64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Oct. 



they are cut into small fields which in turn are again sur- 

 rounded by stone walls. The soil is glaciated and hence well 

 adapted for alfalfa. Once well started, no crop will pay a New 

 England farmer as much as will alfalfa. Some New England 

 farmers are discouraged. Some of the Experiment Station men 

 say that alfalfa can be grown north or south of New England but 

 not in Connecticut and Rhode Island and in certain parts of 

 Massachusetts. The claim is made that in Vermont and in New 

 Hampshire, alfalfa can be grown. From what I can learn after 

 writing to many different parties and after talking to and with 

 the New England farmers at their annual Alfalfa Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, I believe that alfalfa can be grown on practically every 

 farm in New England. 



New England farms are small and they have been farmed for 

 many years. The available plant food and the humus are 

 exhausted. Many of the England farms are hill sides where 

 soil readily washes off and for such alfalfa is the best known 

 plant. We are not so sure that alfalfa will grow on the northern 

 slopes without very heavy liming. But for southern slopes,, 

 alfalfa will pay. New England needs more silos, more dairy cows 

 and alfalfa. Winters are too long and there are too many people 

 living in New England to make it other than a dairy section. 



Alfalfa for Dairy Farmers.— Dairy farmers need alfalfa. The 

 truck gardener needs a small patch of Alfalfa. The dairymen 

 around Syracuse, New York, have become extensive and and ex- 

 pert growers of alfalfa. In southeastern Pennsylvania, the 

 plantings are doubling about each four years. This year I know 

 of one field that has been down five years and is yielding over six 

 tons to an acre of well cured, bright, alfalfa hay. Last year the 

 same field yielded a little over five and one-half tons of hay to an 

 acre. In the winter of 1914, a farm in Chester County was sold 

 at auction, and the same day the renter sold the crop from an 

 alfalfa field that had been down for thirteen years. The alfalfa 

 hay sold for more per acre than did the farm. Delaware and 

 New Jersey farmers seem to be equally interested. The Walker 

 Gordon farms in New Jersey grow 500 acres of alfalfa for theiu 

 dairy herd. Connecticut farmers must make a living in compe- 

 tition with the dairymen Vvho grow alfalfa. 



