304 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



failure incurred with a light seeding. Use 20 to 30 pounds of 

 good clean seed to the acre. 



Impure seed. Buy of reputable seedsmen; some seed has been 

 found that contained, black melilot and other worthless legume 

 seed. 



Smothering out of the small plants with another crop sown with 

 it — alfalfa lasts long enough when w r ell established that we can 

 afford to sow it by itself; at times a very light seeding of oats, cut 

 green for hay, seems to be an advantage. Oftimes the weeds and 

 bam grass will come in to such an extent as to injure the crop. 

 These should be cut and drawn off if heavy. 



'Dodder. — This is the most serious enemy of alfalfa. Be sure 

 there is none in the seed you sow. It is not new in New York. 

 Many gen J *emen were experimenting with it in this State from 

 100 to 150 years ago. In 1812 it was tried in central New York 

 by Sterling Lamson and by Moses DeWitt. L'Hommedieu had 

 it growing in Jefferson county in 1795. In 1851, Commander 

 James Glynn of the United States Navy brought from Valparaiso 

 a cask of alfalfa seed, stating that " it was growing from Panama 

 nearly to Cape Horn, and there forms the prin6ipal article of 

 fodder * * * the stalk attains the size of a goose quill, and 

 grows seven to eight feet high." 



April 13th '52, Mr. Henry Meigs exhibited a plant with a 

 root a foot in length, even though broken off at the end — and 

 a strong vigorous plant, notwithstanding that the previous winter 

 was very severe. The whole plot was reported as unhurt. 



It is stated that about this same time seed was brought from 

 Chili to California, and being a success in that climate from the 

 start, it was soon taken to the arid regions and became a standard 

 crop on the Pacific coast, and is to-day one of the most profitable. 

 The drouths of western Kansas and Nebraska made it popular 

 there after the first few seasons, and the two dry years that we 

 have just experienced are doing more to convince our farmers of 

 its value than all that is being said for it. 



What is Alfalfa? 



This question is often raised by eastern farmers who read of 

 its wonderful growth in the West, and many have an idea that 

 while it has revolutionized farming in some parts of the West, 

 that irrigation and arid land go hand in hand with it, and I fear 



