77 



crops of hay the following year. The three crops yielded 

 better than five tons per acre. 



The hay is of the finest quality and will usually sell for 

 eighteen dollars per ton, or ninety dollars per acre; but it 

 is not for sale at this price. We feed it to our own stock. 

 After obtaining these results on eight acres we felt justified 

 in sowing twenty acres more the following fall. (The two 

 following photographs were taken in this eight-acre field the 

 summer after the crop was* put in.) This was our first 

 attempt at growing alfalfa. We were careful in the prepa- 



ALFALFA HAY IN THE COCK. THE COCKS 

 ABE COVEKED WITH CANVAS CAPS 



ration of the seed bed and followed instructions in regard 

 to seeding and inoculation. 



We want to say right here, however, that if alfalfa is 

 grown at all it should be grown as a money crop. If it will 

 not average two tons of good hay per acre it is better, in 

 our opinion, to grow some other crop. Alfalfa is an expen- 

 sive crop to put in, when it is put in right and one cannot 

 afford to put it in any other way. 



The ground on which alfalfa is grown should lay fallow 



