EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 2Vi 



surface. 1 ' Buffum found that the water used in one season by the alfalfa crop would 

 cover the ground to the depth of 2.22 feet. To secure this abundant supply it is evident 

 that the plants must get their water from the deep sub-soil. For in this locality we never 

 have that amount of rainfall during - the growing season. Between the first week in April 

 and October 1 we had in 1899, 11.25 inches; in 1900, 16.6S, and in 1901, 17.23 inches. 

 Their enormous root system, however, is capable of pumping up the necessary supply, 

 provided the plants are grown in soil where there is some encouragement for the roots 

 to go down deeply. The failures to grow the common alfalfa in Micliigan, as before 

 recorded, are due largely to the winter killing of the plants. From the experience, 

 however, of numerous experiments, it is learned that winter killing is due largely to 

 surface water which freezes about the crowns of the roots, thereby destroying them. The 

 lucerne cannot live on soils where the water stands on the surface during the freezing 

 weather. 



THE SOIL AND SEEDING. 



The early introduction of alfalfa into Michigan was attended with considerable mis- 

 fortune. It came originally as a clover with the instruction that if treated the same 

 as red clover it would prove a valuable substitute, giving three or four crops annually, 

 of a superior quality of hay. Under these instructions alfalfa seed was sown on a 

 large number of Michigan wheat lields in the same manner that clover seed was usually 

 sown in the spring. The result was almost complete failure of the alfalfa crop, and 

 wherever it did grow and a few plants appeared the following year for harvest, they were 

 cut and cured in the same manner, and at the same time, as red clover. The result was a 

 perfectly valueless harvest, so far as the alfalfa was concerned. Were such methods 

 employed for growing the sand lucerne a similar result would be the outcome. 



The soil for which sand lucerne is best adapted is one with a subsoil which will permit 

 and encourage the roots to grow and develop at considerable depth. The lucernes grow 

 especially well in sandy soils and show their superiority in those light soils where other 

 crops generally suffer and die from drouth. Being a leguminous plant, the lucerne takes 

 in atmospheric nitrogen through the clustered tubercles which develop on its roots near 

 the surface of the ground. It therefore follows that a soil deficient in nitrogen provided 

 it contains enough moisture and fertility to give the plants a good start will probably 

 exhibit the good qualities of the lucerne to best advantage. Mr. C. B. Ferguson of 

 Almont, Michigan, grew over a ton of dry hay to the acre the lirst year on deep muck, and 

 found a large number of plants alirc on the plot the next spring. 



The ground should be carefully prepared early in the spring, by thorough, deep plow- 

 ing followed by the roller, unless the ground is a clay loam or clay, and this succeeded by 

 the harrow sufficiently to prepare a good seed bed for wheat or corn. The seed should 

 then be sown early enough in the spring, say about May 1 to 15, to give it the benefit of 

 spring moisture. 



Seedings made at t lie Michigan Experiment Station early in the season, that is before 

 June 1, have always been successful. A June 12 seeding gave about three-quarters of a 

 crop, while a July 12th seeding was a complete failure. 



QUANTITY OF SEED AND METHOD OF SEEDINO. 



The quantity of seed to sow per acre will vary with conditions. The seed being small, 

 just a little larger than the common red clover seed, growth at lirst will naturally be 

 slow. In all probability the weeds will come on during the summer, and unless kept 

 back by. frequent clippings with the scythe or mowing machine will crowd out tho 

 young lucerne plants, and destroy the prospects of a crop. This period is the most 

 important one in the life of the plant, and when one considers that a single seeding is 

 destined to last, if well established, for twenty years or more, he can well afford to give 

 it good care and the best possible chance. Seedings of fifteen pounds per acre have given 

 good results, and unless by careful test of the seed its germination is found to be low, 

 and the soil on which it is to be sown is particularly poor it will probably be safe to use 

 that amount. A greater amount than this would probably be preferable if the soil was 

 in any way reduced in fertility. With seed so line and where the quantity sown is so 

 small, sowing broadcast by hand tools, or with the wheelbarrow seeder is preferable. 

 One passing with a light harrow is sufficient to cover the seed. 



* Wyoming Experiment Station Bulletin 43. 



