CLOVER CULTURE. 43 



which is conveyed in other places, and in other cases the entire seed and 

 soil may be washed away. Much care, then, and labor must be used in 

 order to prevent this condition of thing and have a free and equal distri- 

 bution of the water upon the field. The second irrigation, a few weeks 

 later, will be much easier, while the third irrigation will usually cost little 

 or no effort. The water should be turned upon>the alfalfa, after the first 

 year, as early in the spring as it can be obtained from the canals, and the 

 growth of the plant will thus be pushed very early and an accordingly 

 larger growth made. The experience with reference to later irrigation 

 varies somewhat. Some good farmers prefer to turn the water upon the 

 field just before it is ready to be cut, and then as soon as the soil has be- 

 come reasonably dry to commence the haying; others prefer to make the 

 hay and turn the water immediately upon the stubble. Both methods have 

 their adherents and advocates, and both obtain equally good results as far 

 as our observation extends. It is usual to irrigate at least once for each 

 cutting; sometimes an extra irrigation would be valuable if the weather be 

 extremely hot and dry. A late irrigation just before the ground freezes is 

 desirable to give moisture for winter. 



i We have alluded to the yield of alfalfa as a forage plant. It is no un- 

 usual thing to take six or eight tons of forage from a single acre, and that 

 upon large areas, so that a man who has a comparatively small area well 

 set in alfalfa is master of the situation as far as forage is concerned. We 

 mu*t remember that in this region corn cannot be successfully raised in 

 large quantity; and if alfalfa is to be the great forage plant in this region, 

 it must successfully take the place of corn in the agriculture at low eleva- 

 tions. The amount of forage which it furnishes per acre gives us the first 

 great factor in this comparison and makes it especially valuable. The 

 farmers of Colorado especially have found alfalfa to be a very strong nu- 

 tritive plant for feeding, and in some instances it has been used success- 

 fully in the fattening of beef steers for the market without the addition 

 of a single ounce of grain ration. We have seen the fattening of nearly 

 one hundred and fifty in one bunch that was conducted in this way, and 

 the animals brought the highest price in the Denver market. Perhaps a 

 statement of the composition of the alfalfa plant at this point might not 

 be out of place. Tfce green alfalfa contained 39 11 per cent, of dry mate- 

 rial and 60.89 per cent, of water. The alfalfa hay contained 9.59 per cent, 

 of water, 11.90 per cent, of ash, 3.8$ per cent, of fat, 13.87 per cent, of al- 

 buminoid nitrogen, 18.01 per cent*?' of crude fiber and 43.78 per cent, of 

 nitrogen free extract 



This was for alfalfa cut when the bloom was half turned, showing that 

 it was rapidly ripening. Experiments at several of the experiment sta- 

 tions in the United States have shown that this is the proper time at 

 which to cut grasses and clovejs in order to have them retain the greatest 

 amount of nutritive qualities;. Alfalfa, like other clovers and grasses, 

 should be carefully cured for hay. - As the leaves are somewhat smaller 

 than those of other clover, and the climate of the arid region is exces- 

 sively dry, it should be secured before the hay has cured too much so as 

 to prevent the breaking off of the leaves and leaving the hay largely of 

 bare stems. A very little experience will teach one what is best in regard 

 to this. Again, if the plant stands too long and becomes too ripe, the 

 seed begins to form and there is too much woody fiber in the stalk, and 

 much of it is quite indigestible, even when eaten by stock. It is cus- 

 tomary in many places, however, to cut one crop of hay, then to take a 

 crop of seed and to pasture for the remainder of the year. In cases of this 

 kind we have known three tons of good hay to be secured, and eight 

 bushels of fine seed per acre, beside the pasture. It is thus readily seen 

 that a plant, which, under irrigation, will produce such results as those 

 mentioned, is extremely valuable to the farmer who practices irrigation, 

 and that in the agriculture of the west, at an elevation of from 2,500 to 



