170 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



selling adulterated alfalfa seed. Nearly all western 

 seed will contain a little sweet clover seed and no 

 seedsman probably can detect it or clean it out. It 

 is not a serious injury to the alfalfa and disappears 

 completely the third year when the alfalfa is mown 

 off in regular rotation. There is never any difficulty 

 in getting rid of melilotus when one gets ready to 

 dispose of it. It is very much hardier than alfalfa 

 and probably a better forager for plant food; cer- 

 tainly it thrives on poorer soil than alfalfa does and 

 it does very much to make the land ready for alfalfa 

 wherever it grows. It does not ask for as deeply 

 drained land as do'es alfalfa. On the other hand 

 animals usually scorn to eat it, though I have seen 

 it eaten with relish by sheep, pigs and cows in 

 Alabama, and the animals throve. 



The seed usually sells a little cheaper than alfalfa. 

 Should there develop much demand for it there 

 would be large profit in producing seed on suitable 

 soil, since it seeds very freely almost anywhere, 

 while alfalfa does not. 



Melilotus in Kentucky. As indicative of what 

 melilotus is doing in Kentucky we quote the follow- 

 ing extracts from letters written by J.. T. Mardis, 

 from Pendleton County: 



As an illustration of its value, I will explain that seventeen 

 years ago I bought one hundred acres of as badly worn and 

 washed land as could be found anywhere, My first resolve and 

 constant efforts following was to improve and get in grass, and 

 to obtain these results I worked all my spare time, year 

 after year, filling washes with any material to be had, plowing, 

 harrowing and sowing grass seeds and seeds of many different 

 plants advertised and recommended for improving land, for which 



