220 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



REPORTS FROM FARMERS WHO HAVE TRIED THE SAND LUCERNE. 



In the spring of 1900 samples of six ounces each of sand lucerne were mailed to 135 

 farmers in the State who had expressed a willingness to try it. In June, 1901, reply 

 postal blanks were sent out for reports of the first cutting. Of the 41 replies received, 

 two did not get the seed, nine did not sow it, fourteen report total or partial failure, 

 though nearly all wished to try it again, and sixteen report favorably. Some of the 

 reports are given below. 



EDWARD E. EVANS, WEST BRANCH, MICHIGAN, JUNE 10, 1901. 



The quantity of seed received was small, and was sown too thinly to enable me to 

 tell with any degree of accuracy what the yield would be. Considering the soil 

 (sand) the growth last season was very good, and it did not winter-kill at all. . Our 

 spring has been very cold and backward, but without frost3. The growth has been 

 comparatively slow, and I think it will be ten days before clover can be cut. It 

 stands 18 to 20 inches in height. I was so well satisfied with last season's growth 

 that I sowed 25 pounds this spring, and shall sow a couple of bushels next year. 



JUNE 30, 1901. 



Replying to your favor of the 13th inst. and in addition to my former report, will 

 say that sand lucerne has made a growth of five to seven inches since cutting. The 

 new seeding now stands eight to twelve inches in height. Shall cut it the coming week 

 on account of weeds. 



DECEMBER 31, 1901. 



I can say definitely and positively that each of the three cuttings this year on 

 the piece sown May 5, 1900, was heavier than I ever saw grown on such light soil, 

 no matter what other variety was sown. Of the larger piece sown last spring, I can 

 only say that the outlook is fully as promising. It was cut once to kill weeds, and 

 when the ground froze, it was a solid mass of green, many single plants were so 

 large and firmly rooted that a man could not pull up the plant. I shall sow more of 

 it this coming spring, and will distribute seed to sandy land farmers here for trial. 



CAPTAIN H. R DANFORTH, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, OCTOBER 16, 1901. 



The ground sowed is about one square rod. It is on a corner of a lot in town, and 

 the ground used had been graded and twelve or sixteen inches of the top soil scraped 

 off, leaving a bed of sand and gravel on which the seed was sown May 10, 1900. The 

 seed germinated in less than a week and furnished three good crops, with a fourth as 

 good as the three that were cut, which I let remain on the ground for winter protection. 

 I could not discover that one single root was injured by hard freezing. It started 

 early last spring, and has furnished four cuttings, the last cut about the 28th of 

 September, and the patch now shows green and is about four inches high. I am so 

 situated that it is not practical for me either to weigh it green or after it is cured. 

 I have let different ones cut it for feed for horse and cow, and all report to me that it 

 was eaten with relish. 



JOHN F. MILLER, TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN, JUNE 30, 1901. 



The sand lucerne was sown under rather unfavorable circumstances, and I did not get 

 a good stand, and plowed up half of it this spring, leaving a strip next to the fence 

 of the pasture about seven feet wide. I was away from home when it began to 

 blossom, but it is about half out now, and I will cut it and throw it over the fence 

 to cattle. They eat it readily. I have no means of weighing it, but it is two feet high 

 and will probably weigh 150 or 200 pounds, while the common red clover sown near 



