178 Missouri Agricultural Rejoort. 



though not always necessary to secure a good stand, gives sufficient 

 increase to make its use profitable. The humus and nitrogen 

 content of these soils is somewhat lower than the bottom lands 

 and hence manure will often give good results. 



The Northeast Missouri prairie soils do not generally grow 

 alfalfa as well as those of the northwestern part of the State. 

 Here the nitrogen content has been run so low by continued crop- 

 ping that there is not a sufficient amount of nitrates present to 

 start the young plants off well, hence an application of manure is 

 necessary in most places in this part of the State to secure a good 

 stand. The alfalfa on the untreated plots of our experiments on 

 these soils seldom succeeds in becoming established and soon dies. 

 An equally important factor, however, in this part of the State 

 is drainage, many sections being too flat and poorly drained for 

 alfalfa. 



The poorest alfalfa soils in the State are found in South Mis- 

 souri. The ridge lands of this section are the poorest of all our 

 soils and hence are the least adapted to the growing of alfalfa. 

 With the liberal use of manure and inoculation it can be success- 

 fully grown in many places, even on the slopes of the Ozarks. But 

 generally speaking it cannot be said to be a profitable crop for 

 this section. However, one field sown on a southern slope in 

 Phelps county which has been standing for four years produced 

 three cuttings last year averaging a ton per acre to the cutting. 



The Missouri farmer is learning to grow alfalfa quite success- 

 fully. With a better understanding of the requirements of the 

 plant it is only a question of time until it will be grown in prac- 

 tically all parts of the State. In North Missouri it will be grown 

 on practically all well drained soils while in Southern Missouri its 

 successful cultivation will doubtless be somewhat more restricted. 

 Tt is generally true that the longer alfalfa is raised on any farm 

 the more readily it grows and the easier it becomes for the farmer 

 to get a stand. This is due largely to the fact that he learns better 

 how to seed and handle the crop, and the land becomes more 

 thoroughly inoculated and better adapted for growing alfalfa. 



DISCUSSION. 



- Q. Have you had any reports on the soil testing work on the 

 Vandalia prairie? 



A. Yes, we had some experiments on that soil, and have not 

 as yet found alfalfa to be grown there very successfully. One 

 experiment there has shown that lime is especially beneficial to 



