174 



lished is to destroy the entire crop by burning" and planting" the 

 infested and neighboring fields to other crops not subject to the 

 diseases till they have been completely wiped out. 



The most common fungous diseases are the various leaf spots, 

 root rots, wilts, and damping ofif. While some of these are known 

 to exist in Hawaii, and our alfalfa fields show signs of the pres- 

 ence of the leaf spots, they are of no economic importance with 

 the common alfalfa. 



Mr. Andrade found that his plantings of Arabian alfalfa at 

 Moiliili. Oahu, were rather seriously infested by a form of root 

 and crown rot. 



This same disease is also present at the College of Hawaii 

 farm, where the Arabian, Chilean, Kansas and Australian varie- 

 ties are doing very well. Only a few plants of the last three va- 

 rieties are afifected, but the Arabian seems to be very much more 

 susceptible to the disease. Very recently the Arabian plants were 

 nearly all wilted by the disease, while those of other varieties 

 close at hand were almost entirely unafifected. 



Other Pests and Diseases. Alfalfa on the mainland is also 

 subject to various other minor pests and diseases, including a 

 neniatode wdiich causes root rot and a bacterial disease caused 

 by Psendomonas medicaii^inis. They are not considered to be at 

 all serious. 



COMPOSITION AND FEEDING VALUE OF THE CROr. 



Alfalfa is a valuable crop for feeding because of its large )iel(l 

 of palatable forage and high per cent, of protein. Following is 

 the average composition of digestible nutrients of alfalfa as com- 

 pared with that of corn : 



Alfalfa. 



(-(- Vai X 2.2.-)) 

 I'lotciii Cniliohydratos Fat Nutritive l>atio 



Croon :?.7 % 8.(55% 0.6% 1: I.W 



Watrr free 14.17 54.72 2.3 1 : '_'.4 



Hav 12..-? 40.7 l.fi 1: :<.:? 



Meal 17.2 40.0 1.6 1: 2.;j 



Corn. 



Groen 1.0 12.5 0.4 1: 2.5 



Grain 7.8 66.5 4.3 1: 8.5 



Meal 6.4 66.3 3.4 1 : 10.4 



Alfalfa is an excellent food for horses, cattle, sheep, brood cows, 

 and laying hens, especially for milch cows and fattening animals. 

 As it is not a proper ration when fed alone, it should be supple- 



