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sieve with twenty meshes to the inch. The vine can 

 be killed by a copperas or sulphate of iron solution. 



Another enemy is the alfalfa worm, which adls 

 much like the army worm in destroying leaf, stem, and 

 branch. The midge also burrows into the seed bolls 

 and works great havoc, and a clover-blossom worm 



FIG. 73 — DODDER SEED, FLOWER, AND PLANT. 



finds its way into alfalfa and works some in j ury . Flood- 

 ing an affedled field with water will usually do away 

 with the worms. 



Hoove or Bloat. — The only objedlion which has 

 been raised against alfalfa as a forage plant is its ten- 

 dency to cause bloat in ruminating animals. In its 

 component parts there is nothing in alfalfa which would 

 necessarily create hoove, and the only way by which it 

 occurs is when the animal eats too greedily and over- 

 gorges itself by taking in greater quantities than it can 

 digest, when gas accumulates and tympany of the first 

 stomach is the inevitable result. It is held that alfalfa 

 grown without irrigation will not cause bloat. Neither 

 will esparcet, which is a plant similar to alfalfa. A 



