EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 293 



The above data would seem to indicate that the northern grown seed 

 is better for seeding under Michigan conditions than that grown in the 

 middle and southern states. This is as should be expected, as alfalfa 

 seed is usually i)roduced on fields that are several vears old and if 

 grown in the north would come from the more hardy plants which 

 have survived several winters and not from, the less hardy plants 

 which might have survived and produced seed in the southern states. 

 It is recommended that farmers use the northern grown seed whenever 

 obtainable. Seed grown in the Pacific coast states should be avoided 

 beiause of the presence there of a very serious disease called alfalfa 

 crown gall. 



TREATMENT OF ALFALFA FIELDS THE FIRST SEASON. 



About the only treatment it is necessary to give to an alfalfa field 

 the first season is to cut it at the proper time and to remove any 

 vegetation which may be so thick as to smother out the young alfalfa. 

 The alfalfa should be cut at the proper time for cutting older stands 

 for hayj or before this time if the leaves begin to turn yellow and 

 fall off. It should also be mown whenever the weed growth becomes 

 so large as to be apt to choke out the alfalfa. The young alfalfa 

 .should be cut at the usual height, as otherwise the crowns will be 

 formed high and will be cut off the next time it is mown. Fields seeded 

 in the early spring may need to be cut as many as three times the 

 first season, but in other instances one cutting will be suflQcient, as 

 the alfalfa may be injured by too frequent cutting. The last cutting 

 should be made sufficiently early in the fall to allow additional growth, 

 to act as a protection through the winter. Usually alfalfa may be cut 

 safely as late as the first or middle of September. 



A top dressing of well rotted manure preferably applied with a 

 manure spreader is of much value in protecting the alfalfa through the 

 winter. It not only acts as a protection from the wind and cold but 

 holds the snow as an additional protection. The heaving out of the 

 young plants by alternate freezing and thawing is worst on very heavy 

 clay soils and is more or less common on light sandy soils but is least 

 serious on well drained loamy soils that contain considerable vegetable 

 matter. The danger of heaving is materially lessened by the top dress- 

 ing of manure or by leaving some vegetation on the ground. 



DISCING OR HARROWING ALFALFA. 



The cultivation of the soil after seeding, with a disc or other harrow 

 has been practiced on eleven and one-fourth per cent of the seedings 

 reported, but many of the stands were to young to harrow at the 

 time of making out the reports. In Table XIII is given the data se- 

 cured from this study. 



TABLE XIII.— EFFECT OF DISCING OR HARROWING ALFALFA. 

 Classification of seedings. 



Harrowed with good results 32 49 . 2 



Harrowed with no apparent effect 10 15.4 



Harrowed with poor results 1 1.5 



No report on results or too early to tell 22 33 . S 



