140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



tain, the two worst weed enemies of alfalfa, have not gotten a 

 foothold. Of course a man gets more alfalfa on better ground, 

 but he gets more dollars worth of feed from such a stone patch 

 than he can get from seeding it to any other plant, unless it 

 be sweet clover. 



Alfalfa seems to prefer a southern slope. I think that this 

 is explained in part by the fact that southern slopes are dryer 

 in fall and winter. Perhaps the gTound is sweeter and does 

 not heave so seriously. Alfalfa can stand more cold than most 

 other plants. After the first year it does not winter kill in a 

 temperature from 20'^ to 30° below- zero. Alfalfa is green a 

 month longer in the fall and a month earlier in the spring. 

 Perhaps the southern slopes are favorable because alfalfa can 

 get a better growth for winter covering in the fall, and an 

 earlier growth in the spring. This does not mean that you 

 cannot gTOw alfalfa on northern slopes. It does mean that I 

 advise the beginner to start his first patch or two on his southern 

 slopes. 



One of the great problems in America is the conservation of 

 the soil on our hillsides. Alfalfa once wtII seeded may be left 

 on a hillside for ten years; then if plaintain and grass come in, 

 the patch may be plowed up, cultivated for a half year and 

 seeded to alfalfa for another ten years. This makes alfalfa bet- 

 ter than orchards for holding the soil on the hillsides. 



Low, wet gTound is apt to be sour. It will grow alsike 

 clover, timothy, cow peas, red top and corn, for these are more 

 tolerant of acid in the soil. Cow peas, alsike and red top seem 

 to thrive best where the soil is slightly acid. But alfalfa will 

 not gi'ow on sour soil. It winter kills and the bacteria fail to 

 thrive. Some men have used tile drains and have converted 

 low, coastal plain or river liottom soils into the best of alfalfa 

 soils. Alfalfa being a gift of the desert demands a dry, well- 

 drained soil. 



Prepare a Good, Chan, Hard Seed Bed. 

 When we have studied how to gTow alfalfa as long and as 

 diligently as we have studied how to grow corn, we shall laugh 

 at the man who gets less than 5 or 6 tons to the acre, and some 



