33 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Boakd of Agricultuke. 



ALFALFA AS A CROP IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



By Prof. Wm. P. Brooks, Director Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Alfalfa has been under trial, both at the experiment station and on 

 a considerable number of private farms, for several years. It has 

 been found that a good start and a thick stand are not very difficult 

 to obtain, but in many cases, both on the experiment station grounds 

 and on private farms, the alfalfa has frequently died out within two 

 or three years, giving place, with greater or less rapidity, to grasses 

 and clovers. During the past few years, however, we have been 

 obtaining better success than formerly. There are now several small 

 areas of alfalfa on station and college grounds which are from four to 

 six years old and which are still in very good condition. The writer 

 has heard also of a number of cases in Avhich private farmers are also 

 meeting with much better success than was common a few years ago. 



Even should alfalfa hold the ground only three or four years, it 

 would, in the opinion of some of those who have given it longest 

 trial, still be well worth growing on account of its high value for 

 forage, whether green or dry. 



The principal advantages of alfalfa as compared with clover are 

 four: — 



1. Larger total yield, if thorough^ successful. The experiments 

 carried out at Amherst up to the present time have been upon too 

 small a scale to determine the yield to be expected from alfalfa, but, 

 so far as can be judged, it seems probable that in seasons with well- 

 distributed and moderate rainfall a total yield in three crops of from 

 five to six tons of hay may be anticipated on good land. 



2. The first crop is ready to cut and feed at least two weeks earlier 

 than clover. 



.3. It starts after cutting more quickh^ than clover, usuallj^ fur- 

 nishing three crops annually. 



4. It is considerably finer than clover, and is therefore more pal- 

 atable and cures more easily. 



So far as can be judged from figures showing composition, alfalfa 



