44 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



twenty-five feet deep, although we get surface water at thirty 

 feet, what kind of soil would that be? 



Mr. CottrEIvIvI That is first rate, if the subsoil does not hold 

 the water too much. 



A Member: What about the alluvial land along the river? 



'S[r. CottrEll : That would depend almost entirely on the 

 river. Alfalfa will die if the water stands on it; it wnll kill it 

 out. I think your alfalfa proposition in Iowa is wholly a matter 

 of drainage. 



A MEMBER : In relation to seeds, is there any difference in 

 varieties ? 



^Ir. CottrEuu : Well, it is practically all alfalfa. Of course, 

 some of these Asiatic kinds have been advertised. I think 

 there is quite a point, as to where you people in low^a get your 

 seed. In eastern Kansas they failed for a number of years, 

 because they got seed from the southwest from the sandy land, 

 where it has been irrigated. Now^ by accident a man got hold 

 of some seed raised in western Kansas, where it was one hun- 

 dred and eighty feet down to the water, and he got a perfect 

 stand. The result was, in that section of the country, they have 

 been having wonderful success the last five 3^ears. I would 

 recommend for this section of the country that you get your 

 seed from Nebraska, if 3^ou can; if not, I would go to the irri- 

 gated regions of Utah. There is scarcely enough seed grown 

 here in this country to supply the demand. It will be dif^cult to 

 get seed this year. In an experience of twenty-one years, I do 

 not know of a single case where the foreign seed has done well. 



A Member: What is the price of seed per acre? 



Mr. Cottreul: Ordinarily ten or tw^elve cents per pound: 

 you want twenty pounds to the acre. 



A Member: Going into the northwestern portion of Ne- 

 braska, along the Colorado line, where the irrigation ditches go 

 dry in parts of the season, would a person have success there? 



Mr. Cottreli, : I do not know. There is no account of it. 

 where there is no irrigation at all. 



A Member: The impurity of the seed is another thing; we 

 o-et foxtail mixed in it. 



