GROWING ALFALFA SEED. 



461 



eastern Colorado, and in the western portions of Kansas, Nebraska 

 and South Dakota. Yields of seed at the rate of 5 bushels to the 

 acre have been obtained. The possibilities of the method when 

 only individual plants of large seeding capacity are used is indi- 

 cated by the fact that plants removed 30 inches each way from 

 other plants have given yields which if equalled by an acre of 

 such plants at the same distance apart would rival the seed yield 

 produced un-der the most favorable conditions in the present seed- 

 growing sections. 



The method is a comparatively new one and should be tested on 

 its own merits in each area or even in each community. Where 

 reasonable doubt as to its success under given conditions of rain- 

 fall exists, growers should at first devote only a small area, say 

 2 to 5 acres, to row cultivation, increasing the size of the field if 

 the results justify it. 



Seed production under the best conditions is somewhat uncer- 

 tain. The certainty of profitable yields of hay in most alfalfa- 

 growing sections deters many farmers from letting their fields 

 stand for seed. The light yield of hay procurable under ordi- 

 nary conditions in the semi-arid regions makes the growing of 

 seed a more promising undertaking than in sections where hay 

 production is very profitable. It is probable that under very dry 

 conditions the yield of hay in cultivated rows will also exceed 

 that of a broad-casted stand. Complete data are not yet at 

 nand, but calculated yields per acre based on the weight from a 

 typical rod length of row are given in the accompanying table: 



The yields of hay given in this table are from one cutting ob* 

 tained on an upland field near Potter, Neb., sixteen months after 

 seeding. The mean annual rainfall at Kimball, the nearest point 

 for which precipitation records are available, is about 14 inches. 

 In both 1905 and 1906 this mean was exceeded considerably, but 

 in 1907 the total was 15 inches, while up to the end of September, 

 1908, the record showed 13.85 inches. Lewis Brott, on whose farm 

 this experiment is under way, secured 150 bushels of seed from a 

 thinly sown, broad-casted field of 50 acres in 1906. This yield was 

 obtained from an old stand. 



Developing Valuable Strains for Seed Production. Experiments 



