74 FOR BETTER CROPS 



corn nearly always shades the alfalfa so much that it will not 

 thrive until after the corn is cut ; also the corn takes practically 

 all of the moisture from the soil , causing the alfalfa to suffer from, 

 droug-ht ; and it usually happens that we have most of the dry 

 weather between the time of the last cultivation of corn and 

 fall, so that all three of these causes will operate against the 

 alfalfa. We have seen many splendid successes from this, 

 method, and many failures. We think the chances of success 

 by this method to be about equal to the chances of failure. 



Soils Best Suited io Alfalfa— While it is true that alfalfa 

 may be grown by devoted enthusiasts anywhere, yet it has affin- 

 ity for certain types of soils, and is most easily grown thereon. 

 These soils are deep, pervious to air and water, well stored with 

 mineral elements, and somewhat alkaline in their nature. Thus 



Stacking alfalfa 



alfalfa revels in the arid west, when water is supplied, because 

 there has never been any leaching of mineral fertility, and the 

 land is very rich in potash, phosphorus, and lime. This alka- 

 linity favors the growth and development of the bacteria that 

 grow upon the alfalfa rootlets and makes the plants thrive. In 

 the more eastern sections, along the Missouri river, there are 

 great areas of a peculiar whitish soil called the Loess deposits. 

 These soils are the result of wind deposit, made many centuries 

 ago when the land was desert. On these very deep and fairly 

 fertile Loess soils alfalfa revels, its roots penetrating to very 

 great depths, sometimes as far as thirty feet. 



Yet farther to the eastward are the prairies of Iowa and 

 Illinois, black with stored humus and rich in plant food. On 

 these prairies alfalfa does not naturally succeed very well. 

 This is owing in part to a lack of drainage ; in some instances^ 



