PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 263 



before I obtained four bushels of seed to the acre, and it 

 cost me 60 cents per bushel for cleaning. Used ordinary- 

 threshing outtit, and set hind end of thresher 10 inches 

 lower than front. The seed has sold here during four 

 years for $5 to $8 per bushel. Horses and sheep should 

 not be pastured on the alfalfa, as it pays to mow and haul 

 it to them, either green or dry. It makes good pasturage 

 for cattle, but they must not be turned on when the ground 

 is frozen, nor when they are hungry, as it is necessary to 

 start them gradually to avoid bloating. Mine never 

 have bloated, and I feed milch cows in the early spring 

 and on the fourth crop in the fall. Alfalfa ripened and 

 threshed has little value, as it breaks up into dust and 

 chaff. My stand improved every year; was about at its 

 best the sixth year, and continues about the same for an 

 indefinite time. If it gets a fair start, and is cut three 

 times, a good stand can be kept; but if it is pastured, and 

 the weeds are not eaten, it is apt to thin itself. A neigh- 

 bor plowed under alfalfa for green manure, but the next 

 year it grew up as thick and strong as if not plowed. 

 We do not need manure here. I have seen several pieces 

 of fairly good alfalfa on high prairie, with some gumbo 

 in the soil, but it grows best where the subsoil is fairly 

 open. Upland is generally best for seed, as the plants 

 should grow only one to two feet high, and mine on the 

 bottom grows 2 to 3^ after the second year. I think 

 there is no other crop here to compare with alfalfa. My 

 third year's crop cleared me over $20 per acre. I have 

 known of nine bushels of seed on one acre, and have 

 heard of 15 in this county. My bottom lands will grow 

 three good crops of hay almost without rain, and kill out 

 all the weeds. 



