248 THE BOOK 01? ALFALFA 



Connecticut for many years and scattered plants and 

 colonies may often be seen in fence corners and headlands. 

 Within five years, however, some farmers under direction 

 of the agricultural station at New Haven, or on their own 

 initiative, have made more careful experiments and while 

 failures are numerous, there are at present a number of 

 small areas well established, yielding three or four cut- 

 tings yearly and highly valued by their owners. On the 

 farm of C. W. Beach of West Hartford, F. H. Stad- 

 mueller had for seven years a considerable field of alfalfa 

 which yielded well and was used as a soiling crop. Mr. 

 Barnard of North Haven, after repeated failures, has a 

 fine field and feeds it to both cows and poultry. The 

 Gaylord Farm sanatorium at Wallingford, John Matthies 

 of New Mil ford and others might be cited as successful 

 growers of alfalfa. It does well on a variety of soils with 

 us. Liming heavily, 1500 to 2000 pounds per acre, is a 

 necessity. Some form of inoculation of the soil is gen- 

 erally required and clean, well-tilled land. Weeds are the 

 worst enemy of the newly seeded alfalfa and easily 

 smother the crop. For that reason we prefer August 

 seeding, using at least 30 pounds of clean, fresh seed. It 

 will pay to fallow the land, in order to kill the weeds be- 

 fore seeding down. Thin spots cannot be successfully 

 patched by seeding later. Great care in preparing the 

 land pays with a permanent crop like alfalfa. 



DELAWARE 



Dr. Arthur T. Ncale, Director Delaware experiment 

 station. — Twenty years ago, I drilled alfalfa in rows 18 

 inches apart, and cultivated at intervals of ten days until 

 the crop occupied the ground, seeding late in March, say 



