480 Reading-Course for Farmers. 



duction on a commercial scale at the New Jersey Experiment Station 

 showed that when bran cost $22.50 per ton, the hay was worth $16.50 

 as a substitute for it. In this case Alfalfa hay was worth a little over 

 two-thirds as much as bran. 



Conditions affecting success with Alfalfa. The most frequent causes 

 of failure are weeds, and lack of manure, lime or inoculation. Occa- 

 sionally poor seed or dodder causes failure. 



Varieties. In co-operation with the United States Department of 

 Agriculture and with farmers we now have fifty variety tests of Alfalfa 

 in this State. Half of these were started in 1906 and half in 1907. The 

 work has not yet gone far enough to give final conclusions. In general 

 it is much safer to secure seed from a region about as far north as New 

 York. Seed from Kansas is doing well in the tests. 



Seed. The seed should of course be alive and comparatively free 

 from weed seeds. It is sometimes adulterated with bur clover, yellow 

 trefoil and sweet clover. Dodder is the worst weed in the seed. Of 

 399 samples examined by the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture in 1907, about half (191) contained dodder. 



Seed should if possible be purchased from regions where dodder is 

 least prevalent. Before buying seed, a sample should be examined for 

 dodder seed. 



To tell if the seed is alive, place one hundred seeds on a moist piece 

 of blotter paper on a pie pan. Lay another moist blotter over the seeds 

 and place a piece of glass over the pan. At the end of a week count 

 the seeds that have sprouted — 85 to 95 % should sprout. 



The beginner should sow at least twenty-five pounds of good seed per 

 acre. Older growers whose soils are in shape for Alfalfa may sow twenty 

 pounds. We recommend thirty pounds in the co-operative experiments. 



Soil. Alfalfa is most likely to succeed on porous well drained soils 

 but is fairly successful on some clay soils. The north half of Western 

 New York contains large areas of soil that are well adapted to Alfalfa. 

 There is probably no county in the State, with the possible exception 

 of the Adirondacks, that does not have some areas that will grow 

 Alfalfa. 



During the past two years, 171 co-operative experiments in the 

 growth of Alfalfa have been taken up by farmers in connection with 

 the College of Agriculture. A large number of such experiments were 

 conducted in previous years. 



Sixty-three per cent of the experimenters report a successful field 

 on some plot. In this connection it is interesting to note that the 



