Alfalfa in Kansas. 15 



VARIETIES. 



Most reporters have had no experience with any varieties of alfalfa 



other than the ordinary or common variety, Medicago sativa L. Here and 



there was found a man who had tried the Turkestan variety. However, 



the replies indicate considerable difference of opinion as to its value. 

 Following are some favorable reports: 



Cowley county: "We have seeded Turkestan on light sandy soil and 

 have succeeded with it where the other failed." 



Hodgeman county: "Turkestan thickened, stood wind and cold in ex- 

 posed places, matured, and seeded." 



Jackson county: "My experience with Turkestan has been good." 



Sherman county: "I have four acres of Turkestan. It grows rank 

 3V 2 to 4 feet." 



Here are some unfavorable reports: 



Atchison county: "Turkestan in neighboring fields is about half as 

 good as the ordinary variety." 



Wilson county: "I have had some experience with Turkestan, but it 

 was not satisfactory; it did not make a good growth." 



Montgomery county: "Common alfalfa is best. Don't like Turkestan." 

 Sheridan county: "Turkestan did not survive a bad year." 



Trego county: "Turkestan and common alfalfa were planted side 

 by side. The Turkestan was no good. The first cutting yielded about 

 50 per cent as much as the common variety and later cuttings yielded 

 nothing at all." 



Wichita county: "I have had experience in a small way with Turkes- 

 tan. It is no better than the ordinary variety." 



One grower, who lives in Lyon county, said: "I sowed 200 acres of 

 alfalfa, one-half with home-raised seed and one-half with German seed. 

 The German seed made the best growth." 



A prominent Wabaunsee county alfalfa grower offers the following: 

 "Some years ago we planted about twenty acres of alfalfa with foreign 

 seed. This seed was of a remarkably hardy character. The first winter 

 after it was seeded was an extremely trying one on alfalfa, and did con- 

 siderable damage to native plants, while the plants from the foreign seed 

 remained unharmed. On the other hand, the plants from the foreign 

 seed grow closer to the ground but not nearly so tall, and yield much less 

 hay in an ordinary year. During very dry periods the third and fourth 

 crops from the foreign seed are hardly worth cutting, while our native 

 seed gives a reasonably good crop. I certainly would not recommend the 

 foreign seed for a hay crop, but it might be very good as hog pasture." 



It would appear that while some foreign-grown varieties of alfalfa 

 might prove valuable in this state, they have thus far failed to win wide- 

 spread recognition among Kansas farmers. (See pages 180 to 205.) 



NUMBER OF CUTTINGS. 



The number of cuttings of alfalfa in Kansas varies from four and 

 one-half in the southeastern corner of the state to three cuttings in the 

 western one-fourth. In counties representing about 72 per cent of the 

 state's alfalfa acreage, located mostly in the eastern third and south- 



