46 



suitable for a small patch kept for feed Jig oreeu, but this 

 system was fouud impracticable for a hay field. 



Usually the best crop to precede spring- sown alfalfa 

 is cotton, especially if cotton follows melilotus (sweet 

 clover) . The best crop to prepare the land for fall sown 

 alfalfa is cow peas, sown very thick. 



Numbers of farmers have found that alfalfa thrives 

 ^ when sown on Johnson grass meadows, holding its own, 

 at least for the first few years, agaiiist this aggressive 

 grass. 



Dodder, a yellow thread-like growth, is a serious 

 enemy of alfalfa. One of the remedies consists in mow- 

 ing and burning. Seed merchants often pass alfalfa 

 seed through a machine which is claimed to remove the 

 dodder seed. 



On sandy upland soils at Auburn alfalfa has not af- 

 forded very profitable yields. On such soils it requires 

 heavy applications of lime or barnyard manure, and it 

 is believed that more profitable use can be made of ma- 

 nure. At Auburn neither nitrate of soda nor cotton seed 

 meal very greatly increase the yield of alfalfa that was 

 properly stocked with root tubercles. Acid phosphate 

 and potash fertilizers are considered indispensible here, 

 and generallv advisable on sandv or other soils not rich 

 in lime.* 



Inoculation with soil from old fields of either alfalfa 

 or bur clover greatly increase the jdeld of alfalfa grow- 

 ing on sandy land. 



The germ that causes tubercles to develop on sweet 

 clover (meliltous) also causes tubercles to dcA^elop on 

 the roots of alfalfa. Hence artificial inoculation of al- 

 falfa is not necessar^^ Avheu it is grown on prairie land 

 that has recently borne a crop of melilotus. Artificial 



