The Book of Alfalfa — History, Cultivation and Merits. — Its Uses as a Forage and Fertilizer
* * * * Spanish clover, such as has
Usurped the Occident and dwells
On Sacramento’s sundown hills,
And all the verdant valley fills
With fragrance sweet and delicate
As wooing breath of woman is.
—Joaquin Miller.
By F. D. COBURN
Secretary Kansas Department of Agriculture.
Illustrated
1912
Orange Judd Company
New York
New Revised Edition Copyrighted 1907 by
Orange Judd Company
THERE ARE SOME SILENT SUBSOILERS THAT DO THEIR WORK WITH EASE, AND IN THEIR WAY, MORE EFFECTUALLY THAN ANY TEAM OR PLOW EVER HITCHED. THE CLOVER PLANT IS RIGHTEOUSLY FAMED AS ONE OF THESE, BUT ALFALFA IS ITS SUPERIOR. ITS ROOTS WORK, SUNDAY AS WELL AS SATURDAY, NIGHT AND DAY; THEY STRIKE 5, 10, 15 OR 20 FEET DEEP, MAKING INNUMERABLE PERFORATIONS, WHILE STORING UP NITROGEN, AND WHEN THESE ROOTS DECAY THEY LEAVE NOT ONLY A GENEROUS SUPPLY OF FERTILITY FOR ANY DESIRED CROP, BUT MILLIONS OF OPENINGS INTO WHICH THE AIR AND RAIN OF HEAVEN FIND THEIR WAY, AND HELP TO CONSTITUTE AN UNFAILING RESERVOIR OF WEALTH, UPON WHICH THE HUSBANDMAN CAN DRAW WITH LITTLE FEAR OF PROTEST OR OVERDRAFTS.
“Its long, branching roots penetrate far down, push and crowd the earth this way and that, and thus constitute a gigantic subsoiler. These become an immense magazine of fertility. As soon as cut, they begin to decay and liberate the vast reservoir of fertilizing matter below the plow, to be drawn upon by other crops for years to come.”