264 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



KENTUCKY 



Prof. H. Garman, Botanist Kentucky experiment sta- 

 tion. — We have grown alfalfa on the experiment farm 

 for a good many years and have been impressed with its 

 many good qualities, although we have not found it as 

 well adapted to our soil and climate as it appears to be 

 in the western states. In our small experimental plots, 

 on good soil, it has recently done remarkably well. This 

 is partly the result of understanding it better than for- 

 merly, and partly due to the care which these plots re- 

 ceive. Last year we harvested, from some of them, hay 

 at the rate of from 6.32 to 10.03 tons per acre. The 

 same plots are yielding very well this season, but I think 

 will not produce quite as much hay as last year, though 

 they look very well at present. Farmers in this state are 

 becoming interested in alfalfa, stimulated by the reports 

 made to them at farmers' institutes, and urged by failure 

 to grow Red clover successfully in some parts of the 

 state. But thus far they have not met with uniform 

 success. Part of this is due to a lack of acquaintance with 

 the plant and part may be attributed to our climate. A 

 few men have been growing alfalfa successfully for 

 eight or 10 years, and I can see no reason why many 

 others should not succeed with it. The chief difficulty 

 appears to come in getting a start. Alfalfa, thoroughly 

 started, holds its own better than Red clover and yields 

 much more forage. The value of the forage is recog- 

 nized by everybody, and I expect to see in the course of 

 the next quarter of a century a much larger acreage sown 

 in Kentucky. 



