222 Bulletin 237. 



some of which it is hoped and beheved that further investigation will 

 develop a method of handling that will secure satisfactory results with 

 alfalfa. The tests conducted on the College farm during the past two 

 seasons and to be considered later, point to favorable results with a soil 

 far removed from the ideal alfalfa type. 



Observations made about the State in the inspection of alfalfa, and 

 various cooperative experiments, have convinced us that in some sections 

 of the State there are large areas that will grow alfalfa successfully, 

 while in other sections it is only on the creek bottom land that is so 

 situated as not to be subject to serious overflow that success may be 

 expected. Until the soil survey of the State, which is being conducted 

 by the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 is completed we shall not be able to state with any exactness the location 

 of the areas that will probably prove to be suited to the crop. As this 

 survey is not likely to be completed for many years, we have asked Pro- 

 fessor E. O. Pippin, now in charge of the work here, to make a general 

 statement of the prevailing types of soil of the State and the sections in 

 which those favorable to alfalfa growing are most abundant. Professor 

 Pippin's statement follows : 



" Not all of the soils of New York State are equally well adapted to 

 the growth of alfalfa. Thorough drainage is chief among the require- 

 ments of the plant. Saturation of the soil for even a few days is very 

 injurious to its growth and freezing in this saturated condition is even 

 more disastrous to the life of the roots. Given good drainage the alfalfa 

 plant will make a fair growth under very adverse soil conditions. 



"The soils of the State may be groupeJ into two general classes 

 according to their adaptation to the growth of the crop and these follow 

 closely the natural drainage conditions of those soils. In general, it may 

 be said that the soils in the northern two-thirds of the State are better 

 suited to the production cf alfalfa than the soils in the southern third. 



" Stretching along lakes Erie and Ontario is a more or less continu- 

 ous strip of rather dense lake clay known as the Dunkirk clay. The 

 width varies from one to several miles, and east of Buffalo it attains 

 nearly 20 miles. The same soil extends southward in the form of tongues 

 in several of the large river valleys and along the " finger lakes " like 

 Chautauqua, Seneca and Cayuga. It also occurs in small detached areas 

 higher up on the upland. Because of its naturally poor drainage this 

 tyne is probably the least favorable of the extensive types for the pro- 

 duction of alfalfa, but is improved by drainage and tlic use of lime 

 and in the early stages of growth by the use of organic manures. 



" The upland stony and shaly loams which occupy the major portion of 

 this section of the State are generally well adapted to the growing of 

 alfalfa. These soils are classed as the Miami stony loam, Alton stony 



