PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 2'6'J 



would make a fair crop of hay; or 8 to 12 inches from 

 May to September, for two or three cuttings. 



NEW YORK 



Isaac Zollcr, Montgomery county, writes in a recent 

 article in American Agriculturist: — *'In the spring of 

 1889, I sowed my first ten acres of alfalfa. The field was 

 reseeded for the second time in April, 1905. I now have 

 25 acres. The land was plowed in the fall after being 

 manured. In the spring, generally during the last two 

 weeks of April, the surface for five or six inches is made 

 extra fine and 25 to 30 pounds of the best seed are sown 

 with three pecks of oats as a nurse crop. By June i the 

 oats are cut three inches above ground and again every 

 four weeks during the first season. The following June 

 during the third week the first crop is cut, usually yield- 

 ing about three tons. The second cutting generally 

 comes during the last week in July when i^ tons is an 

 average. By September, the third cutting is made, but 

 I generally let sheep browse it, but not very close or after 

 it is frozen. The season of 1905 it was cut and allowed 

 to wilt, raked with a side delivery rake, allowed to lie a 

 couple of hours, then rolled over with the rake and drawn 

 to the barn. Formerly I used to shock it and allow it to 

 sweat, but this is too much work. I feed it to sheep and 

 find it equal, if not superior to Red clover. To be at its 

 best it must be cut when about one-tenth of the blossoms 

 are out. The soil in which my alfalfa grows is a heavy, 

 clay loam and rolling, but is underdrained. The soil here 

 is apt to heave three or four inches during winter and 

 injure clover. But where properly drained, this does 



