90 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



certain tillable upland soils in several states which 

 cannot be subjected to irrigation. The variety known 

 as the Turkestan, recently introduced by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at Washington, is proving so 

 hardy, that it is now thought it can be successfully 

 grown in areas that are too dry and too cold for the 

 successful growth of the kinds heretofore grown. 



While alfalfa will produce well in some rainy 

 climates, it has higher adaptation for those that are 

 dry, up to a certain limit. Drenching rains which 

 literally saturate the ground with water are harmful 

 to it rather than helpful. And in climates where 

 the period of growth is long, this crop is propor- 

 tionately more helpful than in those where it is short. 

 It is not a little surprising that a soiling crop so 

 useful should not have been grown to a greater 

 extent in the past in the lower Atlantic and Gulf 

 states, since the conditions in certain areas of these 

 are quite favorable. With the greater need that is 

 now being felt for a supply of such foods, the produc- 

 tion of alfalfa will doubtless greatly increase in the 

 near future. 



Soil. The soil and subsoil more than anything 

 else are potent factors in determining where alfalfa 

 may and may not be grown. And of these the sub- 

 soil is the more important. The reasons will be at 

 once apparent when it is remembered that alfalfa 

 roots grow deeply and that the major portion of the 

 food obtained from the earth by the plants comes 

 from the subsoil rather than from the soil. The soil 

 conditions most favorable to the growth of alfalfa are 

 found in loam soils, inclining to sand or gravel, and 

 spiced with a goodly increment of clay. But alfalfa 



