806 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



twenty-six inches. This is believed to be the only instance in the country 

 where alfalfa has been successfully grown for a harvest crop the first year. 

 There is no doubt that it is entirely practicable for farmers to set out to 

 plant alfalfa with the expectation of securing valuable returns within 

 three months from the time of planting. In order to realize this, how- 

 ever, it is absolutely necessary to observe every precaution. Mr. Lang- 

 ston observed every step of the growth with care, and he gives it as his 

 opinion that the seed must be of the very best obtainable. It must be 

 inoculated, as without bacteria there is no doubt his crop could not have 

 made su«h astonishing headway the first season. The remarkable effect 

 of the bacteria is best evidenced by the fact that the crop showed com- 

 paratively even all over the tract, both where the manure had been applied 

 and where it had been missed. This shows with unmistakable proof the 

 efiicacy of the bacteria in forwarding the growth of alfalfa. 



Another theory was destroyed by Mr. Langston's experiment this year, 

 and that is that alfalfa connot be cured outside of the irrigated districts 

 so that it will retain the beautiful green which it possessed when grow- 

 ing. This crop cured green, and when dry as chaff possessed as beauti- 

 ful and vivid a color as when growing. It is one of the claims of the 

 alfalfa grower in the irrigated country that alfalfa grown there and 

 which cures green retains from eight to fifteen percent more protein, the 

 great food property of alfalfa, than the bleached crop. Whether this 

 claim regarding protein is strictly true or not matters little, for there 

 seems to be no way of controlling the color in curing, but if Mr. Lang- 

 ston's theory is correct, that the crop cured green because of the effect* of 

 the bacteria having- caused such prolific growth, the conclusion is sug- 

 gestive. It nevertheless is a fact that his crop cured green and remains 

 so after having been placed in the mow. 



SUMMARY (5F THE EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED AT THE WISCON- 

 SIN STATION FOR GROWING ALFALFA IN WISCONSIN. 



1. Alfalfa can be grown successfully under proper conditions in all 

 counties of Wisconsin. 



2. It thrives best on well-drained soils that are underlaid with a 

 gravelly subsoil. 



3. Care must be exercised in a thorough preparation of seed-bed. 



4. Seed of known vitality sown at the rate of at least 20 pounds per 

 acre, is sufficient to obtain a good stand. 



5. If the land on which the alfalfa seed is sown is inclined to be 

 weedy, use a nurse crop; barley sown about three pecks to the acre has 

 given best results. 



6. If the field of alfalfa becomes "patchy" and the plants are crowded 

 with white clover, June grass, etc., it is better to plow the whole field in 

 he fall and re-seed in the spring than to attempt to re-seed small patches. 



7. There seems to be an advantage in sowing alfalfa on ground that 

 has grown alfalfa before, as the accumulation of alfalfa bacteria in the 

 soil will at once aid the new plants. 



