295 



dirtcnMice in value of crops, $2.48 per acre, is shown on f he college 

 fiiiin." 



Alfalfa, p:. B. Voorhees, M. A. (i»p. ir);{-i(;o)._Tliis is a i(']K»it 

 lor ISSO of tlie yields of alfalfa sown broadcast and in drills, being a 

 continuation of an experiment ectniineuced iul887 (see Experiment Sta- 

 tion Bulletin Xo. 2, part i, p. 120). A piece of land 150 by 30 feet was 

 seeded to altalfa in Ajnil, 1SS7, tlie seed l)eing sown broadcast on one 

 half at the rate of oO pounds of seed i)er acre, and in drills U inches 

 ai)art on the other half at the rate of 15 pounds per acre. The fertilizers 

 were the same for both halves. In 1889 four cuttings of alfalfa were 

 made—May 29, ,Iuly 5, August 12, and in September. The total yield 

 of green foddei- trom these four cuttings is given at 22^ tons per acre for 

 the <lrilled plat, and 24| tons for the broadcast plat. The yields are 

 also tabulated for 1887 and 1888, together with the calculated amounts 

 of hay and of nutritive ingredients and the money value of the same, 

 and these averages are compared with the averages for clover and tim- 

 othy hay. 



The crop has increased in yield radi year notwithstanding a disease which 

 materially rednced the yields of the third cuts in 1888 and 1889. * * * 



Tlie prospect for future crops is also quite as good as at any time since seeding the 

 plats. 



Though tlie l.roadcast ]dat produced much larger yields in both 1888 and 1SS9 

 than the drilled plat, iinal comparisons on this point can be properly drawn only 

 wluMi the plats cease to produce protitable yields. * * * 



The chemical analysis of samples from the three cuts iu 1887 and the four cuts in 

 1888 showed that there were no decided variations in the composition of the alfalfa 

 from the different cuts or iu the different years. 



[At the time of the third cutting (August 12) the leaves ofj many of the plants 

 were (luite yellow (supjiosed to be due to Cercospora helvola) and distinctly spotted 

 with the fungous growth r/(rtciVN«mw«?fca^(Hi8. * * * It is estimated that nearly 

 one half of the plants were attacked at tlie time of taking the third cut. [Analyses, 

 which are tabulated, of samples of the healthy and the diseased plants with refer- 

 ence to both food and fertilizing ingredients], show wide variations in the different 

 classes offood compounds when brought to the water-free basis, the healthy plant 

 having 10 per cent more fat, 12 per cent more protein, and 18 per cent more fiber 

 than the diseased, while the diseased plant has 11 ])er cent more carbohydrates and 

 ash than the healthy ])lant. This difference is more distinctly shown by calcuhiting 

 the nutritive ratio of the digestible compounds. This is found to be for the healthp 



I plant 1:3.28, and for the diseased i)lant 1:3.83. 



; The higher percentage of ash in the diseased plant seems to be largely due to dif- 



1 fercnces iu percentage of potash [2.58 per cent in the healthy and 3. 12 per cent in the 



I diseased plants, water-free]. 



1 Alfalfa as a collector of plant food (pp. 159, 160).— The calculated 

 ,amounts per acre are given of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and ])otash 

 :C()ntained in the crops of 1887, 1888, and 1889, and the commercial value 

 I of the same. It is estimated that these three crops contained 912 

 ipounds of nitrogen, 101 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 934 pounds of 

 ,potash, valued at 1213.44. " There had been applied since the seeding 

 jof the crop less than 200 pounds of actual potash. Since alfalfa is a 



