HARVESTING ALFALFA SEED 361 



hauling for long distances, the several cuttings of the season 

 all being put into the same stack or group of stacks. 



As alfalfa hay does not shed water readily, the stacks 

 should be covered with grass hay or straw to prevent injury 

 from the weather. If the hay is to be sold, it is sometimes 

 baled in the field as it cures, particularly in the dry sections 

 of the West, but for immediate baling it must be much drier 

 than for stacking. 



475. Harvesting the Seed. The best seed crops of al- 

 falfa are produced only in the drier portions of the country. 

 Alfalfa does not produce good seed freely under humid con- 

 ditions, though a good quality and yield of seed can some- 

 times be obtained. Most of the seed which is now raised 

 in the United States is produced in the irrigated districts 

 of the West, though some dry-land alfalfa seed is grown. 

 As light and air are needed for the production of seed, the 

 best conditions are obtained by thin seeding in rows. As 

 soon as the seed crop is removed, the land should be culti- 

 vated to start new growth. This method may also be used 

 for the production of hay where the rainfall is insufficient 

 to grow it by ordinary methods. 



The alfalfa seed crop should be handled in about the same 

 way as a seed crop of clover. As the seed sets best only in 

 hot, dry weather, the second crop is usually left for seed, 

 conditions then being more favorable than at any other 

 season. When irrigated alfalfa is grown for seed, that par- 

 ticular crop is not usually irrigated. The seed crop should 

 be cut when about three fourths of the pods are brown. 

 If left till later, many of the earliest and best pods will drop 

 off and be lost. The seed is usually hulled without stacking, 

 for it should be handled as little as possible. A fair crop of 

 seed is 3 or 4 bushels to the acre, and as the price is usually 

 high, the seed crop is often a paying one. 



476. Alfalfa in Rotations. In the sections of the country 

 where alfalfa does not succeed particularly well or where it is 



