248 IOWA DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



From experience and observation I am firmly convinced alfalfa will 

 grow on all the alluvial soils of the state, and on -all that portion of the 

 state where we have the "drift" soil and on all other rich land where; 

 there is no hard pan underneath or atleast within S or 10 feet of the 

 surface. 



My farm is located on the Missouri river bottom and the soil !s a 

 light clay locally known as "gumbo,"' a very porous sub-soil with quick- 

 sand and water ten feet below. The soil is rich beyond measure, and tin* 

 the decaying vegetation of ages mixed through it. 



ALFALFA IN ILLINOIS. 



Joseph Wing in Breeders' Gazette. 



The most valuable bulletin ever issued on alfalfa growing has just 

 come from Prof. Cyril George Hopkins, of the agricultural station and 

 college of Illinois. It is not possible in these columns to give more than 

 an incomplete summary of this bulletin and we urge our readers, whether 

 they intend or wish to grow alfalfa or not, to get the bulletin, for a study 

 of it is fascinating and reveals many truths underlying the growth of 

 crops, and especially legumes, most interesting and valuable. Alfalfa 

 has not often been a success in Illinois. Failure has been written over 

 most fields where it has been sown. Why is this? It is not the climate 

 that is to blame, nor is it the soil, nor can it always be due to bad treat 

 ment of the plant. What then is the secrel of this mysterious failure of 

 the best of all foliage crops? 



Let me here stop to pay tribute to the memory of B. F. Johnson. 

 Champaign, who in the late eighties experimented with alfalfa and 

 secured on his city lot a fine stand and a magnificent yield. He urged 

 the general sowing of this crop and became almost bitter because farm 

 ers heeded him not. There were two reasons, doubtless, why his words 

 fell on unheeding ears. First, he was ahead of his time, far ahead of it. 

 Agriculture in Illinois meant then corn, blue grass and cattle. No one 

 knew except in a vague way of alfalfa; the use of protein in stock foods 

 was not understood; agricultural writers were not much appreciated and 

 whoever knew a prophet to have honor in his own land? The next reason 

 doubtless was that other men sowing alfalfa, incited by his experiments, 

 did not reach the same results. The crop for them was difficult to get 

 started, slender of growth, choked by weeds and grass, unfit for hay when 

 left until "aying time," and disappearing after a few years of neglect 

 Why, only a few weeks ago Professor bhamel spoke lightly of Mr. John- 

 son's alfalfa experiments because there are today to be found but a few 

 plants in his once well-heralded plot! There are other things of value 

 that will not endure the company of weeds and the contemptuous neglect 

 of those who should cherish them. I have no doubt that Mr. Johnson 

 himself was at a loss to explain why his own alfalfa grew so luxuriantly 

 in his city lot and his friends' crops grew so poorly on rich prairie fields 



