EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 229 



the cause. The fact remains, however, that even under conditions as favorable as 

 those surrounding the plots at Chatham, alfalfa is still in the list of crops to be 

 experimented with rather than among the established certainties. 



It does not seem to have been difficult to secure a stand, but either the drouth 

 or the winter kills the crop when established. 



A. H. Foster, Allegan, reported in Decemljer, 1904, that four acres of alfalfa 

 sown at the rate of 20 lbs. per acre in the spring of 1903, was winter killed, the 

 German seed standing the winter rather better than American grown, and that 

 a field of common red clover sown in winter wheat beside the alfalfa lived 

 through the winter almost perfectly. 



F. L. Church, of Antrim County, reports the sowing of sand lucern furnished 

 him by the college in 1903. He sowed part of the seed alone and part of it with 

 Telephone peas. Where sown alone it was so weedy that he mowed it on the 

 fifth of July. The patch did not grow much afterward. In mid-summer of 1904 

 the alfalfa sown with the peas was better than where sown alone. One-eighth of 

 an acre sown in the peas in 1903 yielded at the first cutting of 1904, 286 lbs., or 

 2,288 lbs. of dry hay per acre. 



C. C. McDermid, Calhoun County, reports that he sowed alfalfa May 1, 1901, 

 at the rate of 16 lbs. per acre, which was lightly covered. One-half was Turkestan 

 and one-half was sand lucerne. He could see no difference in the plants as they 

 grew side by side. "Both have made a moderate growth each year since (April 

 19, 1905), have never seriously winter killed, and are looking well now, but are 

 too 'thin on the ground for best results." 



"They have never yielded a profitable crop of hay, the clover alongside beating 

 them more than three to one. The crop last year was better than ever before, 

 probably the result of gradual soil inoculation with the alfalfa bacteria from some 

 unknown source. The plants, or some of them, now have small nodules on the 

 roots like those on red clover in size and general appearance." 



"My field is high and well drained, soil mixed sand and clay loam; good 

 garden soil." 



Alexander Watson, of Dowa.giac, writes that he has an eight acre field of 

 alfalfa standing through six years and looking sound in the spring of 1905. He 

 says: "I have never used my field for anything but a pasture field, but it is 

 great for that. In all these years it has never killed out in any v.'ay, neither 

 winter nor summer. All the original planting is still there. My land is sandy 

 with a hard pan within a few feet of the surface." 



H. C. Hatch, of Dowagiac, writes: "I sowed my alfalfa August 22, 1899. It 

 stands the winter all right. I cannot do without it now, although I have always 

 pastured it. I shall sow ten acres more this fall (1905)." 



Earl W. Durfee, of Litchfield, writes: "In May, 1902, I sowed sixteen acres to 

 alfalfa. It started as nice as a person could ask. No weeds grew on the piece 

 to choke it out, but it kept getting thinner and thinner. I was so in hopes that 

 it would come on that I left it. I clipped it every year, but never cut any of 

 it for hay till last year, when I mowed about half of the piece and the other 

 half I have plowed up this spring. In some parts of the piece that I have left 

 the alfalfa is nice, in other parts it amounts to almost nothing." 



"In 1903 I sowed twenty acres of alfalfa. This came up very nice also. The 

 following winter was very severe and the most if it winter killed. I plowed it 

 up a year ago this spring. Alfalfa has been quite extensively sown in this 

 vicinity, but it did not do well and the most of it has been plowed up. I know of 

 only one piece, a neighbor has three acres, which was sown three years ago " 



Dennis Miller, Eaton Rapids, writes: "My experience with alfalfa has not been 

 very successful. I sowed two acres, using 25 lbs. of seed to the acre, about May 

 25, 1903. The ground had been plowed early in spring and worked frequently 

 before sowing the seed. It was a good stand in 1904, with the exception of a 

 touch of the yellows along in August. In the spring of 1905 I find that it is all 

 winter killed, with the exception of about a half acre lying next the woods. The 

 soil is sandy with a little clay." 



W. B. Williams, of Charlotte, writes, under date of April 9, 1904: "Some fifteen 

 years ago a friend gave me a few quarts of alfalfa seed with directions for sow- 

 in.g. I must not sow oats or any other crop with it. I had a small piece, about 

 a third of an acre, sandy loam. I manured it thoroughly, and sowed the seed. 

 The alfalfa did not make much show the first year. The second year there were 

 fewer weeds and more alfalfa. The third year I mowed it three times, and this 



