^TATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 671 



season than seed grown elsewhere. If you do not know the source of your 

 seed it is better to sow in May. That is what I would suggest. 

 Tills seed is a great deal like clover seed in appearance, and you 

 have to treat it a gi-eat deal like clover seed. The first thing 

 to do is to keep the weeds down until it gets started. I think it is a good 

 plan to sow oats as a nurse crop— about a bushel to the acre. The object 

 is not that it helps the alfalfa to grow, but it keeps the other things from 

 growing, until the alfalfa can get started. In preparing the soil we 

 want it good and fine, and as rich as we can get it. A good coat of 

 manure would be of great benefit. This should all be done before sow- 

 ing the seed. The oats are an excellent thing to keep the weeds out. 

 You should not expect anything whatever from it the first year. 

 When it is cut and left on the ground it aids because it keeps the 

 water from being evaporated so soon. It is pretty safe to say that 

 alfalfa will grow anywhere that clover Avill grow. I understand that 

 there ha.ve been a great many faihu-es in starting alfalfa. The 

 bacteria that grow on the alfalfa root are not the same as grow on 

 the clover root. There is another way to inoculate a field, and that is 

 if there is another field near in which alfalfa has been raised get the 

 top soil off that field and sprinkle it over the new field and in this way 

 inoculate it. The man that I have in mind took soil from a neighboring 

 field and sowed it broadcast. The difference was so pronounced that you 

 could trace the waves where the soil fell. It had inoculated the field and 

 given it a better chance to grow. I am giving this to you for what it is 

 worth, and you can do as you like about following my advice. 



I have found that alfalfa is very hard to cure. If you cut it and let 

 it lie in the sun a day or two it will become brittle, and when you move 

 it the leaves will fall off, and you lose the best part of your hay. A ton of 

 alfalfa leaves contain as much protein as 2.800 pounds of wheat bran. 

 So we can not afford to lose them. This makes alfalfa growing a little 

 more difficult than if we could cure it in the way we cure clover. I cut 

 a little down at a time and rake it into small wind rows. I remember 

 one time on our farm we cut alfalfa down on Monday morning and 

 it was not taken up until Saturday night. It took it the whole week 

 to diy. If it had been allowed to lie in the hot sun it would have been 

 ruined, and the stock would not have eaten it, but it was not. Alfalfa 

 is good for pasture, but if it is used for pasture it must be pastured 

 closely, because if the stems are allowed to get very high and stand 

 very long they become woody and hard, and the stock will not eat 

 them, and so if you intend to pasture the alfalfa you must pasture it 

 closely, so as to keep it tender— keep it clipped down closely. We turned 

 our cows in on the pasture this summer, and they went around the fence 

 and ate the blue grass out of the corners before tliey ate the alfalfa, 

 the reason was that we had not kept it clipped close enough; it had been 

 allowed to stand most too long. Had they been turned in on it sooner I 



