296 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



ing which time if it has had water enough it will 

 have grown 36 inches. It may there be cut eight or 

 nine times in a year, but even there it is better to cut 

 it only about six times in a year, letting it rest during 

 the months of December, January and February. In 

 that climate on suitable soil the yield is about a ton 

 to each cutting. 



Let me repeat with all possible emphasis, in re- 

 gions where 'alfalfa is not very strong and is apt to 

 winterkill, do not cut too late in the fall. Leave al- 

 ways a good growth to protect the crowns and to 

 catch snow. Do not graze late in the fall. 



Western readers will wonder at this caution. I 

 have had 2,000 cattle on a 90 aicre alfalfa meadow 

 most of the winter, coming and going, and have seen 

 no injury in Utah. There the soil was dry, no ice 

 formed on alfalfa crowns and alfalfa was markedly 

 at home. A similar treatment in Ohio would have 

 spelled certain ruin to the alfalfa. 



Keep off the Fields in Winter. Anywhere east of 

 the Missouri River it is very bad practice to go on 

 the fields at all in winter with animals or wagons. 

 Wherever horses tread or wheels go will be lines 

 of dead or dying alfalfa plants. The alfalfa field 

 should be a sacred place after October and until 

 May, no animal should be permitted to set foot 

 within it. No matter just what it is that kills or 

 weakens the plants, the truth is so well proved that 

 it admits of no argument; so let us emphasize the 

 rule never under any avoidable circumstance go 



