Book: Clovers and How to Grow Them

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CHAPTER IV

ALFALFA


Alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_) previous to its introduction into
California, from Chili, about the middle of the last century, was
usually known by the French name Lucerne. The name Alfalfa is probably
Arabic in its origin, and the term Lucerne has probably been given to it
from the Canton Lucerne in Switzerland. It has followed the plant into
Spain and South America, and now it seems probable that soon it will be
known by no other name over all the United States and Canada. It has
also been known by names applied to it from various countries for which
it has shown high adaptation, as, for instance, Sicilian Clover, Mexican
Clover, Chilian Clover, Brazilian Clover, Styrian Clover and Burgundy
Clover. In yet other instances, names have been applied to it indicative
of some peculiarity of growth, as, for instance, Branching Clover,
Perennial Clover, Stem Clover and Monthly Clover.

Alfalfa is upright and branching in its habit of growth, more so than
the common varieties of clover. It usually grows to the height of 2 to 3
feet, but it has been known to reach a much greater height. Although
possessed of a single stem when the plants are young, the number of the
stems increases up to a certain limit, with the age of the plants and
the number of the cuttings. Forty to fifty stalks frequently grow up
from the crown of a single plant where the conditions are quite
favorable to growth, and in some instances as many as a hundred. The
leaves are not large, but numerous, and in the curing of the plants they
drop off much more easily than those of the more valuable of the
clovers. The flowers are borne toward the top of the stems and branches,
and they are in a long cluster, rather than in a compact head. They are
usually of a bluish tint, but the shades of the color vary with the
strain from blue to pink and yellow. The seeds are borne in spirally
coiled pods. They resemble those of red clover in size, but are less
uniform in shape. The color should be a light olive green. The tap roots
go down deeply into the soil and subsoil where the conditions as to
texture and moisture are favorable. It has been claimed that alfalfa
roots have gone down into congenial subsoils 40 to 50 feet, but usually
less, probably, than one-fourth of the distances mentioned would measure
the depths to which the roots go. And with decreasing porosity in the
subsoil, there will be decrease in root penetration until it will reach
in some instances not more than 3 to 4 feet. But where the roots are
thus hindered from going deeper, they branch out more in their search
for food.

[Illustration: Fig. 3. Alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_)
Oregon Experiment Station]

Alfalfa is perennial. In the duration of its growth, no fodder plant
grown under domestication will equal it. It has been known, it is
claimed, to produce profitable crops for half a century. In some of the
Western States are meadows from 25 to 40 years old. Ordinarily,
however, the season of profitable growth is not more than, say, 6 to 12
years when grown on upland soils. The meadows usually become more or
less weedy or possessed by various grasses, and some of the plants die.
The plants at first send up a single stem. When this matures or is cut
back the uncut portion of the stem dies down to the crown of the plant,
which then sends out other stems. This is repeated as often as the stems
are cut down until many stems grow up from one plant as indicated above,
unless the plants are so crowded that such multiplication is more or
less hindered. The plants grow rapidly as soon as spring arrives, and as
often as cut off they at once spring again into vigorous life, where the
conditions are favorable to such growth; hence, from one to twelve
cuttings of soiling may be obtained in a single season, the former
result being obtained in arid climates, where the conditions are
unpropitious, and the latter being possible only in congenial soils,
where the winters are very mild and where the soils are irrigated.
Usually, however, even on upland soils and in the absence of irrigation,
not fewer than 3 to 5 cuttings of soiling food are obtained each year
and not fewer than 2 to 4 crops of hay.

A number of varieties so called are grown in this country. They differ
from each other more, however, in their adaptation in essential
properties relating to the quality of the pasture and fodder produced,
than in the quality of food product obtained from them. The variety
commonly grown from seed produced in the West is usually spoken of
simply as alfalfa, while that grown from seed European in origin has
been more commonly called Lucerne. The former of these has a tendency to
grow taller than the latter and to send its roots down to a greater
depth. In addition to these, such strains as the Turkestan, the Rhenish,
the Minnesota and Sand Lucerne have been introduced.

The Turkestan variety was introduced by the United States Department of
Agriculture during recent years. It was brought from provinces beyond
the Caspian in Russia, Asia. The object sought was to introduce a
variety that would better withstand the rigors of a climate dry in
summer and cold in winter than the variety commonly grown. Some strains
of this variety have proved drought resistant to a remarkable degree. It
has also shown itself capable of enduring without injury temperatures so
low as to result in the destruction of plants of the common variety. In
trials made by growers in North Dakota and Northern Minnesota, it has
been found able to endure the winter's cold in these areas. But it has
also been found that while the plants produced some seed in the Central
Mountain States, they did not produce much seed when grown in the
Northern States. Unless seed can be secured from plants grown in the
latter in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of growers, it is
feared that in time some of the hardy characteristics of this variety
will be lost if the Central and Southern Mountain States must be relied
upon as the American sources of seed supplies.

The Rhenish strain comes from Central Europe. It has been highly
commended by some European seedsmen for its hardihood, but it has been
as yet grown to only a limited extent in America. The Minnesota strain
was doubtless brought to Carver County by German farmers, by whom it has
been grown in the neighborhood of Lake Waconia for nearly 20 years. It
has been found much hardier than the common variety when grown in that
neighborhood, and the endurance of plants grown from seed of this strain
far northward has been very pronounced. As this variety produces
reasonably good seed crops in Central Minnesota, it would seem
reasonable to expect that it will become popular in Northern areas. Sand
Lucerne, which comes from Central Europe, has considerable adaptation
for poor and light soils, and in trials made at the Michigan experiment
station was found possessed of distinctive merit for such soils.

Where alfalfa can be grown freely, it is unexcelled as a pasture for
swine, and is in favor also as a pasture for horses. While cattle and
sheep grazed upon it are exceedingly fond of it, the danger that it will
produce bloat in them is so frequently present as to greatly neutralize
its value for such a use. It is a favorite pasture for fowls. In
furnishing soiling food where it produces freely, it is without an equal
in all the United States. It is highly relished by all kinds of farm
animals, not excluding rabbits and goats, and when fed judiciously may
be fed in this form with perfect safety. Its high value in producing
such food rests on its productiveness, its high palatability and the
abundant nutrition which it contains. As a hay crop, it is greatly
prized. Even swine may be wintered in a large measure on cured alfalfa
hay.

As a fertilizer, the value of alfalfa will be largely dependent on the
use that is made of the plants. When pastured or fed upon the farm, the
fertility resulting being put back upon the land, it ranks highly as a
producer of fertility. But this question is further discussed on page
191. As a destroyer of weeds much will depend upon the way in which it
is grown. This question also is discussed again. (See page 185.)

=Distribution.=--It is thought that alfalfa is more widely distributed
over the earth's surface, furnishes more food for live stock, and has
been widely cultivated for a longer period than any other legume. It is
grown over wide areas of Asia, Europe, North and South America, and its
cultivation is constantly extending. It was grown on the irrigated
plains of Babylon long before the days of Nebuchadnezzar. It was the
principal fodder used in the stables of the kings of Persia. From
Persia, it is thought, it was brought to Greece about 470 B. C., and
that its cultivation in Italy began at least two centuries before the
Christian era. Several Roman writers, as Virgil, Columella and Varro,
mention it. From Italy it was introduced into Spain and from Spain it
was doubtless carried by missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church to
Mexico and the South American States which lie west of the Andes, as
Peru and Chili. In the arid and semi-arid regions of the Andes, the
conditions were found so favorable to the growth of alfalfa that it is
now the principal forage crop grown. It is almost certain that it was
brought from Chili to California, from which it has spread over much of
the cultivated portion of the arid and semi-arid west. Western grown
seed is also the chief source of supply at the present time for all the
States of the Union.

Fully a century ago attempts were made by Chancellor Livingstone and
others to introduce it into the Eastern States, but without much
success, owing, probably, to the lack of knowledge on the part of the
people as to how it should be grown. The seed at that time was doubtless
brought from European sources, probably France. It has been noticed by
more recent growers in these States that the results from sowing such
seed do not prove as satisfactory as those from American grown seed, but
that alone should not sufficiently explain why the attempts to grow
alfalfa just referred to were not successful.

But it is not alone in the areas named that alfalfa has proved so
helpful to agriculture. In Central Asia and northward it has for long
centuries furnished the Tartars with the principal forage crop grown. In
Turkestan and other places it will grow under conditions so dry as to
forbid the vigorous growth of many hardy grasses. In Southern Asia, from
India to Arabia, it has lost none of the popular favor accorded to it
long centuries ago. In Southern Russia it is extensively grown, and up
and down the basin of the Danube. In the Mediterranean provinces of
Southern Europe it is still one of the leading forage crops. In France
it stands high in the popular estimate, and also in some parts of
Germany. And even in humid England it is grown more or less freely on
dry, calcareous soils. And the day is doubtless near when in many parts
of Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Eastern South America this great
fodder plant will be found capable of yielding abundant harvests. In
some parts of Argentina it has been claimed that it grows like a weed.

It is believed by many that alfalfa if exposed to very low temperatures
will perish and that it cannot stand as much winter exposure as medium
red or alsike clover. This is only true of some varieties. Other
varieties, as the Turkestan, for instance, will endure lower
temperatures and more exposure than the clovers named. Alfalfa has been
grown with some success at the government experiment station, Indian
Head, Sask, Canada, and yet it sometimes winter kills in Texas. As with
clover, it is injured most by exposure to sweeping winds blowing over it
in winter when the mercury is low, and the injury is more fatal just
after the removal of a snow covering and when the plants are young. Ice
forming over the fields after a sudden thaw and remaining for a time is
very liable to kill the plants. It can stand considerably more summer
heat than any of the clovers grown northward, as witnessed in the good
crops grown in some parts of Louisiana during the hottest weather of
summer. Nevertheless, with reference to temperatures, what may be termed
a mild climate, such as characterizes Southern France in Europe and
Western California in the United States, is best adapted to its growth.

It is better adapted to climates that are dry, where the plants can be
irrigated, as then rains do not interfere with the harvesting of the
hay. Even in the absence of irrigation, a climate that is reasonably dry
is preferable to one where drenching rains frequently fall, which wash
away the soil when sandy, or which fill it full of water when composed
of clay. But where rains fall frequently and in moderation, as in the
northern Puget Sound region, the effect is helpful to the growth of the
alfalfa plants, although it may add somewhat to the labor of making
alfalfa hay, and to the hazard in curing it. Alfalfa will maintain its
hold for years on some portions of the table lands of the mountain
States under conditions so dry that the plants can only furnish one
cutting of hay in a season. It is safe to assume, therefore, that
alfalfa can be grown under a wider range of climatic conditions than any
other legume grown in the United States. But the influence which climate
should be allowed to exercise on the use that is to be made of it should
not be lost from view. In climates much subject to frequent rains in
summer, it should be grown rather for soiling food and pasture than for
hay, whereas in dry climates, and especially where it can be irrigated,
it should be grown for hay, soiling food and pasture, but especially the
former.

While alfalfa can be successfully grown in one or the other of its
varieties in some portion of every State in the Union, it has its
favorite feeding grounds. The best conditions for growing it are found
in the valleys of all the Rocky Mountain States, where the growth can be
regulated by the application of irrigating waters. In these the
conditions southward are superior to those northward, because of the
milder climate, which precludes the danger of winter killing by
exposure, which occasionally happens in the more northerly of the
mountain States, and because of the more prolonged season for growth,
which adds to the number of the cuttings. This does not mean that the
river bottoms in other parts of the United States will not be found good
for growing alfalfa. It can be grown in many of these; in fact, in
nearly all of them, and to some extent by the aid of irrigation, if the
waste waters were stored, but the deposit soil in these valleys being of
much closer texture than that in the western valleys, is, on the whole,
lower in adaptation than the soil in the latter.

In the western valleys of the mountain States, alfalfa is the crop
around which it may be said that agricultural production centers. It is
the principal hay crop of those States. The extent to which it may be
grown there is revolutionizing the production of live stock on the
ranges, as it is providing food for them in winter, which is fast
removing, and will probably soon entirely remove, the element of hazard
from live stock dependent on the range pastures for support in that
season. The dairy and swine industries in those valleys must largely
depend upon it. Fruit orchards must ultimately grow on buried alfalfa
meadows, and the rotation of all crops in the same will be largely
dependent upon the growing of alfalfa. Next in adaptation to the
mountain States are, it is thought, certain soils that lie between the
Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, especially such as are in proximity
to rivers, or are underlaid with sheet water not far distant from the
surface. But an unusually large proportion of the upland soil in these
States, from Central Minnesota southward, have high adaptation for the
growth of this plant. Particularly is this true of the soils of Nebraska
and Kansas and of considerable portions of Missouri, Arkansas and
Louisiana.

In States east of the Mississippi, the adaptation is not so general, and
is more dependent on soil conditions than on those that are climatic. In
nearly all of the river bottoms of these States it will grow with more
or less success. On nearly all upland soils it will also grow well,
where the subsoil furnishes naturally good drainage. For the exception,
see page 132. But in no State east of the Mississippi, is such a
proportion of the area so highly adapted to growing alfalfa as in many
of the States west of that river. In other States areas are found in
which alfalfa will produce excellent crops, but usually these do not
embrace the larger portion of the entire area in any State. In a
considerable number of the States such areas are more or less limited,
and usually they are distributed variously in the different States; that
is, they do not lie side by side. The favorite soil conditions in these
are a good loam, preferably more or less sandy and resting upon a porous
subsoil.

A more exact idea will be given of relative adaptation in various States
in what is now submitted. In California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New
Mexico, alfalfa is now grown chiefly by the aid of irrigation, and all
of these States have highest adaptation for its growth. In some parts of
California 6 to 10 tons of cured hay are obtained in one year, with
pasture in winter additional. In Utah, good crops have been grown
successively on the same land for more than a quarter of a century. In
Colorado two cuttings are obtained the first season, and it is said that
there the plants are not easily destroyed. It yields enormously in the
irrigated valleys of New Mexico and Arizona.

In Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, it is grown with and
without irrigation. In large areas in all these States, excellent crops
are and may be grown, but the season of growth being shorter, not so
many cuttings are obtained per year as in the mountain States further
south. In Northern Idaho two cuttings may be obtained per year, even on
high, dry land.

In North Dakota, especially westward, alfalfa gives promise of
successful growth. It will grow well in much of South Dakota, especially
on sandy soils not too distant from water. In Minnesota it has been
grown successfully in Carver County since 1886. Good success is being
obtained from growing it in other parts of the State, even in some parts
of the Red River valley. In Western Iowa it is being grown with much
success, and in some portions of Eastern Iowa. In Missouri, the two
important centers for growing it are the northwest and the southeast,
but in other areas it has also done well. In Kansas it will grow well in
all parts of the State where the subsoil is porous. It has been cut for
hay in that State in less than 60 days from the date of sowing. It grows
equally well over at least two-thirds of Nebraska, especially the
eastern half, and its growth in Nebraska is rapidly extending. In the
Arkansas valley it luxuriates, and it is also being grown in Oklahoma.
In Louisiana immense fields are being grown along the Red River and in
other parts of the State. In Texas it is being grown more or less north,
east and south, and especially in the valley of the Brazos.

In the Southern States alfalfa has not in many instances been given a
good chance where tried. The plants have too frequently had to contend
there as elsewhere with ill-prepared and weedy soils and imprudent
pasturing. Yet it is being grown with considerable success, though as
yet in limited areas, in all the Southern States. It has done well in
parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, and in Georgia
are some alfalfa meadows 25 years old. In the other Southeastern States,
viz., Virginia, the Carolinas and Florida, it does well only in areas
more or less circumscribed, but it has been grown with some success even
in the rainy climate of Southern Florida.

In the States northward from the Ohio River, that is, Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, the necessity for growing alfalfa has not
been so much felt as in some other States, because of the excellence of
the crops of clover grown in these. Its growth, however, is extending in
all of these States. Much of the soil in Illinois, it is said, must
first be inoculated with the bacteria proper to alfalfa before vigorous
crops can be grown, and this is probably true of sections of Indiana
soil. Some sections of Ohio are becoming noted for the crops of alfalfa
which they have grown, and in Wisconsin Hon. W. D. Hoard succeeded in
securing 5.7 tons of alfalfa hay in one season from four cuttings made
on three-fifths of an acre.

In all the Eastern and New England States, alfalfa is being grown to
some extent. In some counties of New York, as Onondaga and Madison, it
is becoming the leading soiling and hay crop. In Massachusetts it has
borne cuttings year after year on sandy loam soil. On Long Island three
to four cuttings each season have been obtained for a series of years.
It is believed that it will grow over nearly the whole of Southern
Maryland and also in much of the eastern part of that State, and its
growth has been quite successful in parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Alfalfa will grow well in considerable areas in Canada. The statement
would seem safe that at the present time profitable crops could be grown
in some parts of every province of Canada in which the land is tilled.
In Quebec, even on high land, it usually endures the winters. Near
Montreal it has been cut for soiling food at the height of 30 inches as
early as May 15th. In some parts of Eastern Ontario good crops can be
grown, and also over considerable areas of Western Ontario. The author
grew it with much success at the experiment station at Guelph in 1890
and subsequently, and during recent years considerable areas are being
grown in several of the Lake Erie counties and in those that lie north
from them. But in no part of Ontario are the conditions for growing
alfalfa better than in some of the mountain valleys of British Columbia.

But few crops, if, indeed, any, are being experimented with at the
present time to so great an extent as alfalfa; hence, the expectation is
reasonable that there will be an enormous increase in the area grown in
the future that is near. The two chief causes of failure in the past
were want of knowledge in growing and caring for it on the part of the
growers, and the absence of the proper bacteria in the soil. Acidity in
some soils and want of drainage in others are also responsible for many
of the failures referred to. But even where it does grow reasonably
well, some trouble is found from the alfalfa failing in spots. In some
instances the cause can be traced, as when coated with ice in winter, or
where the soil is not uniform, but in other instances the precise causes
have not been determined. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, however,
greatly increased areas will be grown in the future, especially in
States in which the dairy interest is paramount or even important.

=Soils.=--It was formerly thought by many that alfalfa would only grow
vigorously on soils and subsoils sandy in character, and underlaid at
some distance from the surface with water. It is now being ascertained
that it will grow on a great variety of soils, providing they are
reasonably fertile, free from acidity, sufficiently porous below to
carry away water with reasonable quickness, and not underlaid with hard
pan or a subsoil so tenacious that it is almost impervious to water.

The best soils for alfalfa are those of the Western mountain States, and
in these the deposit soils of the river valleys stand among the
foremost. These soils are usually of much depth. Many of them have water
underneath, and the subsoil is usually so porous that the roots can go
far down in them, such is the character of nearly all the bottom land
west of the Mississippi. But in nearly all of the mountain region of the
West, from Banff in British Columbia to Mexico, alfalfa will grow well
under irrigation, or in the absence of irrigation, if ground water is
not too distant from the surface. In this region alfalfa grows more
vigorously and more persistently than in almost any other portion of the
United States.

In regions where alfalfa is not dependent upon irrigation, the best
soils probably are deep, rich calcareous loams, clay or sandy, and
underlaid with what may be termed a mild or reasonably porous clay
subsoil. With such soils the plants may be in no way influenced by sheet
water below, as on some of these in Nebraska, for instance, such water
is fully 150 feet below the surface. These soils are usually possessed
of abundant food supplies to nourish the plants, and the roots can go
far down into the subsoils to gather food and moisture. Such lands are
found more or less in nearly all the States of the Union east from the
Rocky Mountains; hence, when the requisite bacteria are present, good
crops can be grown on them in every State in the Union.

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