676 



IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Fig. 16. — This plot of alfalfa on the station fields at Ames, produced 

 2.5 tons of field cured hav when cut on June 8. Photograph shows con- 

 dition on May 25, 1906. 



TABLE XV. 



The Effect of Various Treatments on Alfalfa, as Measured by the Estimated Yield 



of Hay. 



Assuming for the time that a stand of alfalfa could be secured without 

 the use of manure; that the assumed yield was placed twice too high, 

 and that the actual average increase from the use of manure was only one 

 half that shown, still the increase in yield of alfalfa hay in the first 

 season alone would have a greater value than the total yield of the aver- 

 age acre of oats. 



Since approximately one-half of the annual yield is secured in the first 

 cutting, the total increase for the year would be one ton, the value of 

 which in 1910 was estimated to be $11.60. On no other farm crop can 

 manure be so profitably used as on alfalfa. 



On the same basis an application of 300 lbs. of alfalfa soil resulted 

 in an average increase in the yield of hay valued at $9.63 for each acre. 

 A good return for 300 pounds of soil. 



The use of 2,000 lbs. of lime valued at $5.00' per car load at the quarry, 

 gave an increase the first year valued at $5.45 per acre. 



