14 



Tombigbee bluffs, on the western edge of Demopolis, and 

 hence was well drained. Steers had been fed here on cot- 

 tonseed meal and hulls, and the growth of alfalfa was 

 most satisfactory. Capt. Webb has since largely increas- 

 ed the area which he devotes to alfalfa. The prinicpa] 

 part of the alfalfa area of Alabama is now in Greene and 

 Sumter counties. 



Prairie soils may be subdixdded into quite a number of 

 classes merging into each other by imperceptible grada- 

 tions. Those prairie soils are best suited to this crop 

 which are best drained and best supplied with vegetable 

 matter. 



Extensive inquiries were made of a number of growers 

 of alfalfa in Alabama, and below follows a summary of 

 their answers to the question as to the character of soil 

 in the prairie region best suited to alfalfa. 



All exiDrossing an opinion prefeiT^d lime to sandy or 

 clay soils. Black prairie is the choice of most of these 

 correspondents, some of these expressly naming black 

 bottoms or slough land, others fertile black upland soil. 

 Those A\h() prefer bottom land specify bottoms that are 

 well drained. Two prefer "hammock" land, one of these 

 describing his favorite alfalfa soil as "alluvial land 

 overlaying stiff prairie.'" One choses shelly prairie, two 

 cedar "hammock," and one gray upland j)rairie and 

 "hammock," and another 3^ellow prairie. One corre- 

 spondent has succeeded best in growing alfalfa on the 

 mixed soil at the base of white marl hills. 



On the farm of the Canebrake Experiment Station at 

 Uniontown, alfalfa has done remarkably well during its 

 first year's growth on upland of medium quality, and 

 containing a small number of rough pebbles. We are far 

 from recommending alfalfa for that grade of prairie 

 soil that consists largely of these roughened pebbLes and 

 that is too poor to make fair crops of cotton. Alfalfa 

 needs fertile soil. 



