HABIT OF GROWTH. 89 



cannot judge of when alfalfa should be cut by the 

 appearance or non-appearance of bloom. Usually 

 when it ought to be cut it will be in bloom. The only 

 safe indication, however, is found in little shoots 

 or buds that put out from the base of the stems near 

 the earth. When these shoots put out, like little 

 suckers, ready to make new growth, then cut the 

 alfalfa and cut it immediately. Cutting must not 

 be delayed else the shoots will become so high that 

 they will be cut off with the hay. The alfalfa must 

 not be cut before these shoots appear, because if 

 this is done the alfalfa will not start off promptly, 

 and when it does start will be singularly deficient in 

 vigor and thrift. The reason is not known, but the 

 fact is often observed that when a part of a field is 

 mown only a few days too early and the rest of the 

 field after the shoots have appeared there will be 

 a difference of 100% or more in the yield of the 

 next crop in favor of that cut at the right time. 



Further, when it is cut too early it often becomes 

 unthrifty, rusted, yellow, sickly, and weeds and 

 grass spring up and choke it. Thousands of ruined 

 fields all over eastern America and in England trace 

 their injury to having been cut at the wrong time. 

 When it is mown off too soon all seems to go wrong 

 with it. It may be that in some way the sap sours 

 in the roots, the bacteria die, or some poison is 

 secreted. Some such catastrophe is needed to ac- 

 count for the behavior of the plants. 



Cutting for Soiling Weakens. In England the 

 writer has frequently observed that the habit there 



