298 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



a few months of thorough cultivation before seeding. 

 Experiments indicate that alfalfa will not survive con- 

 tinued alternate freezing and thawing if the soil contains 

 very much moisture. Land that is at all inclined to 

 "heave" is not suited for the growth of this crop. The 

 soil of the station farm, upon which most of these exper- 

 iments have been made, is a porous limestone clay 

 underlaid with limestone rocks which afford abundant 

 drainage through the fissures. Notwithstanding the fact 

 that the soil is naturally well drained, in some places it 

 seems to hold too much water to affcrd a most congenial 

 home for alfalfa. This crop will endure severe freezing, 

 provided the soil is sufficiently dry so that it has no 

 tendency to "heave." Land upon which clover will 

 "heave" undoubtedly contains too much moisture for 

 alfalfa. It seems to be able to endure the rigors of win- 

 ter better than clover, provided the moisture conditions 

 are favorable. 



RHODE ISLAND 



Dr. H. J. Wheeler, Director Rhode Island experiment 

 station. — Alfalfa culture in Rhode Island is a very uncer- 

 tain undertaking. A few persons have occasionally 

 met with some success, but the majority of experiments 

 have been failures because: (i) Most of the soil in 

 this state is too deficient in carbonate of lime to enable 

 alfalfa to succeed even if other conditions are favorable. 

 (2) It is occasionally almost destroyed by clover leaf 

 spot. (3) The general culture of alfalfa in this state 

 cannot be made successful even if all of the conditions 

 aside from the climate are made favorable. Farther 



