The Bulletin. 43 



out shoots from the crown and they get about one or two inches 

 long. This is a better criterion as to the time of cutting than the mere 

 appearance of bloom. When these sprouts start out it is evidence that 

 another growth has begun and the plant is ready to be cut. However, 

 the cutting should not be done before this growth has attained as much 

 as one or two inches in height. Then have the cutter-bar of the mower 

 high enough to not clip this new growth. 



Alfalfa Enemies. 



Probably the most destructive enemy to alfalfa is dodder. Dodder 

 is a yellow vine that comes from the dodder seed and at once takes hold 

 of the alfalfa plant and twines around it. The vine early dies at the 

 ground and afterward lives entirely on the alfalfa plant. Great care 

 should be exercised to see that no dodder is allowed to get a foothold 

 in a field of alfalfa. The first precaution is to buy only seed that are 

 guaranteed to be free from dodder, and then if any shall appear go over 

 the field at once and cut every alfalfa plant that has any dodder cling- 

 ing to it and carefully take it out of the field and burn it. The least 

 bit of the vine will take hold of a plant of alfalfa and go on with its 

 work or destruction and filling the field with its seed. 



Leaf Spot 



Leaf spot is also a disease that is common to alfalfa but usually 

 does not kill the plant. It causes the leaves to become specked as 

 though stung with some insect, turn yellow or with a red tinge and fall 

 off. The falling off of the leaves lessens the quantity of hay and also 

 the quality as the leaves are the most valuable part of the plant. The 

 best and only remedy that I know for leaf spot is to cut the alfalfa and 

 cure it for hay. The crop following may be free from the disease. It 

 is usually worse in the late fall than in spring or summer. 



Alfalfa can usually be cut from three to five times a year, yielding 

 on good land an average of one ton per acre at each cutting. The 

 earlier cuttings will average over a ton per acre, while the later cut- 

 tings will not average a ton per acre. In this State the crop will usually 

 run from three to five years before it will run out, or the stand get so 

 poor that it will not pay to keep it longer. When the stand gets thin 

 or it dies out in spots it is time thrown away to endeavor to replant the 

 dead spots. The best thing to do is to replow the field and sow it all 

 over again. 



Vetches. 



The term vetch used in this Bulletin refers to Hairy or Sand Vetch 

 (vicia villosa), though there are more than a hundred species of this 

 family, of Avhich about fifty are annuals. Those best known to us, are 

 the Hairy Vetch, the common or Oregon vetch, the Carolina or wild 

 vetch. The latter grows wild in nearly every part of the State and is 

 known locally as Wild Pea, Partridge Pea, and possibly it has other 

 names. It usually grows to about two feet in height and has quite small 

 violet colored blossoms. It is earlier than the Hairy or common vetch 

 and is relished by stock and makes hay of a good quality. 



