U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY BULLETIN No. 72, PART I. 
 B. T. GALLOWA1 i 
 
 CULTIVATION OF WHEA1 
 ALFALFA FIE 
 
 I). Win FAIRCHILD, Agricultural Explorer. 
 
 SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 l — i Mi Dkcemhi i: !', 1!MM. 
 [ Rj issi i "i June, L905. ] 
 
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 UNIV. OF FL LIB 
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 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
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 http://archive.org/details/cultwheOOunit 
 
I. P.I. 130. 8. P. I. D.— 41. 
 
 CULTIVATION OF WHEAT IN PERMANENT 
 ALFALFA FIELDS: 
 
 Wheal and alfalfa are being successfully grown together at the 
 same time <>n the dry uplands of North Africa. Alfalfa, although 
 doubtless one of the greatest forage crops in the world, has not so 
 far in America been capabli of utilization in a short rotation with 
 wheat, but the recent experiments of a Swiss agriculturist in Algeria 
 have proved that wheat and alfalfa run be grown to decided advan- 
 tage in alternate row -. 
 
 During an exploring trip which the writer made for the Office of 
 Seed and Plant Introduction and Distribution, in company with Mr. 
 ( !. S. Scofield, a visit was made to Setif, Algeria, where Mr. <i. Ryf, 
 in charge of the Swiss settlement there, has some remarkable experi- 
 mental grounds. We noted, among the numerous interesting things 
 with which Mr. Ryf was experimenting, a field of alfalfa planted in 
 rows 3 feet apart, between which rows, he assured us, he grew every 
 other year a crop of durum wheat. Since making this observation 
 in Algeria in 1901 the attention of the writer has been called to the 
 fact that such a rotation, if it can strictly be called a rotation, is not 
 
 a Alfalfa is probably the greatesl fodder crop oow grown in America, and 
 wheal Mill holds its place as oue of our most imiwrtant cultures. The immense 
 areas of whe.it land In the Northwest, and the spread of durum wheal cultiva 
 tion into tin- arid Southwest, where alfalfa is the principal fodder crop, should 
 make unusually Interesting the experiment of Mr. Ryf ;is reported in this 
 paper by Mr. Fairchild. 
 
 With the present increasing interest in dry-land farming in portions of the 
 West, ootablj in I'tah and Montana, the present paper is very timely, and 
 measures should by all means be taken to give the method a proper trial. 
 
 The observations of which this is a reporl were made by Mr. Fairchild and 
 Mr. C. s. Scofield during their explorations in Algeria in 1901, hut at that time 
 tin' experiments of Mr. Ryf had doI progressed far enough to meril calling them 
 to thi n of American eulth ators. 
 
 A. .1. I'n i i us. 
 
 Botanist in < 'haw . 
 Offici ei Seed and Plani 
 
 I \ rRODVCTION Wl' I >IS I RIBt IMS. 
 
 11 ashington, D. ''.. Von »ift< r t9, /'»<;. 
 
 3 
 
4 CULTIVATION OF WHEAT IN ALFALFA FIELDS. 
 
 practiced in regions in America which are similar t<> the dry uplands 
 of western Algeria so far as climate and soil are concerned, and it 
 has seemed worth while to describe this simple method which Mr. 
 Ryf has discovered and which he has now in satisfactory operation 
 on his place. 
 
 In response to a letter of inquiry, the writer received a communi- 
 cation from Mr. Ryf, dated August L2, 1904, of which a free trans- 
 lation from the French follows: 
 
 I believe more and more firmly that lucern <> is destined to play an important 
 role in all dry countries where forage is scarce. The value of the intercalary 
 culture of cereals in lucern has-been proved. 1 believe it to lie rational and to 
 solve the great problem of an economical manure crop. After numerous trials 
 with planting lucern in rows at different distances apart, we have at last 
 found that a distance of about 40 inches between double rows of the plant is 
 most satisfactory. The distance between the single rows is uniformly about 
 4 inches. Formerly we sowed the lucern in single rows, but we have found it 
 
 surer to sow it in double rows. With u r 1 seeders i be work- of sowing is not 
 
 difficult. The space of 40 inches between the double rows of lucern we sow 
 ordinarily with only three rows of wheat or other cereal, each row occupying 
 about 7 inches and the double row of lucern 12 inches, making a total of 40 
 inches. The space between the two rows of lucern is cultivated two or three 
 limes. In one of these cultivations the earth is turned toward the rows of 
 lucern; in the other, away from them. After each cultivation a harrow lam! 
 sometimes a roller) is run over the ground, providing there are stones or large 
 clods. These spaces between the rows of lucern arc sown only one year out of 
 every two, the yield in forage during the year in which the ground is left fallow 
 compensating largely for the loss which is incurred by not planting the ground. 
 In very good soils our good indigenous varieties of lucern make such a growth 
 that the rows join one another, notwithstanding the considerable distance of 
 nearly 4(1 inches which separates them. A field during tile fallow period looks 
 as if it had been sown broadcast, or at least drilled in lines very close together. 
 We get thus, on dry soil, without irrigation, two or three cuttings of lucern, and 
 pasturage more or less abundant during the remainder of the year. We feared 
 that lucern might injure the cereals planted between the rows, but there has 
 been no reason for this fear. I would add that at the time of the plowing pre 
 paratory to sowing the ground we take pains to cut off with the colter and 
 plowshare, both of which are kept well sharpened, masses of the lucern routs. 
 This operation in a measure checks the growth of i he latter during the vegeta- 
 tive period of the cereals; but being a plant of vigorous spreading habits, it 
 soon sends out new roots and shoots in such a way that the following year it 
 has regained all of its former vigor. 
 
 There are very considerable advantages in this method of culture. The lucern 
 sends its roots from 1 to •"> meters (3.28 to 9.84 feet) deep into the subsoil and 
 draws from it the water necessary for its growth. It absorbs, as well, nitrogen 
 from the atmosphere, which is I he oilier source of food. From the roots, which 
 are amputated periodically, is secured a green fertilizer which, according to 
 numerous experiments, is equivalent to a good dressing of barnyard manure. 
 But this manure, in the form of amputated roots, plays still another role quite 
 as important in dry land. It serves the purpose of a water reservoir. In fact. 
 
 oThe French name luzerne is applied in Algeria, as elsewhere to Medicago 
 sativa Linn., which in America is called alfalfa. 
 
CULTIVATION OF WHEAT IN ALFALFA FIELDS. ■ > 
 
 these roots in decomposing become like little sponges which run through the 
 soil, and iii these the rain water accumulates. These roots, penetrating ■:■ 
 thus constitute reservoirs of humidity, al the same time breaking up and rotting 
 "in the soil and subsoil, in this way furnishing nourishment and moisture to the 
 cereals which are grown between the lews, and playing the rOle of excavator al 
 t he s.- time. 
 
 our indigenous varieties of lucern which have I d acclimated in this region 
 
 since [toman times are incomparably men' valuable than the cultivated lucern 
 called dt Provence or de Poitou. The former varieties are as strong and hardy 
 as the latter are exacting and delicate, and they will last for several centuries. 
 
 it' not always, defending themselves victoriously ugainsl the w Is, which they 
 
 often kill in place of being killed by them. Among these indigenous spei ■ 
 there is one which is in all respects superior, and we are doing em- best to propsi 
 gate this. 
 
 A aumber of cultivators have adopted the intercalary culture of lucern and 
 cereals. One proprietor in Tunis wrote me recentlj thai he was going to try 50 
 hectares i 123.55 acres) of this intercalary culture. As tor myself, 1 extend my 
 cultures each year, and expect to sew next spring as large an area as the seed 
 selected will permit. A severe storm en July l.'! destroyed a large part of my 
 
 lucern which had i n cui i"i- seed, which fact I regrel exceedingly. I believe 
 
 that our indigenous lucerns would grow in .Montana and other of your cold and 
 drj regions, hut under these conditions there are certain precautions to be taken 
 in order to bring the young plants to maturity. Once well established, no 
 freezes would destroy them: of this 1 am convinced. Our climate on the high 
 plateau of Algeria, although not so cold in winter, resembles singularly thai ol 
 I he drv Staler in the central and western portions of your country. 
 
 Whether in- nut a place for this unusual method of cultivation can 
 lie found in the drier regions of this country i- well worth finding out, 
 in view of the fact thai so successful an experimenter and so practi- 
 cal a farmer a- Mr. Ryf has pronounced it a commercial success in 
 Algeria after several years of trial. 
 
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