124 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



It would seem, however, that the crop is suffi- 

 ciently profitable to pay for hand work until 

 such time as invention supplies a better method. 

 The seed should either be placed in bundles or 

 tied and allowed to get thoroughly dry before it 

 is stacked. It should be threshed with the al- 

 falfa huller. An ordinary threshing machine 

 does not do clean work and wastes too much seed. 

 The seed should be stored in a dry place where 

 there is not likely to be great changes in temper- 

 ature. 



PROBABLE 

 YIELDS 



FERTILIZA- 

 TION OP 

 THE 



FLOWERS 



Alfalfa seed grown in culture for this special 

 purpose should produce heavy crops. One crop 

 of twenty-eight bushels of alfalfa seed per acre 

 has been reported ; in another authenticated case 

 a crop was raised of nineteen and one-half bush- 

 els of seed per acre on three acres. These yields 

 show the possibilities of the crop. An average 

 of fifteen to twenty bushels per acre should be 

 secured by correct culture and treatment. With 

 an expense of $20 an acre, the profit ought to be 

 equal to that from the culture of other intensive 

 crops, like sugar beets and potatoes. 



It has generally been believed that alfalfa, 

 like other clovers, required the visitation of in- 

 sects to fertilize the flowers. Failure of the seed 

 crop is often due to lack of proper fertilization. 

 It is now known that alfalfa flowers may become 

 fertilized without the agency of insects. Alfalfa 



