STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATlOiS'. 675 



Mr. Gresben: I should like to ask as to the best method- of sowing 

 alfalfa. Should it be sowed by hand or with a drill? 



Mr. Ellison: I think it would be better sowed with a drill, for it 

 needs to be covered in some way. We sow our oats first and then the 

 alfalfa broadcast, and we have very good results, but if we did not sow 

 the oats flrst I should think it would be better to use the drill. 



President Johnson: How much do you put to the acre? 



Mr. Ellison: Twenty to twenty-five pounds of seed broadcast. 



Mr. : I think it is a good idea to have all of the seed 



covered so that it may germinate. There is trouble in getting alfalfa 

 to grow thick enough on the gi-ound. If you do not get it thick enough 

 at first there is a chance the second time. I should like to hear more 

 said on the inoculation of the plant. I am not quite satisfied on that 

 point as yet. 



Mr. Glover: I should like to ask Mr. E'llison if sweet clover grows on 

 the farm or by the roadside? 



Mr. Ellison: We have none under cultivation; we have no clover 

 whatever under cultivation. We have white clover that grows along the 

 roadside about three-quarters of a mile from our alfalfa field. 



Mr. Glover: I raised this question because Dr. Hopkins of the 

 Illinois Experiment Station states that he has discovered that the bac- 

 teria that live on the roots of white clover are the same as those that 

 live on the roots of the alfalfa, therefore that is one reason wlTy your 

 alfalfa is so good. I think without doubt the same thing is added to the 

 field in this way as is added when you take the soil from another field 

 and inoculate the new field. I think the germs taken from the sweet 

 clover are just as good. It grows two or three or four feet high by the 

 roadside, and if cows eat it, it will taint their milk. 



President Johnson: Has anyone anything else to say? 



Prof. Van Norman: I shoiild like to ask Mr. Glover if he thinks it 

 is out of the experimental stage so that he can have no hesitancy in 

 recommending it? 



Mr. Glover: The professor at the Experiment Station in Illinois 

 seems to think so. 



Mr. Woods: How long after you inoculate a field until it loses its 

 power? I remember that I have tried to grow alfalfa time and time 

 again, and it is a question with me as to how to do it. I know the 



