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Number Tons of Alfalfa to the Acre.
Sometime since in conversation with
O. A. Fechter of North Yakima, whose
judgment as to land and property val
ues in the valley we regard very high
ly, expressed himself as having some
doubts that the Sunnyside country
was producing the large yields of al
lalla that was claimed for it. He said
that his own experience and observa
tion in handling allalia lands in the
valley would lead him to believe that
this class of lands about Suunyside
were not producing the crops that
were claimed lor tnem.
In the past lew days I had an inter
view with Mr. Arthur Stewart, who is
visiting his brother-in-law, J. R. Whit
ney, of this place, and who is now in
vestigating the claims of this country
lor lands as an investment of capital,
and he expresses himself the same as
Mr. *echter.
We have always contended that
seven tons of hay per acre was a very
conservative estimate for the average
yield of alfalfa at this place. Fearing
that the gentlemen named above
might be correct in their conclusions
I have interviewed a number of the
leading alfalfa producers of this dis
trict. The questions asked were:
■How many years have you oeen pro
ducing alfalfa?" "From your own ex
perience and observations what do you
regard as the average product of the
alfalfa fields tnat you have harvested
or seen harvested, one year with an
other, since you were your judg
ment to be based on actual measure
ments of the meadow and weight or
measurement of hay?"
Name Years experience No. tons
and observation, per acre.
W. H. Hendricks 7 9
E. M. Douglas 7 9
Jas> Henderson 7 8^
Will Stobie 7 8
A. A. Hawkins 7 8
S. H. Miller ..3 7
B. E. Ferson 8 B^4
Webber Bros 8 7Mj
D. B. Eby 3 7
L. Pace 8 .8V&
W. H. Cline 8 8.2 d
John Chisholm 7 B^4
Fred Allen 7 B*4
Making an average of a little over 8
tons per acre.
John Chisholm, Fred Allen and W.
H. Cline are among our heaviest pro
ducers of alfalfa, they have always
sold their hay to feeders and are there
fore in position to give figures as to
what their meadows have yielded
them. Mr. Chisholm now has a meadow
aggregating 75 acres, some of this is
late seeding. He is willing to be
quoted as stating that his meadows
have returned him B^4 tons per acre.
Fred Allen has about 30 acres of pro
ducing meadow and his report is the
same as Mr. Chisholm's. The three
gentlemen named above were among
the first to plant alfalfa at Sunnyside,
and are in the best position to give
figures as to what meadows will do,
one year with another, for the longest
period known in Sunnyside. New
meadows do not yield as well as old
ones, and for this reason I think those
who have been here a shorter number
of years, are not able to report as
high as those of longer years of ex
perience.
W ft. Cline says, "While I have
been harvesting alfalfa for six or eight
years I have kept an exact record only
the past three years. I now have 141
acres in alfalfa. The past three years
my alfalfa meadows have averaged
me 8.23 tons to the acre. The two
years prior the hay was measured on
(Ik- lirst of November, and the last
year it was measured as led and sold
by Weight The hay weighed out 200
poundi more per ton than it measured.
Probably if the hay were all measured
November Hist it would have been
equivalent to same by weight as by
measure."—n. M. Lichty, in the Sun
nyside Bun.
Wearing Out Wheat Lands.
Exclusive wheat growing which is
likely to be practiced on many of the
arid farms of the west for some years
to come is justly charged with reduc
ing fertility of the soil. The main rea
son for this is that the grain and fre
quently the straw are taken off the
land and nothing is returned. In the
practice of arid farming, however, sev
eral causes tend to diminish the evil
effects of continued wneat cropping.
First, the yields are smaller than those
obtained on irrigated farms and less
plant food is taken away as a result.
Secondly, the header is commonly used
on arid farms which practically leaves
all of the straw on the ground to fer
tilize it.
Then again, our ordinary soils are
extremely fertile as compared with
those under humid conditions so that
there is no immediate danger of soil
exhaustion. Experience has shown,
however, that the fertility of our soils,
if cropped too persistently and in an
unscientific manner, must necessarily
suffer gradual and serious diminution.
A rational system of rotating crops
will prevent this in the case of irri
gated places, but on the arid ranch
such rotation is, with our present ex
perience, almost impossible. The fre
quent fallowing and deep fall plowing
so often recommended for the rain
belt will in a large measure offset this
difficulty.
The only element of plant food that
is likely to be exhausted is nitrogen
which by the application of modern
scientific results, may be restored to
the coiL The element nitrogen occurs
in g.<;it quantities in the atmosphere
but is present in such form that most
plants cannot use it. All leguminous
or pod bearing plants such as alfalfa,
the rlover, vetches, peas and beans,
differ from other crops in possessing a
special power of taking nitrogen from
the air. It would, therefore, seem wise
at certain intervals, to sow alfalfa
or some annual leguminous crop on
the arid ranch in order to fertilize
the soil.
This will be profitable, even though
the crop germinates and grows only
for a few weeks and withered by the
hot weather, for during its growth it
will take from the air considerable
quantities of nitrogen which, if left in
the roots and stubble of the crop will
add to the soil's store of nitrogen. It
may be said that where some legume
is grown simply to enrich the leaves
and stalks of the crop for the purpose
of fertilization alfalfa is not best
adapted to this purpose and something
else, preferably an annual, should be
grown. On the great plains of eastern
Colorado where most of our non-rrri
gated wheat is raised, the wild sun
flower and other rankly grown weeds
spring up immediately after breaking
the soil or harvesting a grain crop.
This growth is excellent to turn under
as a fertilizer or to improve the me
chanical condition of the soil. —Field
and Farm.
All we want is your dollar
for The Ranch.
THE RANCH.
Some watchmakers i
j| harp on Railroad Watches. I
m. More than twenty \
| Elgin Watches j
JIJ have been sold for every mile of rail- i
m way trackage in the world. Sold by }
j JJ every jeweler in the land; guaranteed
; jl by the world's greatest watch works.
i M ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH CO. I
1 Elgin, Illinois. J
A Giant Harvester.
The Los Angeles Herald describes
the biggest harvesting machine'in the
world. It consists of a traction en
gine, capable of handling seventy-five
tons, and which takes the place of
sixty horses, a header or mowing ma
chine, which cuts a swath thirty-six
feet, and a threshing machine all com
plete. The threshing machine and
header are run by a thirty-horse-power
engine, entirely separate from the trac
tion engine, save that they both get
steam from the same boiler. The ap
paratus moves over the ground at
different speeds, according to the
thickness of the crop, while all the
time the header and thresher are going
at full speed, whether the grain be
thick or thin. The average speed
made is three and a half miles an hour
and 100 acres a day can be threshed
by the machine. The drive wheels
of this monster traction engine are
eight feet in diameter and have tires
forty-eight inches wide, on which are
ridges an inch and a half high. Eight
men are employed on the thresher.
Half a minute after the header starts
to work the threshed grain begins to
fall into the sacks on the other side
from where it is cut, while the straw
tails into a cart behind. The heads
are carried away from the header by
a draper, or moving belt, forty-eight
inches wide. They are carried through
a colander, which breaks the beard
from the barley and shells it at the
same time, then by a narrow belt
through two cleanrs, and finally to a
bin, from which it is sacked. The
sacks are sewed and set aside as fast
as filled. When twelve sacks have
been filled they are allowed to slide
off the cart on which they are stacked
to the ground. Likewise when the
straw cart is full it is dumped. This
giant automobile is sixty feet long
and half as wide, weighing over a hun
dred tons. It uses oil as fuel, necessi
tating the use of four horses to haul
oil and water for the boiler as it trav
els around large areas.
THE MODERN FARMER.
A few years ago not many people
living in cities concerned themselves
about the farmer. They knew he lived
and delved, provided the markets with
all the good things of life, but to him
further attention was not given. Of
oourse the poets sang songs of praise
to a rural life, but that has always
been a great part of their occupation.
But nobody told of the farmer's pro
gress, of his new ways of life and what
he was doing to add to the comforts
of the rest of the world. There was
one reason for this silence in the days
that are past, and that was that the
farmer had not reached the plane
that he has reached today. Now he is
surrounded by every comfort in life,
and when he sighs for more it is be
cause human nature is never satisfied,
and human nature is the same on the
farm as anywhere else.
In saying which nothing out of the
ordinary is told to the world, but the
facts in connection with the new con
ditions should never be lost sight of.
We are all so accustomed to modern
marvels of improvement that no soon
er are we interested in the practical
development of one idea than another
is presented for our consideration. If
our grandfathers on the farm had been
told that their grandchildren would en
joy the convenience of electric cars
passing their doors in the country,
that they might transport themselves
from one town to another, or that they
could remain In their homes and talk
to their neighbors roundabout every
where, send messages, order goods and
transact other business in the towns
and cities equally as well as if they
had gone thither to perform these
things; or that they could find their
letters and newspapers delivered at
their doors, and at those very doors
pay bills by post checks; or that they
could have libraries composed of the
best books written placed within easy
reach, and always receive supplies of
new books on all manner of subjects;
or have central schools, which would
be colleges In fact, so far as teachers
and methods and instructions were
concerned, and that the children of
a large district would be conveyed to
and from these schools in comfortable
carriages; or that —impossible, they
never would have allowed the enum
eration to proceed half that length,
but would have told the informant
that his prattle had better cease, as
there was no inclination to listen to
such fairy tales. And yet, even now,
all these things have been accom
plished, and evidences are presenting
themselves every day that even great
er wonders are in store for us. There
are some modern prophets who are
shouting from housetops that the mil
lenium is near at hand, but if those
grandparents we have just mentioned
had believed that they were to experi
ence such things as the farmers of
today are enjoying they would not
have hesitated in concluding that the
world had no longer to wait for the
promised glorious epoch, as it had al
ready arrived.
