No. 4.J ALFALFA FOR NEW ENGLAND. 145 



this fact must be faced, namely, during the first year alfalfa 

 plants are delicate little plants which respond readily to liberal 

 feeding. This means that we get more from the money spent 

 for available nitrogen, potash and phosphorus to put on the 

 gTOund, which we are to seed to alfalfa, than we get from the 

 money spent for plant food for most other farm crops. 



But how is a man to know what to feed his alfalfa plants? 

 My answer is ask your farm bureau agent, if you have one. 

 He should have gathered some valuable information from the 

 experiences of the farmers of your district, and he should 

 have at hand what the experiment stations know as to what 

 alfalfa needs. The next best source of information after your 

 farm bureau, is your experiment station." Write to your ex- 

 periment station and ask the men there what they know about 

 feeding alfalfa. Your land may not be of the same kind as 

 that on which they have experimented, and hence you may need 

 other help. I can think of no place more valuable for one to 

 come, once a year, than to a gathering like the New England 

 Alfalfa Association meeting, and there compare notes and hear 

 the experiences of farmers who have been growing alfalfa. But 

 when all is said and done you must do a little experimenting 

 on your own farm. Sow different strips on your alfalfa field 

 with different amounts of the different fertilizers and then 

 watch for results. But to start alfalfa you will want to have 

 a rich soil, and you will need to use something like 500 jDOunds 

 to an acre of a mixture of about 3 per cent of nitrogen, 8 per 

 cent of phosphoric acid and 10 per cent of potash. 



Select Well-drained Soil. 

 Alfalfa comes to us from the semi-arid regions of southern 

 Asia. To be sure it has been grown in Europe for centuries, 

 and in America for some years, yet it shows its desert origin 

 by demanding a well-drained soil. Alfalfa will not live with 

 its feet in the water. It will do well on loose sandy or stony 

 soil. Alfalfa will thrive on a stony hillside so full of rock and 

 so dry that corn will not develop an ear. I know of two pieces 

 on such soil, one has been down for five years and the other for 

 eight. The soil is so dry and sandy that blue grass and plan- 



