AI.I. ABOUT ALFAI^FA. 327 



be no doubt that Turkestan will withstand drouth 

 under the same conditions as well as ordinary alfalfa, 

 but at the same time it is apt to succumb more readily 

 to winter-killing. 



In concluding our remarks regarding some of the 

 chara(5leristics of Turkestan alfalfa, the writer desires 

 to append the following portion of a communication 

 received in 1901 from a friend in Nebraska: 



' ' I have tested this alfalfa as carefully as any 

 farmer could. I sowed the seed adjoining a piece of 

 common alfalfa and thought I had a bonanza. The 

 second year I cut it when in bloom the same as the 

 common variety, thinking to get seed from the second 

 crop. Not a bloom or seed did I see that fall, and 

 only a six- inch second growth. I blamed a dry spell 

 for the short growth and the failure to seed, notwith- 

 standing the fa(5l that the adjoining plat of common 

 alfalfa went booming right along and made a third 

 crop. In the second year from sowing I was very 

 careful to cut it during a wet spell. This time we got 

 a little better second growth, but it was not half as 

 high as the common variety with no seed. I do not 

 believe this imported variety will ever produce seed on 

 the second crop. During the season of 1900 I deter- 

 mined to let the first crop go to seed, and did succeed 

 in getting a few specimens. ' ' 



Alfalfa Soils. — There is a good deal of misappre- 

 hension afloat regarding this or that kind of soil being 

 unsuited to alfalfa culture. As a matter of fa(ft, the 

 soil itself cuts but very little figure in the success of 

 the crop so long as contaminating influences do not 

 come in to lay injury upon it. Any soil will do, so 



