16 



to long or otherwise injurious overflows, and not too 

 wet or too sandj', are probably suitable for alfalfa. If 

 they are deficient in lime it can be added with the proba- 

 bility of profit. 



SANDY SOILS. 



While it is possible that alfalfa can be grawn under 

 garden conditions, on almost any soils in Alabama, yet 

 it is probable that it will not be a profitable sale crop on 

 upland sandy or clay soils deficient in lime unless they 

 are exceptionally richi. In order for it to be grown at 

 all siuccessfuUy, on these soils, great care will be re- 

 quired and in many cases heavy applications of stable 

 manure or lime (the latter being supplemented by large 

 amounts of commercial fertilizers) will be necessary. It 

 then becomes a question whether it is more profitable on 

 these sandy uplands thus to coddle alfalfa or to rely on 

 hardier foi'age plants, as hairy vetch, cowpeas, soy beans, 

 sorghum, etc. We are certainly not yet in a position to 

 recommend alfalfa for non-calcareous upland soils except 

 on a very small scale. However, the great value of the 

 plant on congenial soil makes it worthy of trial in a 

 small way on every class of soils. 



LOCAL EXPERIMENTS IN PROGRESS. 



To determine the suitability to alfalfa of each of the 

 principal soils of the iState, this station in co-operation 

 with the United States Department of Agriculture, last 

 fall arranged for an experiment with alfalfa in nearly 

 every county in Alabama. The unusually dry fall,~lieces- 

 sitatiug late planting, and the early occurrence of frost 

 and freezes, destroyed the stand of alfalfa in many of the 

 experiments referred 'to. It is planned to continue the 

 work alouir this line. 



