114 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



On nearly every farm there are a few small lots near the barn 

 which seem essential but which for the greater part of the time are 

 not in use. Because of their small size and often their odd shape these 

 small areas are difficult and expensive to till. Now, we find that 

 alfalfa fits into these odd areas splendidly. The overhead of seed-bed 

 preparation is distributed over several years; we have our hay close 

 to its storage places; we cannot easily overlook either the needs of 

 the crop or its beauty. Nothing can be placed between the farm 

 yard and the public highway that will more enhance the view, both 

 from within and from without. Incidentally, no inexpensive change 

 will so quickly raise the selling value of a farm as to frame the 

 dwelling in alfalfa. I do not mean the yard, of course, but the area 

 surrounding the yard. 



Many of the important problems of alfalfa culture are farm 

 management problems. We believe that alfalfa is primarily a hay 

 crop. It is too difficult and expensive to establish to use for pas- 

 turing to any great extent, though for some forms of live stock it 

 does make excellent pasture. But for hay it would be par excellence, 

 the best crop, were it not for the fact that its season conflicts with 

 certain other peak labor loads. How to avoid or overcome these 

 conflicts is, we believe, the most needed detail yet to be worked out. 

 It may be that, as Mr. J. W. Morgan intimated this week, the solu- 

 tion of the difficulty may be found by working with the corn crop 

 as well as with the alfalfa. It may be that we are spending an 

 unnecessary amount of time in the cultivation of corn. Have we 

 been too inclined in most investigational work to see only the imme- 

 diate crop, animal, or enterprise concerned, without enough con- 

 sideration being given to the thing's relationship to the entire collective 

 business of agriculture? If so, it would seem that cordial cooperation 

 of those who concern themselves largely with the new study of farm 

 management is greatly to be desired. Indeed, it is only when there 

 is the most cordial, interested cooperation of all the various depart- 

 ments of our College and Experiment Station that they really func- 

 tion normally and do the greatest good. Not only this, but coopera- 

 tion and a spirit of helpfulness between the colleges and stations of 

 our various corn-belt states, and between the experimentalist and the 

 farmer himself, are also essential for the most rapid progress. 



SWEET CLOVER FOR PASTURE AND FERTILITY 



The biennial sweet clover lends itself better to the rotation and 

 makes a more satisfactory pasture plant. Indeed, it is as a pasture 

 plant and soil enricher that sweet clover is most useful. It makes 



