118 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 
and hogs eating it with eagerness. Even Red Clover is inferior to 
it in nutritive value, the protein content being greater in Alfalfa. It 
can be fed to greatest advantage to dairy cattle but is also important 
for fattening all kinds of farm animals, especially sheep and hogs. 
Fodder: Farmers sometimes say that Alfalfa does not make 
good hay, but such statements are usually the result of cutting at 
the wrong time. Its value for hay depends upon its nutritive value 
and its power of producing a number of crops in the season. As with 
most forage plants, the quality rapidly deteriorates after the plants 
have begun to blossom. The stems then lose their succulence, be- 
come hard and woody, and the leaves are apt to fall off. When the 
plants begin to form their blossoms, new secondary stems are devel- 
oped from buds at the crown. As it is upon this secondary growth 
that the second cutting depends, the first cutting must be done before 
the secondary stems have grown tall enough to be cut off by the 
mower. For this reason it is advisable to cut a little earlier than 
the nutritive value and yield of the hay demand. If it is cut at the 
beginning of the flowering period, the yield of the first crop will be 
a little lessened, but the second growth will develop more quickly 
and the return will be greater. Early cutting gives a greater total 
crop of better hay than late cutting. Where the season is long and 
the weather favourable, five or six cuttings a year can be secured. 
In northern countries such as Canada, two or three cuttings a year 
may be expected. In irrigated districts or in places where hay- 
making time is dry, it is not difficult to cure Alfalfa into bright green 
hay of excellent quality. Where rains or heavy dews are frequent 
after cutting, the hay is apt to turn yellow or brown. Its nutritive 
value is considerably lessened and its palatability lost. Curing is 
generally done in the same way as for Red Clover. Alfalfa should, 
however, be handled more carefully, as the leaves easily fall off and 
their shattering causes a considerable loss of fodder. 
Pasture: When Alfalfa is grown for pasture, which is only done 
to a limited extent in Canada, it is important to get the plants well 
established before turning the stock into the field. It is never ad- 
visable to pasture Alfalfa before the third year. Even in old fields 
care must be taken to prevent the plants being killed in spots. Al- 
falfa has a single taproot, the crown of which generally stands a little 
above ground. Being thus exposed, it might easily be injured by 
tramping, especially when the ground is soft from heavy rains. As 
the new stems come from the crown, Alfalfa is liable to be seriously 
damaged by close pasturing with sheep. It is not advisable to pasture 
