226 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



METHODS OF SOWING. 



In the earlier work the seed was sown in rows 18 inches apart and cultivated. 

 The results were entirely satisfactory, althoush the plots were too small to make 

 the record of yield valuable. Where it is desired to be sure of a catch, the method 

 is to be recommended. Under usual field conditions the seed might better be 

 sown broadcast because, if rain follows when the crop is cut, it is difficult to cure 

 on the raw ground. The wheelbarrow seeder or some similar appliance may be 

 used. A harrow follows, burying the seed to a depth of half an inch. If a nurse 

 crop is used the seeder may be put in front of the grain drill when the hoes of the 

 drill will cover the seed fully deep enough. Some correspondents recommend 

 this method but it has not been tested at the station. 



A nurse crop is not recommended. If the season should turn out to be one with 

 the rain well distributed it is possible that the nurse crop will not only do no 

 harm but will help the alfalfa. In 1903, an area sixteen rods north and south 

 by fourteen rods east and west was sown to alfalfa in strips one rod wide, the 

 strips running east and west. The question of a nurse crop was here studied. 

 Plot 9 had 15 pounds of American grown seed per acre, sown April 18 after oats 

 had been drilled at the rate of one bushel per acre. Plot IG was treated in the 

 same way except that 20 pounds of seed was used. Plot 9 had the oats removed 

 as they began to head out, while plot 16 carried the oats to maturity. The sea- 

 son was a wet one and the oats lodged badly. All plots stood the winter well 

 and were cut three times in 1904, on .Tune 7, July 11, and August 30. The results 

 of a comparison of the plots bearing a nurse crop with adjacent plots having 

 none do not show an injury from the nurse crop. Plot 9 with a nurse crop gave 

 a total yield of G41 pounds of dry hay, while plot 8 gave 574 pounds and plot 

 10, 604 pounds, neither having a nurse crop. Plot 16 with a nurse crop yielded 

 696 pounds of dry hay, plot 15 without, also 696 pounds. It must not he for- 

 gotten that the rainfall in 1903 was evenly distributed through the growing 

 months and the nurse crop did not have the usual effect of reducing the amount 

 of moisture in the soil below a sufficient supply for the alfalfa. 



AMOUNT OF SEED. 



A comparison of two quantities of seed was made on the station plots. On the 

 18th of April. 1903, two plots were sown at the rate of fifteen pounds per acre 

 and two at the rate of twenty pounds. In the spring of 1904 the stand was 

 equally good on all four plots. The yield of hay was practically the same where 

 fifteen pounds were sown as where twenty were used. The season of 1903 had 

 the rainfall distributed all through the season and there was no drouth. Where 

 the seed has a high per cent of germination, where the ground is well prepared 

 and well fertilized and where the rainfall is so distributed as to leave no drouth 

 during the season, fifteen pounds of seed is evidently enough; but since no man 

 can foresee what the season will be, it is wise to sow twenty pounds. 



VABIETIES. 



The varieties tested has been American grown, locality unknown, Colorado, 

 Utah. Sand Lucern, and Turkestan furnished by the Department of Agriculture 

 at Washington. The American grown seed was purchased in the open marl^et. 

 Its color was good and the seed perfect in brightness and freedom from dodder 

 and other weed seeds. The Colorado was also a good sample, clean, bright, and 

 free from impurities. The Sand Lucern was not free from weed seed nor had 

 it as good color or as bright appearance as the American. The Turkestan was 

 somewhat peculiar in color but was a fair sample. 



No great difference in appearance of the crops was noted in 1903. The seed 

 was sown on April 18 and 21. On May 30 it was noted that there was a g'^nd 

 stand, the American grown rather taking the lead. On June 8, June 29, July 20, 

 and August 7, the plots were clipped, the guards of the mov.-er set six inches high. 

 Naturally the clippings v.;ere left on the ground. 



On the fourteenth of September it was noted that the Sand Lucern was not as 

 high as the Colorado or American grown. The Turkestan was notably small. 



The observations in 1904 began April 21. The alfalfa was growing nicely on 

 all plots and with some poor spots on the plots with American grown seed. The 



