PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 307 



rank for seed. The subsoil is light clay, with water from 

 15 to 20 feet from the surface. On land with hardpan 

 subsoil, it declines after a few years, unless irrigated 

 often. In digging for water, we find the subsoil begins 

 to get dry at about i8 inches, and continues quite dry for 

 8 or 10 feet; then moisture increases until water is 

 reached. We prepare ground by plowing in the fall, drag 

 very line in the spring, and sow as early as the season 

 will permit, in order to catch the spring rains, using 20 

 to 25 pounds of seed per acre. Our first cutting is made 

 about June 20, and is a little weedy, but there are fewer 

 weeds in later cuttings. We get about two tons the first 

 cutting, if the stand is good, and about the same the 

 other cuttings that year ; have no trouble here about win- 

 terkilling; standing w^ater is injurious to the plant. Here 

 alfalfa on uplands is watered three or four times each 

 season ; some land needs only one or two floodings, while 

 other lower lands have no irrigation. After getting a 

 good start from the seed, we begin watering about May 

 I, from small mountain streams. The first year requires 

 water about every week; after that, once a month is 

 sufficient. For hay, we begin cutting with the first bloom, 

 obtaining 2 to 2j^ tons from the first cutting, about 2 

 the second, and from i to i^ the third cutting; let it lie 

 about two days before hauling to stack, bemg careful not 

 to stack too green. For seed, begin cutting when seed is 

 ripe, the second crop being considered best. The grass- 

 hoppers have been troubling the second crop to some 

 extent, and we have on that account been cutting the first 

 crop for seed, using a reaper and separating with a thresh- 

 ing machine. On a basis of 7 per cent interest on $30 



