118 ALFALFA 
ground. In five weeks it was clipped the second time. 
In the summer of 1910 and 1g11 this field yielded sev- 
eral cuttings of hay and yet was pastured by a large 
number of hogs. 
If the season is favorable as to plenty of moisture 
alfalfa can be sown in April, provided it is sown with 
barley at the rate of one bushel of barley to the acre. 
Cut the barley when it is in the milk and cure it for feed. 
It makes fine feed. If the season is dry the barley will 
use up so much moisture that the young alfalfa plants 
will die. 
In the spring of 1911, which was very dry, the author 
planted a field to alfalfa and barley and both plants 
came up fine, but it was so dry that the barley took all 
the moisture and the young alfalfa plants all died but a 
few, a stand was only secured on one acre of the field, 
and that portion of the field was low ground and in it 
a great deal of organic matter had been plowed under 
which held the moisture. 
Good stands of alfalfa have been secured by sowing 
‘in sweet corn after the corn was gathered in the latter 
part of August, but the seed was well covered, and the 
season was favorable in the way of moisture. 
The use of ground limestone is a great aid in secur- 
ing a vigorous growth of alfalfa, but in the majority of 
farms it is not necessary to use it. 
Alfalfa will so build up and restore worn-out soils 
that large crops of corn can be grown upon them, and 
will so maintain the fertility of average soils that they 
will not become worn. 
The author’s personal experience with this plant and 
