Alfalfa in Kansas. 165 



Wabaunsee county: "I have had some experience regarding flood 

 water. I had about forty acres of alfalfa which were many times flooded, 

 and I am quite convinced that water running over alfalfa a moderate 

 length of time will not kill it. However, when the water stands on the 

 alfalfa it scalds very quickly and dies. There is no Question in my mind 

 but that the length of time the water remains on the alfalfa has much, 

 if not everything, to do with its life and death, and it does not take very 

 long in hot, sunny weather to kill alfalfa if water stands on it." 



Shaivnee county: "It is simply a matter of suffocation; the water ex- 

 cludes the air and the plants die." 



Shawnee county: "The water causes the roots to rot." 



Shawnee county: "It all depends on how long the water remains over 

 the field. My experience has been that twenty-four hours is often long 

 enough to kill overflowed alfalfa." 



Linn county: "Alfalfa which stands where there is a current most of 

 the time, and the tops stick out of the water, will live. After the water 

 goes down the tops may be cut off and a new crop of hay will grow. 

 Alfalfa completely under water is killed. It takes a complete submersion 

 of more than five days to kill alfalfa ; headwaters which run off in a day 

 or two do not hurt it much." 



Montgomery county: "Flooded alfalfa should be cut and hauled off." 



IRRIGATED ALFALFA. 



The United States Census Bureau credits Kansas with 11,195 acres of 

 irrigated alfalfa in 1909. Of this acreage 94.7 per cent ,is irrigated from 

 streams, 5.2 per cent from wells, and .1 per cent from springs. Reports 

 to the State Board of Agriculture, however, come mostly from growers 

 who irrigate by pumping from the underflow ; some irrigate from streams, 

 and one, living in Morton county, irrigates from an artesian well. Prac- 

 tically all the irrigated alfalfa in Kansas is located in the western third 

 of the state. 



The average yield of irrigated alfalfa in Kansas is 5.4 tons per acre, 

 as against 3.17 tons of nonirrigated alfalfa in the same territory an. in- 

 crease, due to irrigation, of 2.23 tons per acre, or more than 70 per cent. 

 The average annual cost of irrigation is from two to five dollars per 

 acre. 



The usual method of preparing soil for irrigated alfalfa is to plow 

 deeply, harrow, and then level. Leveling land for Irrigation is fully 

 covered on pages 277 to 279. There is little difference in the methods of 

 after-culture, except that water is applied to irrigated alfalfa and is not 

 applied to nonirrigated alfalfa. 



None of the irrigators reporting, except the one having the artesian 

 well, has a reservoir. The custom is to conduct the water from the pump 

 directly to the field by means of ditches. All the reporters apply water 

 by means of flooding, most of them using the "check" method. From 

 two to eight irrigations are given each year, averaging four or five. 



The time to irrigate is determined by the condition of the soil and the 

 appearance of the crop, as evidenced by the following reports: "Ex- 

 amine the ground and never let it get dry, or even begin to get dry. 

 Keep plenty of moisture in the ground." "When it is dry and needs 

 water the leaves will start to dry up and turn yellow." 



