THE CULTIVATION OF ALFALFA. 



BY H. HIVE, B.S.A., PROVINCIAL DAIRY INSTRUCTOR. 



LFALFA (Mcdicago sativa), or lucerne, is a perennial of the legume 

 ^ family, hardy in nature. It produces steins of an upright, branching 

 growth, varying in height, in mature plants, from 1 to 3% feet. 

 When the plant is young it possesses one single stem, but the number 

 increases with the age of the plant and the frequency of cutting, until 

 thirty, forty, or more stalks, rapidly becoming woddy as the blossoms 

 develop, are found growing from the one crown. The leaves are not large but 

 numerous, and are attached by slender stems which grow very brittle with drying, 

 ami drop off easily during the process of curing. The flowers appear toward the 

 top of the plant, and the arrangement of the bluish-purple clusters causes alfalfa 

 to resemble the vetch rather than clover in this particular. The seeds, bome In 

 spiral pods, are of the size of those of red clover, but are not as uniform in shape. 

 Their colour is a light olive-green, offering a contrast to the purple and yellow of 

 clover-seed. Long tap-roots penetrate the earth deeply where the subsoil permits. 

 and if hindered in this they branch out more in their search for food. 



Alfalfa is said to be more widely distributed over the earth's surface, to furnish 

 more food for live-stock, and to have been cultivated for a longer period than any 

 other legume. It thrives on soils of various kinds and elevations, in climates of 

 different degrees of temperature and of different amounts of rainfall. In our own 

 Province, for many years, large yields have been obtained in the neighbourhood of 

 Ashcroft and in the Okanagan Valley. It is grown in the Boundary country, in the 

 Upper Columbia Valley, in Chilliwack, and on Vancouver Island. 



VARIETIES. 



Many varieties of the plant exist. They differ from each other more in their 

 ability to withstand heat, cold, and drought than in the quality of food product 

 obtained from them. Of the many introduced or developed and experimented with 

 on this Continent, the varieties known as Turkestan and Grimms seem best adapted 

 to northern areas. 



SOILS. 



Alfalfa will grow in many soils, providing they are fairly fertile, sufficiently 

 porous below to carry away water with reasonable quickness, and not underlaid 

 with hard-pan or a subsoil so stiff that it is almost impervious. The best growth 

 can be obtained on a deep, well-drained fertile soil, free from weeds and from 

 acidity. A gandy loam over a loose subsoil would offer this, and is preferred by 

 the plant, yet on a clay loam it proves prosperous if access to the subsoil is 

 furnished the roots. A subsoil rich in plant-food is, of course, desirable, but per- 

 meability in the lower soil is still more important than fertility, and on this account 

 a sandy subsoil deficient in plant-food may give better success than clayey subsoil 

 under a similar surface soil. Drainage to a depth of 30 or 36 inches should readily 

 occur, and the level of the ground-water should be several feet below the surface 

 during the growing season, as root-growth stops on striking saturated soil. Soils 

 naturally wet, or likely to be under water, or saturated for many hours at a tinio 

 are not fitted for this purpose. 



In brief, it may te said that the lands best adapted to the growing of alfalfa 

 are the slopes and rolling lands of valleys and the deep sandy loam bottoms well 

 above water-level. Low, flat valley lands are not suitable. 



