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 substituted 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.
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