One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 41

Presumably your soil contains enough lime, and therefore the application of gypsum at this time of the year would not be necessary. It may be desirable to top-dress with gypsum near the end of the rainy season to stimulate the growth of the plant. Gypsum, however, has no effect upon white alkali. So far as alkali goes, gypsum merely changes black alkali into white, thus making it less corrosive.

There would be no objection to pasturing lightly this fall. Be careful, however, to keep off the stock while the land is wet and not to overstock so as to injure root crowns by tramping. The manure can be used as a top dressing during the rainy season, unless you think it better to save it for the growth of other crops. Alfalfa is so deep rooting where conditions are favorable that it does not require fertilization usually on land which has been used for a long time for grain or other shallow-rooting plants.

Alfalfa Sowing with Gypsum.

I intend sowing alfalfa this fall on land that has some very compact hard spots. I aim to doctor these spots with gypsum at the rate of about 1000 pounds per acre and cultivate the gypsum in thoroughly two or three weeks before sowing the alfalfa seed. Would this be all right? Is there danger of injury to seed by coming in contact with gypsum?

Gypsum will not hurt the alfalfa seed. It is not corrosive like an alkali. Whether it will have time enough to ameliorate the soil in the spots in the period you mention depends upon there being moisture enough present at the time.

Red Clover for Shallow Land.

What can you say of red clover on shallow soils in the Sacramento valley under irrigation? How many crops, etc.?

Red clover is fine under the conditions you describe. We could never understand why people do not grow more of it on shallow land over hardpan which is free from alkali and not irrigated too much at a time.

It is good on shallow land over water, where alfalfa roots decay, etc.

Though we have no exact figures, we should expect to get about two-thirds as much weight from it as from an equally good stand of alfalfa.

Clovers for High Ground-Water.

Where, in California, is alfalfa being raised successfully above a water-table of, say, 4 feet or less, and are any unusual means used to accomplish this?

Over a high water-table, the alfalfa plant will be shorter lived according to the shallowness of soil above water. One could get very good results at from 4 to 6 feet, whereas at 2 or 3 feet the stand of alfalfa would soon become scant through decay of its fleshy root. Where the water comes very near the surface, a more shallow and fibrous rooting plant, like the Eastern red clover, should be subst.i.tuted for alfalfa in California. It is a very vigorous grower and will yield a number of crops in succession although the water might be very near the surface, as in the case of the reclaimed islands in the Stockton and Sacramento regions and in shallow irrigated soils over bedrock in the foothills or over hardpan on the valley plains. In this statement, freedom from alkali is presumed.

Vetches in San joaquin.

In Michigan I was familiar with the use of the sand vetch as a forage plant, for hay, for green manure, and as a nitrogen producer. In western Michigan, on the loose sandy soil, I sowed in September or October 20 pounds per acre for a seed crop and 40 pounds per acre for pasture, hay, or green manure. Can I expect good results in Fresno and Tulare counties without irrigation? Will fall seeding the same as wheat produce a seed crop? Will sand vetch grow on soil having one-half of one per cent alkali?

Most of the vetches grow well in the California valleys during the rainy season; the common vetch, Vicia sativa, and the hairy vetch, Vicia hirsuta, are giving best results. The proper time to plant is at the beginning of the rainy season. They will stand some alkali, especially during the rainy season, when it is likely to be distributed by the downward movement of water, but it is very easy to find land which has too much alkali for them. These plants seed well in some parts of the valley, but a local trial must be made to give you definite information.

Growing Vetch for Hay.

How many pounds of vetch seed should be sown to the acre? How many tons per acre in the crop? As I desire to change my crop, having to some extent exhausted the soil with oats, how advisable will it be to sow wheat with the vetch to give it something to climb on? If so, and wheat is not desirable under the circ.u.mstances, what? In using vetch for horse fodder, how much barley should be fed with it per day for a driving horse? For a draught horse? Is vetch sown and harvested at about the same time as other crops?

Except in very frosty places, vetch can be sown after the rain begins at about 40 to 60 pounds of seed to the acre. The yield will depend upon the land and on the moisture supply, and cannot be prophesied. One grower reports three tons of hay per acre near Napa. If the land usually yields a good hay crop, it should yield a greater weight of vetch. In mowing for hay purposes it is desirable to raise the vetch off the ground to facilitate the action of the mower. Oats would be better than wheat, because rather quicker in winter growth. If the vetch is to be fed green, rye is a good grain, but not good for hay purposes because of the hardness of the stem. There is no particular difference in the plant-food requirements of the different grains, so that there is nothing gained in that way in the choice of wheat. In feeding a combined vetch and barley hay, the ration is balanced; the feeding of grain would not be necessary, except in case of hard work under the same conditions grain is usually fed to horses and in about the same amounts. Vetch requires a longer season than ordinary oat or barley hay crop to make a larger growth, consequently an early sowing is desirable.

Cover Crop in Hop Yard.

Will you please give information concerning cow peas or the most suitable crop to sow in a hop field for winter growth, to be plowed under as a fertilizer in the spring? Also, would it injure the vines to be cut down before they die, so as to sow the mulch crop soon as possible after the hops are gathered?

Cow peas would not do for the use which you propose, because they would be speedily killed by frost on low lands, usually chosen for hops, and would give you no growth during the frosty season. Probably there is nothing better than burr clover for such a winter growth. Hop vines should be allowed to grow as long as they maintain the thrifty green color, because the growth of the leaves strengthens the root. But when they begin to become weakened and yellow they can be removed without injury. It is not necessary to wait for them to become fully dead.

Growing Cowpeas.

What is the best variety of cow peas for a forage c.r.a.p? I want a variety which with irrigation will come up after it has been cut, so as to keep growing and not be like some which I tried last year. They grew up like ordinary garden peas and were just a waste of ground.

Possibly you did not get cowpeas; they do not look like garden peas at all: they look more like running beans, which they are. The crop is not counted satisfactory except on low, moist land, for on uplands, even with irrigation, it does not seem to behave right. We do not know that a second growth can be expected, for in the Southern States it is grown as a single crop, and resowing is done if a succession is desired, the point being made at the South that the plant is adapted to this method of culture because it grows so rapidly that it can be twice sown and harvested during the frost-free period.

Cowpeas in the San Joaquin.

How late in the season will it be profitable to plant cowpeas? What is the best manner of planting? Are there several varieties? If so, which one is best adapted to plant after oats? The land can be irrigated until about August 10. Will it be advisable to plow up a poor stand of alfalfa about July 1 and plant to cow peas?

You can plant cowpeas all summer on land which is moist enough by natural moisture or irrigation to promote growth. What you will get by late planting depends upon moisture and absence of an early fall frost.

If your alfalfa stand is bad enough to need re-sowing anyway, you may get a good catch crop of cowpeas by doing as you propose. If, however, you plow under much coa.r.s.e stuff in putting in the peas the growth may be irregular. It can, of course, be improved by free irrigation. On clear land moderately retentive much more is being done in summer growth of cowpeas without irrigation than expected. There are several good varieties. One of these is the Whippoorwill. Cowpeas can be sown in furrows three feet apart and cultivated, using about 40 pounds of seed to the acre, or they may be broadcasted, which takes about twice as much seed.

Cowpeas and Canadian Peas.

Would Canadian field peas and cow peas be valuable as a forage crop for cows and hogs; also as fertilizer? Please tell us also when to plant, how to plant, etc.

These plants are of high forage value as cow feed; also as a soil restorative when the whole crop is plowed under green or when the roots and manure from feeding add to the soil. But for either purpose the result depends upon how much growth you can get, and that should be told by local trial before any great outlay is undertaken. Canadian peas are hardy against frost and can be broadcasted and covered with shallow plowing as soon as the land is moist enough from fall rains - except in very frosty parts of the State. They can also be sown in drills to advantage. Cow peas are beans, and cannot be planted until frost danger is over in the spring. They are only available for summer feeding, and whether they will be worth while or not depends upon how much moisture can be held in the soil for summer growth. They should be sown in drills and cultivation continued for moisture conservation until the plants cover the ground too much to get the cultivator through.

Canadian or Niles Peas.