PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 275 



third, its excellent pasturage qualities; fourth, its nutri- 

 tious qualities, being equally good green or dry; fifth, 

 its yield and price of seed, which is threshed with an 

 ordinary grain separator; sixth, its tremendously rapid 

 growth during the summer season. There are many more 

 attributes that can be credited to alfalfa. 



W. 0. Thompson, Lincoln county. — I have had 20 

 years' experience with alfalfa, on second bottom and 

 upland. The upland has a clay subsoil; the second bot- 

 tom soil is three feet deep, underlaid with a bed of 

 sand and gravel. Abundant water is found from 8 to 

 23 feet from the surface. If dry soil is found, it is the 

 first three feet below the surface. Land should be tilled 

 several years before seeding, in order to perfectly subdue 

 the sod. Use about 16 pounds of seed per acre, and pre- 

 pare the ground the same as for wheat, sowing in the 

 spring. The first crop will be nearly all weeds ; cut and 

 haul these off the ground. The second crop will produce 

 about one ton of hay per acre. Alfalfa is liable to win- 

 terkill if the winter is warm and dry. I irrigate from a 

 stream two or three times during the season, with suffi- 

 cient water to flood all the ground. The first year the 

 ground is soft and porous, and twice the water is required 

 as in the following years. From three to four crops are 

 raised during the season, yielding from ij4 to 2 tons 

 each cutting, or from five to six tons per acre in one sea- 

 son. Cut when in bloom for hay, and let the seed ripen 

 before cutting for seed, using either the first or second 

 crop for this seed. When cutting for seed, it should be 

 pitched out of the way of the mower after each round; 

 then let it dry before stacking, but not enough for the 



