 1911 fed seven tons of cottonseed meal to three cars of hogs at a ratio of about one to four with corn. He fed seven hundred and fifty dol- lars worth of feed and sold nineteen hundred dollars worth of hogs. This man was induced to try the meal after reading of the man who fed the two carloads the year before. But before he would risk the bunch, he visited the other feeder and then went home and penned up a few of the stringiest old sows he had to make a test for himself. They made such fine gains in so short a time without loss that he laid in a supply of cottonseed meal and went after the rest of his herd in earnest.' ' (29.) 85. As feed for calves, neither cottonseed nor cottonseed meal is satisfactory. They do not have the proper composition to replace the fat of milk removed by skimming. Ground kafir- corn, milomaize, or corn is entirely satisfactory for this purpose. (25.) 86. All of the cottonseed meal produced in the states of the southwest should be fed here. The plant food alone which it contains is worth almost as much as it sells for. It contains the 52 SURE FEED CEOPS nitrogenous material necessary to balance the excess of starch contained in kafireorn and milo- maize and its oil overcomes the slightly con- stipating tendency of these feeds. The greatest profit from these crops is obtained by feeding them to livestock in the communities which pro- duce them, thereby obtaining the higher prices for the finished product, and retaining the ele- ments of plant food to maintain the fertility of the soil for the production of future crops. But an abundance of cottonseed meal cannot be utilized in the absence of production of kafir- corn and milomaize, in years when corn is a failure. And the fact that cottonseed meal is one of the surest of feed crops is the reason for including it in this discussion. It is a foolish waste for the farmers of the south to continue shipping their fertility to Europe, receiving in return scarcely more than they pay for plant food bought as commercial fertilizers. But they can escape from this waste only by the produc- tion of other sure feed crops which will place the livestock industry on a foundation from which it cannot be dislodged by a season of short rainfall and excessive temperatures. THE FORAGE ALFALFA 87. Alfalfa fully compensates for the uncer- tainty of the corn crop in regions having a variable annual rainfall averaging from twenty- five to thirty-five inches. Within this belt in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, a larger pro- portion of the total area than of any other part of the earth's surface of equal size is producing alfalfa profitably. Texas contains a vast, un- developed region of a similar character which ultimately, there is every reason for believing, will grow alfalfa fully as well. With the full utilization of suitable soils in the production^ of alfalfa, and appreciation of the certainty with which kafircorn, milomaize, and cotton produce grain for raising and fattening all classes of livestock, the people of this region, who once resented its being designated ' ' semi-arid ; ' ■ will be proud to proclaim it as such. 88. Alfalfa is invulnerable, almost, to damage from long-continued drouth when once firmly established. In Oklahoma, the seasons of 1909 and 1910 were below the average in amount and seasonable distribution of rainfall. The year 53 54 SUEE FEED CROPS ' following, 1911, surpassed all previous records for unfavorable conditions. In September of that year nearly all of the alfalfa fields in some counties looked brown and almost bare of vege- tation, and many feared that the alfalfa had died. In April, 1912, after sufficient rains to soak the soil and penetrate the subsoil to a depth of perhaps five feet, not a single field of alfalfa which was examined along fifty miles of road, in a county where drouth had been most severe, appeared noticeably damaged. Where it had not been pastured, the alfalfa was then standing from six to ten inches high. During the years of drouth, it had produced more net returns than any other crop. And when the rains came, without expenditure of money, time or effort, save perhaps to loosen the sun-baked soil, alfalfa was ready to produce a crop in May worth more money than the net returns from other crops after an entire season's labors. The marvelous ability to withstand extremes of drouth and heat which alfalfa has shown, when once established, furnishes the strongest of rea- sons for extending the acreage until it occupies all suitable soils within this region where soil and climate are so favorable for its growth. 89. Not all soils will grow alfalfa profitably under " ordinary conditions of preparation of the soil and care of the stand of alfalfa when once secured. The most favorable soils are the fertile, alluvial, and comparatively level lands THE FORAGE 55 bordering the streams, above the overflow and commonly called "second bottom land." The best of these are those with a close surface soil changing rapidly to a moderately open subsoil into which the tap roots of alfalfa may easily penetrate. When the subsoil is not of very tough clay, with rock close to the surface, the surface soil may even be quite sandy and, aside from increased difficulty in obtaining a stand which may be overcome by proper methods which are discussed later, (98) be entirely sat- isfactory for maximum alfalfa production. The character of the soil rather than its loca- tion with reference to streams determines its natural adaptability to this crop and many wide areas of such soil exist far removed from streams. 90. Fertility of the soil is important in estab- lishing alfalfa. It is established with difficulty, for example, on soils which have been cropped to wheat successively for many years until de- ficient in available plant food, and especially in available nitrogen. Sandy soils on which have been grown clean culture crops, without re- turning vegetable matter to the soil, until most of the humus has disappeared are not in con- dition for seeding to alfalfa. The "hard lands" which have been farmed for several years without manuring until they have become sticky and pasty, forming thick crusts after rains and great cracks after drouths, are not easily transformed into profitable alfalfa fields. 56 SURE FEED CROPS While perhaps less than one-twentieth of the total area of the states of the Central South- west is land on which alfalfa may profitably be grown on a large scale, on fully nine-tenths of the farms is some land which, if given proper preparation, will produce alfalfa at a profit for the livestock of the farm. 91. A deep seed bed, but firm right up to the surface; enough moisture in the soil to germi- nate the seed and establish the plants without rain; and good seed, free from weed seed and sure to grow, are essential to obtaining a stand of alfalfa. These conditions may be obtained in various ways but are the fundamentals which should always be kept in mind. Young alfalfa plants are exceedingly tender and often must combat conditions over which the farmer has no control. This makes it all the more impor- tant that close attention be given to those fac- tors which can be controlled. 92. Stubble lands, from which a crop of wheat or oats have been harvested in June, may be put into excellent shape for sowing to alfalfa between August 15th and September 20th, if there is sufficient rainfall during that period. Such land should be thoroughly disked just after the grain is cut, the disk harrow follow- ing the binder around the field. This saves the moisture in the soil and breaks down the stub- ble so that the soil turned over will pack read- ily and make good connection with the bottom THE FORAGE 57 of the furrow. Plowing should be done as soon as possible. The depth of plowing should de- pend on the previous depth to which the land has been plowed. It is not desirable to turn up more than an inch of the subsoil, but plow- ing to a depth of less than six to eight inches is poor preparation. Each half -day 's plowing should be gone over at once with a sub-surface packer, or a heavily weighted disk harrow set nearly straight, going along with the furrows. Enough harrowings should be given to keep down the weeds and grass and to prevent the formation of a crust, but not enough to reduce the surface soil to a powder which will blow easily. 93. Do not disk land to be sown to alfalfa at any time after it has been plowed and packed. If harrowing has been neglected until a sod of grass and weeds, or a hard crust, has formed, the damage cannot be repaired by disking and loosening the surface to a depth of three to five inches. Perhaps this is the mistake most com- monly made by those who have had no experi- ence with alfalfa. They have a notion that a "deep, mellow seed bed" will be made by the disk harrow and that alfalfa sown in such a seed bed will start right off and grow. But when sown after a disking, the alfalfa seed is placed in a bed of dust or in soil full of air spaces which dries out quickly, and unless rain 58 SURE FEED CROPS sufficient to firm the soil abont the alfalfa seed falls very soon after sowing, failure results. 94. If land for corn was plowed deep, and the corn was given clean cultivation which left it level, and the crop is matured, cut as low as possible, and removed from the land before September 1st, good stands of alfalfa may be obtained from sowing into the corn stalks. Disking the stalks, unless heavy rains follow, is likely to loosen the soil to too great a depth. The stalks should be dragged down, using a weighted section harrow thrown down flat; this may not be necessary if the stubs are very short. Harrowing enough to smooth out in- equalities in the soil may sometimes be desir- able but care should be taken not to destroy the good seed bed which the cultivation of the corn crop has prepared. (91) Exceptionally favor- able conditions and careful work are requisites for success in fall seeding of alf alf a after corn. 95. Fall seeding of alfalfa is more generally successful than spring seeding east of the thirty-five inch rainfall line, and is generally preferred by alfalfa growers. In all cases, con- ditions at the time when the sowing should be done must determine whether to sow or to save the seed and wait until spring. Unless the seed bed is well settled and filled with moisture, so that the sowing may be completed not less than thirty days before the average date of the first THE FOEAGE 59 killing frost, it is safer to wait. The work of preparation will not be lost ; usually such land is in the best of condition for early spring seed- ing, if not spoiled by disking or plowing again. 96. Preparation for spring seeding should be- gin at least a year before the time alf alf a is to be sown. Weeds and grass should be killed out by growing crops which assist in their eradica- tion. If the land is to be planted to corn, cotton, or other clean culture crops, it should first be plowed deep and the work of the cultivator should be supplemented with the hoe and no weed seed should be permitted to mature. ^ If wheat or oats are to be followed the next spring with alfalfa, a crop of cowpeas (169, 170) grown on the stubble and pastured off or plowed under will add to the fertility of the surface soil and greatly improve the chances of success. The plowing should be completed in all cases before the last of December. If the soil is of the kind which drifts with the winds, it may be well to leave it rough. Methods must be modified to suit soil conditions, but harrowing and firming of the soil should be done so as to put the land in condition before March 1st for seeding when weather conditions become suitable. 97. The time of spring seeding cannot be fixed by dates on the calendar. Just when to sow must be determined by the temperature of the soil and weather conditions. The earlier al- falfa is sown after danger of hard freezes is 60 SURE FEED CROPS past, the better the chances for success. Alfalfa sown in March, if it escapes a freeze, will with- stand drouth much better than later sowings. This was well illustrated in the very unfavor- able season of 1911 when practically the only spring-sown alfalfa which came through with a good stand was that sown in March. Alfalfa sown in April has an unequal struggle with the winds and weeds of spring, and if sown in May, there is danger of damage from the dashing rains. The later the sowing in the spring, the more trouble there will be with weeds and grass. 98. Sandy lands comprise approximately one- third of the area of Oklahoma. Not all are so sandy that they blow, but there are wide areas where it is very difficult to hold the soil in place until crops are established. Methods of get- ting alfalfa established on such soils are very different from those necessary to success on hard lands. With soils only moderately sandy, and in regions where there is usually moisture enough for fall seeding, plowing may be done in June or July and the soil should be worked down as firmly as possible. The danger of loss then comes from the fall and winter winds. Some have overcome the blowing by scattering rotten straw with a manure spreader, just thickly enough to stop the sweep of the winds but not enough to smother the plants. It may be necessary to press the straw into the soil by running a disk harrow, set straight, over it. THE FOBAGE 61 Others have sown a small amount of sorghum, kafircorn, or broom corn seed, or spring oats with alfalfa in the fall. These come up, make some growth in the fall, but are killed by frost. The dead plants remain through the winter and into spring, and protect the alfalfa plants from the wind. 99. New land, if the soil is sandy, is better for alfalfa than soil which has been farmed without manuring until most of its vegetable matter has disappeared. The sod, when chopped up with a disk harrow, will hold the sand to- gether until the alfalfa covers it. 100. Decayed vegetable matter, incorporated with sandy soils, will help hold them in place until alfalfa may be established. Some have successfully followed the plan of sowing sor- ghum on sandy soil in the spring and plowing it under just before it heads. This decays quickly and is followed with spring oats sown early in September. This when frozen down protects the surface of the soil and prevents drifting. In March, alfalfa is sown into the dead oats with a disk drill, disturbing the soil cover as little as possible. These are a few of the ways which have been tried with varying results on very sandy lands. It taxes the pa- tience and ingenuity of the man who is farm- ing sandy land when he sets about getting a stand of alfalfa. When once established, the crop, however, is worth all of the perseverance 62 SUEE FEED CROPS necessary to obtain it. Where the sandy land is reasonably level, with water ten to twenty feet from the surface, permanent success with al- falfa when once established is certain. 101. The amount of seed usually sown is twenty pounds per acre. If conditions for sow- ing are ideal and the alfalfa seed is perfect, ten pounds to the acre is enough. That amount of seed, if all of it grows, will make more plants than there is room for. But it is rare that everything is just right and fifteen pounds to the acre is as little as it is advisable to sow under average conditions. It is a waste of seed to sow more than twenty pounds. The best seed for sowing in the states of the Central Southwest is that produced as near as possible to the place where it is to be sown. Seed pro- duced on irrigated land is not satisfactory. 102. Alfalfa seed should be tested for germi- nation and examined for weed seed before pur- chasing, if possible, and certainly before sow- ing. The Experiment Stations, at Manhattan, Kansas; Stillwater, Oklahoma; Fayetteville, Arkansas; and College Station, Texas, make these tests, usually without charge. An ounce of the seed should be sent at least two weeks before a report is needed. Neglect of this pre- caution may .result in getting a troublesome start of dodder and other pests along with the alfalfa. THE FORAGE 63 103. ■ * Alfalfa will not grow here ' ' is an expres- sion frequently heard by way of apology for wasting fine alfalfa lands in growing wheat or cotton, or trying to grow corn on them. A town- ship in southern Oklahoma, along the Red River, furnishes one example. It is a beautiful coun- try, comparatively level, with excellent roads and a sandy loam soil with a comparatively open subsoil. Many farmers reported that alfalfa "does no good" there; that it had been tried and died out. This is an old story and has been repeatedly disproven after the men who farm the land have learned how to grow alfalfa. Farther west in Oklahoma, other communities along the same river, with exactly similar con- ditions, though not quite so favorable, have found alfalfa the most profitable crop which they can grow. 104. Thickening a thin stand of alfalfa is not always easily done, and it is practically im- possible after the stand is more than a year old. If a satisfactory stand is not obtained from spring seeding, it may be thickened by harrow- ing or drilling in five to ten pounds of seed per acre in September, and again early the follow- ing March if the fall seeding failed to take hold. In the same manner, an unsatisfactory stand of alfalfa from fall seeding may be thickened by sowing more seed early in March, giving a light harrowing to cover. After alfalfa is more than a year old, it is better to plow- up a poor stand 64 SUEE FEED CEOPS and start over again, than to attempt to thicken it by sowing seed. 105. Sowing alfalfa seed should be carefully done. Drilling, with implements which may be properly adjusted, permits the seed to be placed at a definite depth in moist soil and completely covered. Tins is especially important with sandy soils. "With firmer soils, broadcasting is satisfactory. The soil should never be disked just before sowing. Instead, if the soil is full of moisture and a crust is just beginning to form on the surface, it should be harrowed be- fore broadcasting onlv enough to make dis- tinct harrow marks and slightly break the crust. Then a good cross harrowing after sowing will place most of the seed in moist soil and cover it to the proper depth. Alfalfa should not be covered to a depth of more than an inch to an inch and a half in such soils. If that depth of covering will not put the seed in moist soil, con- ditions are not right for sowing. In sandy soils, the seed may be placed as deep as two to three inches. 106. The care of young alfalfa is of vital im- portance in establishing a stand. Weeds and grass often interfere and, at times, choke out the alfalfa before it becomes established. In the absence of weeds, spring sown alfalfa should not be clipped until it begins blooming or the leaves begin turning yellow and dropping off. The cutterbar of the mower should be set high. THE FORAGE 65 If young alfalfa is clipped short in hot weather, much of it may die before the buds have pushed out new leaves. But if it is not cut when bloom- ing begins or the leaves begin dropping, the plants rapidly lose vitality. The treatment of weedy alfalfa must vary with the kind of weather and the kinds of weeds. Enough cut- tings should be made to keep the young alfalfa from being shaded out, but they should be made at such times as are most likely to weaken the weed growth. This may sometimes be done when the weeds are in bloom. Crabgrass makes the most trouble with alfalfa sown in the spring and frequent mowings are necessary to give the young alfalfa a chance at the sunlight. Alfalfa sown in the fall, if a stand is obtained, is usually not much damaged by grass and weeds unless the land is very foul. It pay always to kill out weeds and grass before sowing alfalfa, rather than to attempt it afterwards. 107. For hay, alfalfa should always be cut when about one-tenth of the plants have come into bloom, or the lower leaves begin turning yellow and dropping off, or new growth begins from the buds at the base of the stems. Cut at this stage, the largest yield of digestible food materials will be obtained and the largest total crop through the season will be secured. When alfalfa comes into full bloom before cutting, many leaves are lost and the leaves are the most valuable part of the crop. The stems also be- 66 SUKE FEED CEOPS come woody and less of them are eaten; new growth also starts more slowly from stems which have partially matured. Many stands of young alfalfa are weakened by " waiting for it to get big enough to cut", after it has begun blooming. 108. Methods of curing alfalfa hay must, of necessity, vary greatly, depending upon the amount of growth, moisture in the soil and air, wind and sunshine. All steps taken should be directed toward saving the greatest possible amount of leaves. This can be accomplished by keeping the plants alive and transpiring mois- ture ^through the leaves for the longest possi- ble time after cutting. Allowing to wilt in the swath and to cure in windrows, formed prefer- ably with a side-delivery rake, seems to be the best general plan. West of the line of thirty inches average annual rainfall, weather condi- tions are often such that the problem is to get the alfalfa raked and stacked before it has dried out too thoroughly. It should not be put up as long as juice may be squeezed from a twisted bunch of stems. But it should not be permitted to lie in the swath until most of the leaves rattle off as it is raked. Every cutting of a crop of alfalfa requires the good judgment of the man in charge, working for the proper condition of the product instead of blindly fol- lowing any set of rules. The fullest possible use should be made of machinery in handling THE FORAGE 67 alfalfa, especially where there is any consider- able acreage of it. Sheds for storing the hay, and stack covers, quickly pay back their cost in preventing damage from rains. 109. Cultivation of alfalfa needs to be done with judgment and must vary greatly with the character of the soil and the extent to which the alfalfa has been pastured. The over-enthusias- tic use of the disk harrow, while seeming to give temporary benefit, has weakened many good stands of alfalfa. An ordinary smoothing har- row, weighted and set so that it will take hold, may be used with profit before growth starts in the spring on practically all alfalfa over one year old. And it can scarcely be used so as to do harm. If the soil is crusted or weeds and grass are starting at any time immediately after a crop has been cut, another harrowing will pay in nearly all cases. Where firm soils have been compacted by pasturing, judicious use of the disk harrow just as growth is starting in the spring is generally advisable. It will loosen the soil, save moisture, and admit air to the soil without which alfalfa cannot attain proper de- velopment. Spike-toothed disk harrows and special alfalfa cultivators with very narrow shovels are used by many with success and are especially useful in digging out crabgrass. All cultivation of alfalfa should be directed toward eliminating useless and harmful plants without doing damage to the crowns and roots of the al- n si am crops 5 - .ingle ev - . . . . . . . ■ . ■ ■ this s ! I ■ s tone bo — ---;— " c ' - _- .; = m : : : ... : - • ■ - - « - - r ~"-:~ :v. ; j v 111. A seed crop en I rained witi s In : no. at the time al- THE FORAGE 69 falfa is coming into bloom, whether the alfalfa should be cut for hay or left for seed. A strong, vigorous growth of plants and a soil full of moisture do not give ideal conditions for seed production. Instead, the best yields of seed are obtained from a rather short growth and moderately dry soil. Heavy rains coming while a short growth of alfalfa is in bloom may force new growth which, coming up among the old growth, will prevent the formation and curing of a good seed crop. It requires about the time necessary for the growth of two cuttings of alfalfa hay to grow and mature a crop of seed. With this, as with all other phases of the man- agement of alfalfa, the exercise of knowledge and judgment by the man in charge is neces- sary and no rules can be followed. When ob- tained, a seed crop is very profitable. In the season of 1911, yields as high as twelve bushels of alfalfa seed per acre were reported from small areas in Oklahoma, and large crops of from ^.ve to ten bushels per acre were frequent. But on the average, from two to five bushels per acre is a very fair yield. 112. Dodder is a pest of alfalfa when once it gets started. It is a native plant in at least part of Oklahoma but oftener is sown with alfalfa seed. The seed is somewhat similar to that of alfalfa and should be carefully guarded against. After dodder germinates, it twines about the alfalfa stems and takes root in them, becoming 70 SUEE FEED CROPS a parasitic growth. Straw or trash should be piled on the small patches of dodder when first noticed, and burned. Seed should never be saved from fields of alfalfa in which there is dodder. 113. Different conditions of soil and climate present different problems in establishing and managing alfalfa. A few such problems have been selected from one year's correspondence with farmers, chiefly in Oklahoma. They may serve to present the various questions in a slightly different form from the foregoing and assist those who are determined to get for them- selves a stand of this valuable crop. 114. Alfalfa in rows. "lam farming tight land and am thinking of planting alfalfa in rows and cultivating the same as corn. Is such a plan practicable V ' — Texas county, Western Oklahoma. This plan of growing alfalfa is fol- lowed with success in Wyoming and is being experimented with by a few in Western Okla- homa. The rows should be not less than thirty inches apart and preferably thirty-six to forty- two inches. The land should be comparatively level. After the alfalfa is established, it should be cultivated shallow after each cutting and then cross-harrowed to keep the land level. Thorough preparation of the soil to get the land in good condition should precede the sow- ing. (91.) THE FOBAGE 71 115, Alfalfa on sod. u Iam having some sod broke ; it is good alfalfa land and I want event- ually to put it in that. Will it do to sow alfalfa without cultivating for at least a year?" — Jackson county, Western Oklahoma. If there is sufficient moisture, there is every reason for expecting that alfalfa will do as well sown on the sod land as after it has been cultivated for a year or two. Many have succeeded in establish- ing alfalfa on sod land. It should be plowed early at least six inches deep, then thoroughly disked and chopped fine and, if there is enough rain to soak it thoroughly, chances are good for success if the seed is sown early in March in your county. Summer tilling and sowing in the fall will be more certain to kill the native grasses. 116. Alfalfa on sandy land. "I want to sow some alfalfa in the spring on sandy land if con- ditions will permit. My land had cotton on it the past season. Should the stalks be pulled and removed before plowing, so that the soil will turn over more compactly V 9 — Logan county, Central Oklahoma. If the land is com- paratively level and not ridged up along the cotton rows, it may be just as well to chop the cotton stalks with a stalk cutter and not to plow the sandy soil. Early in February, the land should be disked and harrowed enough to smooth it, and the alfalfa seed should be sown in early March, so as to get it established ahead 72 SURE FEED CROPS of the April winds. If the wind begins drifting the sand, put on a light coat of straw or rotten hay or manure and press it into the soil by run- ning a disk harrow over it, set nearly straight. Usually, fall is better than spring for seeding alfalfa on sandy lands. Each case must be handled separately, and the individual must be prepared to meet emergencies which may arise. Many have succeeded with fall seeding by sow- ing a small amount of sorghum or broom corn seed or oats with the alfalfa. This comes up and protects against blowing and is killed by frost before it gets big enough to damage the alfalfa. The dead plants protect the surface of the soil through the winter and save the al- falfa until it covers the ground in the spring. Of course, this plan would not work at all with spring seeding, as the sorghum, oats, or broom corn would choke out the alfalfa. 117. Alfalfa on sandy land. "My farm is in the blackjacks, sandy soil. If I prepare for seeding to alfalfa as I would like and there comes a hard rain and wind, I lose out. I have five acres of wheat that my hogs ran on. How will it do to sow alfalfa into this wheat? It is thin on the ground. Would it be better to pre- pare the land and sow a few oats with the al- falfa ? It is a waste of time and money to sow alfalfa on this land without something to pro- tect it." — Caddo county, Central Oklahoma. You may succeed in getting alfalfa started THE FOKAGE 73 where you have wheat by sowing the seed into it late in February or early in March and keeping the stock off. After the wheat and alfalfa get up, the wheat should be cut so as to let the sun shine down to the alfalfa. If you want to sow in the spring, this plan is as likely to suc- ceed as any. 118. Alfalfa in orchard. "Will alfalfa injure apple, pear, or other fruit trees V — Major county, Western Oklahoma, Alfalfa will almost certainly kill fruit trees if established in the orchard. It is possible that it might not kill pear trees but, in general, the orchard is the last place alfalfa should be sown and then only after it has been determined that the orchard is not wanted any longer. Alfalfa is able to with- stand the effect of drouth because of the long tap root which it sends into the subsoil. In sea- sons when the trees are short of moisture for maturing fruit and keeping alive, the alfalfa will already have exhausted much of the limited supply and the trees will perish. 119. In kafircorn stubble. "Last March, I plowed and planted ten acres of kafircorn and cowpeas alternately. By the time the kafir got up, the sandburrs had sodded. I let the whole mess go until July, plowed the stuff under, double harrowed, and sowed kafir and cane for feed ; cut and stacked the last of October. This left the ground clean. With so much moisture in the ground, it appears to be my chance for 74 SUEE FEED CEOPS ten more acres of alfalfa. Would it be advisable to sow right in where I cnt off the feed? The soil is sandy loam and is nice and loose. The ground had two good plowings last year. It has been snowing here for twenty-four hours and we had seven feet of moisture before it be- gan.' ' — Ellis county, Western Oklahoma. This is a good chance for establishing alfalfa on sandy soil. Alfalfa should be sown into the stubble without any preparation and the earlier it is sown and misses a freeze, the better will be the chance for alfalfa getting established and overcoming the sand burrs. With abundant moisture and a sandy soil, the stubble left on the land will be of advantage in preventing blow- ing. 120. In humid climate. "I have black sandy loam with yellow clay foundation, prairie bot- tom land ; also some sandy mountain land with red clay foundation. Will either do to sow to alfalfa?" — Muskogee county, Eastern Okla- homa. If the prairie bottom land is well drained and does not overflow, it is the land on which you should endeavor to establish alfalfa. This soil may be sour and if it is, ground limestone should be applied at the rate of about a ton to the acre. If the land is weedy, it probably would be well to put it to oats, plow as soon as the oats are cut, and work it down to a firm seed bed so that the alfalfa may be sown as early in September as there is sufficient moisture. THE FORAGE 75 You will probably obtain better results from fall sowing than from spring sowing in Muskogee county. 121. In kafircorn stubble. "I have a piece of bottom land which I wish to get set to alfalfa. I sowed this land to alfalfa in the spring of 1909 but did not get a good stand, so I plowed it up in the spring of 1911 and planted corn. When the corn failed, we planted cane and kafir- corn. This land was well plowed last spring and is clean but it was too dry to fall plow and now it is too wet. Will it do to disk thoroughly and sow alfalfa this spring without plowing it again !" — Tillman county, Western Oklahoma. With such an abundance of moisture, it is pos- sible that you may be able to get this land in shape for sowing without plowing. The stubble of the sorghum and kafircorn should be disked out as soon as you possibly can and this should be followed by a sufficient number of harrow- ings to put the surface in condition for sowing. With enough rain to settle the soil loosened by the disking, the land should be in good shape for sowing to alfalfa early in March. 122. Oats after alfalfa. "I have thinned one piece of my alfalfa with hogs and have plowed it up, but it was not wet enough to plow more than three or four inches deep. Will that do for oats? I want a sowed crop so as to fall plow and get it back to alfalfa the following spring. This piece of land has been in alfalfa 76 SURE FEED CROPS four years ; has been farmed since 1896, and had been plowed from eight to ten inches deep be- fore seeding to alfalfa. ' ' — Custer county, West- ern Oklahoma. The old alfalfa field which has been plowed shallow ought to be in good con- dition for seeding to oats by the last of Feb- ruary; in better condition, perhaps, than if it had been plowed deeper. If you can get the oats stubble plowed deep soon after harvesting, you may be able to get the land in shape for fall seeding to alfalfa and thus gain a little time. If conditions for fall seeding are not good, the land will be in the best of condition for spring seeding. 123. Alfalfa in wheat. "I have a field in wheat and want to put it in alfalfa. The ground is in good shape and there is a good stand of wheat. Will it pay me to sow alfalfa in the wheat this spring? Or would I better wait until fall?" — Kingfisher county, Central Oklahoma. It certainly will not pay to sow alfalfa in wheat. The stubble should be disked as the wheat is being cut, and the land plowed and prepared for fall seeding. 124. Alfalfa after cowpeas. "I have cowpeas on some land which I want to sow to alfalfa this fall; also some rotten manure mixed with dirt out in the cow lot. Will it do to plow the cow- peas and manure under or is it better to make hay of the cowpeas and disk the manure in?" — Cleveland county, Central Oklahoma. It will THE FOKAGE 77 be better to remove the cowpeas and use them for hay, and then disk in the manure. It will not be possible to get a properly firmed seed bed for fall seeding if the cowpeas are plowed under. Turning the cowpeas and ma- nure under early in the fall will put the land in good condition for spring seeding. 125. Alfalfa in oats. "I have forty acres of old land which I sowed to oats about January 1st. They are coming up fine and not hurt by the freeze. What would you think of sowing al- falfa right on the oats ? This is sometimes done and it does look as if, with this wet season, it will be the thing to do. ' ' — Jackson county, West- ern Oklahoma. Usually it is poor business to sow alfalfa with oats or into oats. But with an excellent supply of moisture, it seems a shame to miss a chance of getting alfalfa established. If you want to risk it, sow the alfalfa about the last of February. Later, if the oats appear to be interfering with the growth of the alfalfa, cut them for hay rather than wait for the crop to mature grain. This will be taking a chance but it is probably worth the taking. 126. Reseeding in spring. "Last summer, right after harvest, I plowed seven acres of wheat stubbles deep for alfalfa and harrowed twice right after plowing. That was during the first days of July. About the middle of August, we had a pretty fair rain. I harrowed to break the crust, sowed alfalfa seed, and harrowed 78 SUKE FEED CEOPS again. The grasshoppers were thick here last fall and as soon as the little plants came up, they ate them off. I want to sow the same piece again this spring. Some of my neighbors tell me I should double-disk it, but I am afraid that will stir the soil up too deep. I intend to plow it shallow, only two inches deep, just enough to give the little roots a good start, because the soil is plenty moist this spring. Which is the best, double disking or plowing two to three inches deep?" — Garfield county, Central Okla- homa, This is a typical case ; there were many hundreds like it in the spring of 1912. The land should be neither plowed nor disked. As soon as dry enough in March, it should be given a very shallow harrowing with the teeth set slant- ing so as to make little furrows. Then a cross- harrowing will cover the broadcasted seed. Or the seed may be drilled into the soil without any harrowing. One of the most common causes of failure to get a stand of alfalfa is sowing on a loose seed bed. All that is needed is enough loose soil to cover the seed not over an inch deep. The disk harrow should never be used on land to be sown to alfalfa except to pack the soil immediately after plowing and fit it for har- rowing with the spike-toothed harrow. 127. Alfalfa in rotation. "I have a quarter- section of bottom land which overflows once in six to ten years. About one hundred and forty acres are suitable for cultivation. The general THE FORAGE 79 idea is to grow the maximum number of hogs each year, and to raise enough corn and alfalfa to supply them. Will you be kind enough to give me a proper rotation for this place?" — Noble county, Central Oklahoma. The proper rotation for this farm is corn and alfalfa. Some alfalfa should be plowed up each year, planted to corn, and a like acreage of alfalfa sown. Through a series of years, both corn and alfalfa will thus be grown all over the place to the ad- vantage of both. In years of overflow which killed some alfalfa, the corn acreage probably would be large. It will likely be profitable to grow considerable alfalfa, buying the additional corn necessary to finish off the hogs which are largely grown on the alfalfa. Some kafircorn should also be grown every year. 128. Alfalfa and barley. "I want to get al- falfa started but there is no use in sowing here in the spring unless a nurse crop is used to keep out weeds and crabgrass. One seed house recommends sowing in the spring, using barley as a nurse crop. Will that work here? I think it is best to sow alfalfa in the fall here. Crab- grass grew knee high here since harvest and you can guess how alfalfa would look in such a mess." — Rogers county, Eastern Oklahoma. Land which is so foul as to make a nurse crop seem desirable for alfalfa is not in good condi- tion for seeding to alfalfa. Crabgrass will be ready to do business just the same after the 80 SURE FEED CROPS barley or other nurse crop is cut, and the nurse crop will have prevented the development of the alfalfa during the cool weather before the crabgrass starts. Such land should be cultivated to get it as clean as possible and prepared for fall seeding. 129. Alfalfa dying out. "I have twenty-five acres of old alfalfa and twelve of last spring's seeding with a perfect stand on all of it. About two years ago, I noticed two streaks appearing in the large piece. They don't show much in the first two cuttings but when hot weather comes, and especially if it is a little dry, they are very noticeable, scarcely making any hay at all. These streaks are growing larger each year. This spring, the plants in them are apparently dead but I find by close examination that the roots are putting out buds under the ground so I guess they will start up after a while. The soil is rich, black, sandy loam with no gumbo or hard-pan. Some say alfalfa naturally runs out in from six to ten years and others say the roots reaching ^ hard material causes these streaks. Please give me your opinion." — Kay county, Central Oklahoma. It would be nothing but a guess to attempt to explain the trouble which you are having with your alfalfa dying out in streaks. Alfalfa under normal conditions does not run out if it has good care and the soil is favorable. It should continue being pre ^.uctive for twenty-five years or more. It will pay, how- THE FORAGE 81 ever, to plow up alfalfa when for any reason the stand becomes thin, and to rotate it with corn or other crops before reseeding. 130. Alfalfa bacteria. " Where can I get al- falfa bacteria to nse with the seed when sowing and do you think inoculation necessary to suc- cess? The soil is sandy. Where should I send a sample of soil to have it analyzed to know what crops will do best and how much soil should I send?" — Woodward county, Western Okla- homa. The only reliable place from which to obtain alfalfa bacteria is from a good field of alfalfa where the roots have an abundance of nodules on them. If you will sow about one hundred pounds to the acre of soil from such a field on the land which you expect to put to alfalfa, you will have done all of the inoculating which you can do. Artificial inoculation is not at all necessary to success with alfalfa on suit- able soils in your county. The best analysis is to prepare the land and sow the alfalfa. No soil analysis will tell, for practical purposes, what crops will do best. One thing which your sandy soil needs is humus and you can obtain this by growing cowpeas and plowing them under as preparation of the soil for alfalfa. If the cowpeas are plowed under during the early fall, the land can be got into good shape for spring seeding. 131. Seed testing". " Where can I have alfalfa seed examined to find out what weed seed it con- 82 SURE FEED CROPS tains and what percent, of the alfalfa seed will grow ?"— Baylor county, Texas. You should send an ounce sample of the alfalfa seed to the Experiment Station, College Station, Texas. It takes about ten days to do this work and there should be no charge for it. Kansas farmers should send samples to the Experiment Sta- tion, Manhattan, Kansas ; Oklahoma farmers to the Experiment Station, Stillwater, Oklahoma; Arkansas farmers to the Experiment Station, Fayetteville, Arkansas. 132. Cultivating alfalfa. " For cultivating al- falfa, is the spike-tooth disk the best at all times, or is the common disk better sometimes, especially when grass is coming up? Please tell when and how to cultivate it to get best re- sults.' ' — Garfield county, Central Oklahoma. The spike-tjooth disk harrow is more satisfac- tory than the solid disk harrow for cultivating alfalfa and cleaning out the grass. As a rule, alfalfa should be cultivated in March just as growth is starting and after each cutting if thought necessary. The disking should not be heavy, especially until after the alfalfa is two years old. Good work can be done with a weighted smoothing harrow. 133. Johnson grass and alfalfa. " I have some Johnson grass on overflow land. Could I sow alfalfa on the ground and kill the Johnson grass? Sowing it to alfalfa is the easiest way I can manage it if the overflow will not kill the THE FOEAGE 83 alfalfa. Will it do it?"— Kay county, Central Oklahoma. It is not at all certain that alfalfa will kill out Johnson grass under all conditions, though it has disposed of some thin stands. A good stand of alfalfa will withstand a con- siderable amount of overflow as long as the water keeps moving. If the water stands quietly on alfalfa for much longer than twenty- four hours, the alfalfa is usually killed. 134. Breaking a crust. "If a hard rain should come after seeding and make a crust, should this be harrowed or will the alfalfa break the crust and come through! How soon after al- falfa comes up should I use the harrow and will it pay me to get an alfalfa disk harrow ? If so, how soon should I use it?" — Pottawatomie county, Central Oklahoma. If a heavy rain forms a crust immediately after sowing alfalfa, there is little that can be done to overcome the difficulty. It is not safe to harrow, as the al- falfa seed will have germinated and the stand will likely be lost. About all that can be done is to hope for a shower that will moisten the crust and let the alfalfa out. Alfalf a should not be harrowed until it is about a year old. On many soils, it is not necessary to cultivate al- falfa. When the soil becomes compacted by pasturing or when crab grass gets started, a spike-tooth disk harrow is needed. 135. Thickening thin alfalfa. "How can I get a better stand of alfalfa after it has been 84 SURE FEED CEOPS seeded three years? It is thin in spots." — Payne county, Central Oklahoma. It is very difficult to thicken a stand of alfalfa after it is more than one year old. If seed is sown, the little plants are shaded ont by the larger ones which are well established and draw heavily upon the moisture in the soil. If the stand is too thin to give profitable yields of hay, the best thing to do is to plow it up and reseed. "I sowed twenty-eight acres of alfalfa March 23, 1911. The weeds and dry weather killed it in spots. Can I sow more seed in the spring of 1912 and hope to thicken my stand? There is a fine season in the ground and it is loose and mellow on top. I would have re- sowed in the fall of 1911 but the land was too dry." — Tillman county, Western Oklahoma. You now have your last chance to thicken this thin stand of alfalfa, Five to ten pounds of alfalfa seed per acre should be drilled or broad- casted and harrowed in early March. This will give the alfalfa a chance to catch up with that which is older, and while you may not be en- tirely successful, the chances are that the stand will be improved. "On the first of October, I sowed ten acres of alfalfa. The freeze in November killed out one-third of it. The ground is in fine condi- tion. Will it do to harrow lightly and sow again in March, not using as much seed, then harrow again after sowing?" — Tulsa county, Eastern Oklahoma, This plan of thickening thin alfalfa THE FOBAGE 85 is exactly right. It may not be necessary to harrow before sowing unless there is a crust on the soil. 136. Alfalfa and crabgrass. "I plowed some wheat stubble last summer and the crabgrass came up on it about knee high. Will it be best to plow again for seeding to alfalfa in the spring, or could I burn the grass off, and get a better and firmer seed bed by harrowing? It wasn't plowed very deep." — Rogers county, Eastern Oklahoma. The land should be put to some spring crop such as oats, rather than to attempt to get it ready for spring seeding to alfalfa with so much crabgrass in the soil. The crabgrass will almost certainly come up and crowd out the alfalfa. You missed an excellent chance when you failed to cultivate this land and keep the crabgrass down last fall. Plow this land as early as possible and sow it to oats. Disk the oats stubble immediately after the crop is cut and plow deep as soon as pos- sible. Keep harrowing and allow no weeds or grass to become established. Sow to alfalfa between August 15 and September 20, as soon as there is enough moisture in the soil to germi- nate the seed and sustain the plants for a month without rain. 137. Water near surface. "I have sixty acres of good bottom land along the North Canadian river but some tell me that water is so close to 86 SURE FEED CROPS the surface that it will not grow alfalfa. The water is from three to five feet below the sur- face. I have some sub-irrigated land which is higher, but is sandy, a dark red color.' ' — Wood- ward county, Western Oklahoma. If the water never gets closer to the surface than three feet, you will be able to establish alfalfa and main- tain it profitably for several years. If, during a very wet season, the water should come to the surface of the soil and stay there for any length of time, the alfalfa will be killed. Usually, it is well for water to be not closer than five to ten feet from the surface of land where alfalfa is sown. 138. Poisoning gophers. "I would like to know of some sure and simple way of getting rid of gophers in alfalfa." — Okfuskee county, Eastern Oklahoma. Get some raisins, cut a little slit in each raisin and insert a small crys- tal of strychnine sulphate. Keep these pois- oned raisins in a can where there is no possi- bility of the children getting them. Take a sharp pointed stick (it is better if shod with iron) and punch holes between two fresh gopher mounds until the runway is located. Drop in a poisoned raisin and plug the hole with a clod. Do this all over the field where gophers are at work and level off the mounds so that new ones may easily be seen. After about a week, repeat the operation, and if the work has been THE FORAGE 87 done carefully, that will be the finish of the gophers for quite a while. Whenever any show up, give them another dose. 139. Dodder in alfalfa. " Will you please tell me how to detect the presence of dodder in growing alfalfa! I have inquired of a dozen alfalfa men and could not find one who had ever seen any of it. What does it look like? We may have it and not know it." — Grant county, Central Oklahoma. The presence of dodder is shown by yellowish patches in the alfalfa field. When examined, the yellowish color will be found to be due to a vine which twines about the stems of the alfalfa and seems to have no connection with the soil. If at the right stage, the vines will be producing seed pods. On opening them you will find seed quite similar to alfalfa seed in appearance. These seeds germinate in the soil and after the dodder plants come up, they attach themselves to the alfalfa and live off the juices of the alfalfa plants, thus weakening and killing them. The way to kill dodder is to kill it. This can be best done by piling straw on the patches where dodder appears and burning it. If the patches are very small, they may be killed out by cutting and carefully removing the alfalfa plants to which the dodder has become attached, being very careful not to drop any dodder seed. .140. Curing alfalfa hay. "How should I handle" alfalfa hay from the time it is cut to 88 SUEE FEED CBOPS keep it from coming out of the mow musty and moldy?"— Kay county, Central Oklahoma. If alfalfa hay, as soon as it is well wilted, is turned into windrows with a side delivery rake and allowed to cure there until no juice can be squeezed out of the stems by tightly twisting a bunch of them, there should be no trouble from the hay becoming musty in the mow. There are those who say they put alfalfa hay into the mow green and pay no attention to whether or not it is dry enough ; but the average individual with human limitations will find it desirable and necessary to have alfalfa hay as dry as it can be got, without losing leaves in handling, be- fore storing it away. 141. Irrigating alfalfa. "I have forty acres of alfalfa land which can be irrigated by rais- ing the water about twenty feet. Will it pay to irrigate it? When should the water be turned on a seed crop of alfalfa and how long should the water remain on?" — Kay county, Central Oklahoma. It is entirely practicable to pump water to a height of twenty feet for the irriga- tion of alfalfa. A gasoline engine and a cen- trifugal pump will lift water that hi^h economi- cally. Alfalfa should be irrigated immediately after cutting and removing the hay. An irriga- tion of one to two inches at this time should be sufficient to produce a crop of hay and often no irrigation at all is necessary in your county. Ordinarily, there is too much moisture in the THE FORAGE 89 soil for the production of a first class seed crop in Kay county and irrigation for this purpose in a dry season should be very light. 142. Turkestan alfalfa. "I should like your opinion on trying to grow Turkestan alfalfa on some of our uplands. I have grown alfalfa on upland very successfully by specially preparing the land and fertilizing heavily. Is there any difference in the feeding value of Turkestan and common alfalfa! " — Cleveland county, Cen- tral Oklahoma. It will not be profitable for you to waste time with the variety of alfalfa called Turkestan. Trials of it in Oklahoma have shown that it does not produce as well as alfalfa which has become acclimated to Okla- homa conditions. The best alfalfa seed for you to sow on uplands is seed produced on similar soils in your locality, if it can be ob- tained. There is practically no difference in the feeding value of the two varieties, but there is considerable difference in the yield and it is in favor of your locally grown alfalfa. 143. Alfalfa in Arkansas. "I have seven acres of bottom land which I want to sow to alfalfa. It is of a black, waxey, wet nature. It was sowed to wheat last fall. Will it do for al- falfa? Can I sow it in the spring and harrow it in with the wheat V — Boone county, Arkan- sas. You will not have one chance in ten of obtaining a stand of alfalfa if you sow it with wheat in the spring. Land naturally wet is not 90 SUEE FEED CHOPS adapted to alfalfa growing unless it is drained so that water never rises closer than five feet from the surface, and preferably never closer than ten feet. If the soil is suitable, it should be plowed as soon as wheat is harvested and har- rowed thoroughly until the seed bed is well settled. Twenty pounds of alfalfa seed should be sown to the acre at any time after August 1st that the soil is filled with moisture. "I have a field of bottom land which is a loose, sandy, level loam. I am thinking of try- ing alfalfa, We are living on the James Fork bottom and no one is growing alfalfa around here. Do you think it is worth trying ?" — Se- bastian county, Arkansas. If the land is well drained, it most certainly will grow alfalfa profitably, provided it is not subject to pro- longed overflow. It certainly is well worth try- ing. In your locality, it may be well to apply lime or ground limestone to the soil before sow- ing alfalfa. 144. Measuring stacked hay. "Can you give me a good rule to measure hay in the stack when well settled !" — Alfalfa county, Western Okla-. homa. The following is one of the usual rules : To determine the number of cubic feet in a stack of hay, measure the distance from the ground on 1 one side of the stack to the ground on the other side. Subtract the width of the stack from this.' Divide the remainder by the height of the stack. Multiply this figure by the distance from the THE FORAGE 91 ground on one side of the stack to the ground on the other side; then multiply by the width; then multiply by the length; and then multiply by 0.225. This will give the number of cubic feet. Divide this by 380, the average number of cubic feet in a ton of well settled hay, and you will have the number of tons in the stack, as nearly as it is possible to estimate it. 145. Grades of alfalfa hay. The following is the classification adopted by the National Hay Association in 1905 : "Choice Alfalfa — Shall be reasonably fine, leafy alfalfa, of bright green color, properly cured, sound, sweet, and well baled. ;