130 BOARD OF AGEICULTUKE. [Pub. Doc. 



jMr. Henry Fielden (of Beverly). Well, it h quite a 

 length}^ matter, going into the growing of alfalfa ; but I 

 will sa}^ a few words. First of all I made a thorough seed 

 bed, putting manure on it, and then I applied 30 bushels of 

 No. 1 builder s lime, allowing it to slack ou the ground ; 

 then, having it spread and thoroughly harrowed in, I har- 

 rowed that piece of ground fifteen times in order to get a 

 seed bed. Some may think I Avas Avasting time, but I will 

 leave it to those people who saw the 10-acre field of alfalfa 

 last suminer. . I put on 30 })ounds of seed to the acre, 

 which in the west is considered extraordinarily heavy seed- 

 ing, but in the east I think you have got to, in order to get 

 it. On the 10 acres of ground we got three crops. This 

 year, on account of the shortage of green feed, I was com- 

 pelled to feed it green to our cows, and I didn't cut olf the 

 fourth crop, due on the 18th of October. The fourth crop 

 stood 18 inches high. I left it there for the season, which 

 I think is a safe proceeding in this section. 



Dr. Hills. How long has your field been growing? 



Mr. FiELDEX. Two years. We have another field which 

 grew four years. Our ex])erience with that field was that 

 the alfalfa lived ou the parts of the field where the water 

 would drain oft* naturally. In the centre of the field, where 

 it formed somewhat of a basin and there was a chance for 

 the water to lie and freeze, the alfalfa killed out, and for 

 that reason I had to plow up the field this fall. In parts of 

 the present 10-acre field that we have now there are spots 

 where the water cannot drain oft", and the crop killed oft*. I 

 failed to say, also, that when I undertook to put alfalfa on 

 that field there was more witch grass than I ever saw in my 

 life, and I learned that I had "ot to ""et rid of that first. 



Dr. Hills. When we surveyed this matter last year, I 

 defined a })ennanent success with alfalfa as a field which had 

 been in good shape for three successive A^ears, and bade fair 

 so to continue during the fourth year. Few permanent 

 successes as thus defined were; found in New Eni>;land out- 

 side of the Champlain ^■alley. In several sections one and 

 two year cro[)S were found, temi)()rary sui-ccsscs, but per- 

 manent successes were rare. I hope to sec Mr. Fieldcn's 



