232 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



grow alfalfa on non-calcareous or sandy soils, though un- 

 der favorable conditions, with liberal manuring and con- 

 stant warfare against crab-grass, it occasionally succeeds. 

 In Bulletin No. 127 of the Alabama experiment station 

 the results in alfalfa growing are summarized as follows : 

 Usually the best crop to precede spring sown alfalfa is 

 cotton, especially if cotton follows melilotus (Sweet clo- 

 ver). The best crop to prepare the land for fall sown al- 

 falfa is cowpeas, sown very thickly. Farmers have 

 found that alfalfa thrives when sown on Johnson grass 

 meadows, holding its own, at least for the first few years, 

 against this aggressive grass. Dodder, a yellow thread- 

 like growth, is a serious enemy of alfalfa. One of the 

 remedies consists in mowing and burning. Seed mer- 

 chants often pass alfalfa seed through a machine which 

 is claimed to remove the dodder seed. On sandy upland 

 soils at Auburn, alfalfa has not afforded very profitable 

 yields. On such soils it requires heavy applications of 

 lime or barnyard manure, and it is believed that more 

 profitable use can be made of manure. At Auburn neither 

 nitrate of soda nor cottonseed meal very greatly in- 

 creased the yield of alfalfa that was properly stocked with 

 root tubercles. Acid phosphate and potash fertilizers are 

 considered indispensable here, and generally advisable on 

 sandy or other soils not rich in lime. Inoculation with 

 soil from old fields of either alfalfa or Bur clover greatly 

 increases the yields of alfalfa growing on sandy land. 

 The germ that causes tubercles to develop on Sweet 

 clover also causes tubercles to develop on the roots of al- 

 falfa. Hence artificial inoculation of alfalfa is not neces- 

 sary when it is grown on prairie land that has recently 



