25G STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



FOUAGE PLANTS AND WHEAT. 



BY A. A. CROZIER. 



Bulletin No. 141. — Farm Department. 



I. FORAGE PLANTS. 



ALFALFA. 



Although alfalfa is especially adapted to dry soils and climates it 

 readily resjjonds to an increased supply of moisture, if the soil be suffi- 

 ciently rolling or open to carry off all standing water. During the season 

 of 1896 the small fields of alfalfa on the college farm, one of half an acre, 

 the other of two acres, were each cut four times, the largest yield in each 

 case being the first. The first cutting was made May 23, and the last 

 October 12. The smaller field was seeded in the spring of 1892. A por- 

 tion of this field on low black soil, gradually killed out during cold 

 winters, and the remainder is now crowded somewhat by June grass, 

 which formed a considerable part of the first cutting but not of the later 

 ones. The other field is located on the high bank of the Red Cedar river, 

 and was seeded in the spring of 1895. Part of this piece has a heavy 

 soil, v/hile that of the remainder is a coarse sand of low fertilitv. The 

 alfalfa was a good stand over the entire piece, but on the light sandy 

 soil it made, both last year and this, an extremely small growth. The 

 entire yield in hay cannot be accurately given, since a portion of it was 

 put in the silo and the last cutting, made from time to time from Sep- 

 tember 26 to October 12, was used for feeding green. The entire product 

 was weighed, however, and amounted to 5,496 pounds of hay and 9,742 

 pounds of green fodder, the total, estimated as cured hay (reckoning one- 

 half the green fodder as hay), amounting to a little over 10,367 pounds, 

 or five tons of hay for the two acres. Since a large portion of the piece 

 was poor and unproductive, nearly half an acre at one end, where the soil 

 was heavy and the growth much better, was kept separate at each cut- 

 ting and gave yields per acre as follows: 



