ALFALFA GRASS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4135, 22 June 1874, Page 3

ALFALFA GRASS.

Mention was lately made of the receipt of ' samples of alfalfa grass from California, and of their distribution, for the purpose of experimenting as to how the grass was suited for the soil and climate of this Colony. In a Southern paper there appears an article describing the experience of a Mr. Jennett, in the growth and use of this particular grass, and from that description we quote the following hints, which may bo serviceable to farmers who have procured samples, and to others who may be desirous of making experiments. Mr. Jennett says :-frIn May we cut and sold the crop on twenty acres for SI,OOO, not weighed, but estimated at seventy-five tons loose hay, hauling it about one mile afterwards ; mowed it once, and then pastured it until February so closely that the field looked like a dust bed, and the knowing ones said we had killed it out. Notwithstanding all this, it came out this last spring in such a condition as to satisfy any oue that it cannot be grazed close enough to injure it. We had a piece of two acres that 1,500 sheep camped on for three weeks, until not a vestige of the alfalfa could be seen, and that came out this last spring as well as any. Covering the Seed. —I was satisfied that rolling in the seed, also brushing it in, on our land would not do. Since then I have harrowed it in, and find that we get a better stand, and it takes a third less seed. If the ground is moist when the seed is sown, or if there is a good rain soon after sowing, brushing in would do. Some prefer to sow the alfalfa alone without grain. It does well either way, I prefer to sow half a sowing of barley with the alfalfa, as it protects it from the sun, and yields more the first cutting than if sown alone. Effect of Irrigation.—By irrigating before cutting the alfalfa will not dry out nor wilt while the crop is being removed. I think a great many of the failures attributed to frost are caused by the seed being so near the surface that it dries out before the root readies moisture. Alfalfa for Sheep.—We turn our lambs in August and September, after weaning, changing from one field to another as fast as eaten out. There is generally double the loss among lambs after weaning, until new feed starts, than among all the balance of the flocks. By putting them into alfalfa, this loss is saved, and the lambs make much larger sheep, and have a greater growth of wool than they would have if kept in the usual manner. Forty acres is a very good-sized field. In hot weather, sheep could graze it down every ten days with advantage. The feed should not be allowed to get over ten inches high before grazing it—if higher, it is trampled down and the growth is retarded ; the shorter it is, the better the sheep like it. We kept 3000 lambs during the months of September and October on 125 acres of alfalfa ; also kept 1000 on eight acres eight days, and it was not fed close. Since then we have grazed on the 125 acres 1100 sheep and 20 horses. It is estimated in the Eastern States, where they feed nearly six months in the year, that twenty-five tons of hay will keep the sheep during the winter of six months, or twenty tons when some grain is fed. On that basis 3GOO sheep can be kept six months on the hay from 150 acres, by cutting three times, providing it yielded two tons at a cutting, and leave the grazing, after the 15th of August, until the 15th of February, for 2000 sheep more. Natural pasturage can be had in most parts of the State, six months in the year, during the time of cutting the alfalfa hay. In preparing land for alfalfa seed it is very essentia] that it should be in the best of order, and, when it has to be irrigated, should be level, or nearly so, thus saving much time and trouble in irrigation. After ploughing and harrowing the ground thoroughly, we use a leveller of the following kind : We take a plank ten feet long, three inches thick, one foot wide, and nail or screw a saw-plate on the lower edge in front, to keel) it from wearing. Then bore a a hole near the centre of the plank, at each end, to pass a chain through to hitch to. On the back side we have two more holes, three feet apart, a little above the centre, to drive in stakes four feet long. On these stakes, near the plank, we nail a board for the driver to sit on. This leveller will handle more dirt than a halfdozen scrapers, and has the advantage over the scraper of turning over and unlocking itself as soon as the driver jumps off it. The stakes at the back keep this plank in the right position, inclining backwards slightly. The time is soon coming when every stockman will see the necessity of having his field of alfalfa for wintering use.