PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 303 



the crop after seeding. The plants germinate and take 

 root rapidly. I have known alfalfa roots to reach a 

 length of two feet from the last of March to June 25 

 We frequently cut the crop live times per year." George 

 Campbell Brown of Maury county states that he has sown 

 alfalfa in March using spring barley as nurse crop, and in 

 September with success. Land sown to alfalfa in 1901 

 yielded four cuttings per year in 1902, 1903, and 1904, 

 averaging from 16 to 18 tons per acre in the three years. 

 Mr. Brown uses soil for inoculating, and believes he has 

 gotten well-defined results from nitro-culture sent out by 

 United States department of agriculture. At the experi- 

 ment station at Knoxville, alfalfa has been successfully 

 grown for many years. Heavy applications of farm- 

 yard manure and the use of 300 pounds of acid phosphate 

 and 25 bushels of lime per acre invariably insures large 

 yields of alfalfa. Crab grass, Panicum sangninalc, in 

 summer and chickweed, Stcllaria media, in winter are 

 enemies to alfalfa in this latitude. These pests should be 

 gotten rid of by the use of clean culture crops prepara- 

 tory to the sowing of alfalfa. With plenty of stable 

 manure, lime, and phosphorous, artificial inoculation 

 seems unnecessary. Any soil of over a few feet deep 

 may be prepared so as to grow profitable crops of alfalfa. 

 This preparation is much more expensive on some soils 

 than others. 



TEXAS 



Prof. B. C. Pittuck, Agriculfunst of the Texas experi- 

 ment station. — Alfalfa should receive the attention of 

 ^farmers in every section of Texas where conditions are in 



