TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK^PART X 499 



will get from 21 to 3 tons per acre and the second year about 4 tons per 

 acre. 



The cost and value in dollars and cents, taking a ten acre basis: 



Plowing or two double discings $10.00 



Harrowing 2.00 



Sowing dirt, one ton, two men, J day 3.00 



Cost of seed, 180 lbs 36.00 



Seeding 2.00 



Harrowing 2.00 



Total $55.00 



The cost of harvesting, 10 acres, 3 cuttings: 



Mowing $10.00 



Tedding, raking and curing 18.00 



Putting up, four men and a boy, three days. 27.00 



Total $55.00 



Value of hay crop, 2J tons at $14.00 per ton $35.00 



Value of second year crop, 4 tons per acre 56.00 



Increase in corn crop 15 "bu. per acre 7.50 



Total two years 98.50 



Minus expense 18.00 



Net $80.50 



Per acre $40.25 



Summary. — Manure good. Make a fine seed bed. Inoculate, sow dirt. 

 Use good seed and sow even. Mow when next crop starts. Cure as fast 

 and dry as possible without losing too many leaves. Rain does not hurt it 

 as bad as clover. Ton of alfalfa equals 1| tons of clover. 



ALFALFA. 

 South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. 



BY CLIFFORD WILLIS, CHIEF IN AGEOXOMY, AND J. V. BOPP, CHIEF ASSISTANT IN 



AGRONOMY. 



Introduction. 



The interest manifested in this forage plant shows its widespread and 

 rapidly increasing popularity. Of seemingly unlimited productiveness, 

 unhampered by many factors which affect the growth of corn, cereals 

 and grasses, it keeps pushing its boundaries, north, east, south and 

 west, to higher altitudes, until only few areas are not supplied. 

 In these regions where it is unable to produce from four to six cuttings 

 it is content with one or two, and even then when given a chance by a 

 favorable season, responds with a third. • 



Inquiries concerning the culture indicate a determined effort on the 

 part of all farmers to produce this "queen" of nitrogen-gathering legumes. 

 The organisms which live in the tubercles on the alfalfa roots are the 



