PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 269 



MIXXESOTA 



Prof. IV. M. Liggett, Director Minnesota e.vperiment 

 station. — Our experience with alfalfa has extended over 

 12 or 15 years. In the early days of this station, it was 

 not very successfully grown. During the past eight or 

 ten years, however, the changes in soil due to manures 

 and cultivation and the discovery of several varieties of 

 alfalfa which appear to be hardy, have made it possible to 

 grow it successfully in nearly every part of the state. For 

 the past five years we have cut three crops of alfalfa hay, 

 yielding from 4 to 5^/ tons per acre each year. With the 

 land properly prepared and some attention given to seed- 

 ing at the right time, there is no difficulty in growing it 

 on the state farm. Occasionally it will winterkill. We 

 were unfortunate enough to have a heavy, driving rain 

 during March of the present year which froze as it fell 

 and smothered the alfalfa crop. We are not discouraged, 

 however, as the clover crop in southeastern ^Minnesota 

 was killed at the same time and from the same cause. We 

 regard alfalfa just as sure as Red clover. It is sometimes 

 a little difficult to get a stand under careless methods of 

 farming. With the land nicely prepared and with a good 

 supply of humus in such condition that the plant 

 food is readily available, strong, vigorous growth and a 

 good stand can be secured during any normal year. We 

 have alfalfa growing at the northwest sub-station at 

 Crookston, and in several localities in the northwestern 

 part of the state, where even clover is not supposed to 

 grow. The outlook at the present time for this crop is 

 very bright. Dairymen, swine raisers and sheep men 

 unite in praising its merits as stock food. 



