10 



of an acre, ten years ago ; and at that place the alfalfa has 

 done better than anywhere else. 



Mr. Wing. That makes about 16 tons to the acre, and 

 simply illustrates the fact that alfalfa is a plant that is crazy 

 for lime. 



Mr. Wilder. What about witch grass ? 



Mr. Wing. That is a terrible thing, especially in Xew 

 England, isn't it? We find that two years of very thorough 

 cultivation of corn will entirelv eradicate it, but we culti- 

 vated that corn a little more and deeper than we ought to 

 have for the good of the corn. We used two horses and cul- 

 tivated with a sharp, narrow shovel that goes down deep and 

 takes out the grass, and absolutely destroyed it in two years. 

 We do not sow the alfalfa in land until tJie witch grass has 

 been thoroughly cleaned out. 



Mr. Olmstead. I find that if vou wait until the alfalfa 

 blossoms, you will get a pretty hard first cutting for good 

 feeding. 



Mr. Wing. Well, sometimes alfalfa will get a little bit 

 harder the first cutting than you like, but even if it should, 

 you must not cut before the shoots come. Now, I will tell 

 you a little story. Down in Georgia I started some alfalfa 

 for a gentleman. It got finer and finer. I got some ground 

 limestone and put it on that poor, red clay soil, and made 

 it grow marvelously, so that he got from some of the acres 

 5 tons to the acre, and it was a wonderful sight. Then he 

 got a man down from the north, a mighty intelligent man, 

 who came down to manage the alfalfa farm. This man knew 

 cows wonderfully well, but he did not know alfalfa at all. 

 The first time he cut the alfalfa he cut it two weeks too late. 

 ^Naturally, it was very woody and the cows didn't like it. 

 Then, he said, " I will remedy that," and he cut the new 

 cutting ten days too soon. The cows liked that, but the al- 

 falfa didn't like it, however; and after he had cut it once 

 more ten days too soon, I never saw such a wreck as that field 

 was. The next growth was yellow and red, and the weeds 

 were over the top of it, and the alfalfa looked as though it 

 was going to die; and he had 150 acres in that condition. 



Prof. H. J. Wheeler. I wish you would say what you 



