122 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



Alfalfa will endure much drouth. What it will do in a particular 

 place can only be told by trying. Sow Turkestan alfalfa. If the 

 rains come early so as to wet the land down in September and Oc- 

 tober, sow the seed then. The endurance of the plant will depend 

 much' upon its having a chance to root deeply before the drouth 

 comes on. 



Inoculating Alfalfa. 



Is it profitable to inoculate alfalfa seed before planting to increase 

 its yield? Can it be done by leaching soil from old alfalfa ground, pro- 

 viding it has been plowed up and alloived to stand for a year? Are 

 commercial inoculants a safe thing to inoculate with? 



Apparently alfalfa does not need inoculation in this State. Prob- 

 ably not one acre in ten thousand now profitably growing alfalfa 

 has ever had artificial introduction of germs. You can make germ- 

 tea, if you wish, of the soil you describe; one year's exposure would 

 not destroy the germs. It is safe enough to use commercial cul- 

 tures. You will have to decide for yourself whether it is worth while. 



Irrigating Alfalfa. 



/ am making parallel ridges for alfalfa, sending a full head of water 

 down to the end of the field between each ridge. Should I calculate the 

 lands to be mowed one at a time in even sivaths? The mower being S-foot 

 cut, would you count on cutting a 4 1-2 or S-foot swath? This soil is 

 sandy, zvatcr percolating rapidly. The fall is 8 feet to the mile. How 

 zvide, then, would you advise making the ridges to suit the mower, and 

 to flood economically, using from 2 to 4 cubic feet per second? The 

 length of the lands is across 40 acres. 



Growing alfalfa in long parallel checks, to be flooded between 

 the levees, is the way in which much alfalfa is being put in at the 

 present time where the land has such a slope as you indicate. It is 

 calculated, however, to seed the levees as well as the check bottoms, 

 and to run the mowers across the levees, thus leaving no waste land 

 and mowing across the whole field and not between the levees as 

 you propose. For that purpose these levees are made low, not over 

 a foot in height, calculating that they will settle to about six or 

 eight inches, which is sufficient to hold the water and direct its flow 

 gently down the slope. There is, however, a limit to the distance 

 over which water can be evenly distributed in this way, the differ- 

 ence being dependent upon the character of the soil, slope, etc. A 

 length of nine hundred feet is sometimes found too great for an even 

 distribution, and, for this reason, supply ditches at shorter intervals 

 are introduced. 



Unirrigated Alfalfa. 



In what part of the State does alfalfa grozv best ivithout irrigation? 



Obviously the parts which have the greatest rainfall in connec- 

 tion with retentive soil and plenty of summer heat. Alfalfa grows 

 best without irrigation on "sub-irrigated" land where the ground- 



