. "Alfalfa"; a handbook for the alfalfa grower and student. Alfalfa. I know it is a great temptation to cut a fourth crop or to" pasture it off late in the fall. Sometimes we are short of feed and we just have to take the hazard. But in doing so we are apt to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Late Cutting Reduces Vigor The field may be only partially ruined by winter's freezing, but the late cutting so weakens the remaining plants that their growth the following spring will be less vigorous, and the blue-grass and weeds may soon get the best of the alfalfa. (See Fig. 37.
. "Alfalfa"; a handbook for the alfalfa grower and student. Alfalfa. I know it is a great temptation to cut a fourth crop or to" pasture it off late in the fall. Sometimes we are short of feed and we just have to take the hazard. But in doing so we are apt to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Late Cutting Reduces Vigor The field may be only partially ruined by winter's freezing, but the late cutting so weakens the remaining plants that their growth the following spring will be less vigorous, and the blue-grass and weeds may soon get the best of the alfalfa. (See Fig. 37.). Fig. 45. Eight inches of fall growth holds the snow for winter protection. The old standard eight-inch rule—that alfalfa should have eight inches of growth before freezing weather sets in—will solve the winterkilling problem on many farms. Alfalfa needs this much stubble to hold the snow for winter protection. May Kill in Spite Care Taken But it still remains that even where every regulation of growing and handling alfalfa has been followed out, it may winterkill. Where this occurs there is only one solution of the difficulty: Use seeds of the hardiest-known varieties. There is all the difference in thf^ world between various kinds of alfalfa. Some, like the Peruvian of the Southwest, cannot stand the slightest Northern frost. Others will weather through the hardest winters and be ready for business the following spring. (See Fig. 50,) I will not say that any alfalfa is absolutely winter-proof, but there are varieties that have a double-barreled, cast-iron hardiness which makes them nearly so, and far superior to the common kinds in with- standing the rigors of severe open winter weather. 'See Fig. 31.) Common American Alfalfa There are few commercial varieties of alfalfa grown here in the United States. The common purple-flowered alfalfa is the great 53. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readab
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectalfalfa, bookyear1918
