152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



your own soil for inoculation. Do not underestimate the im- 

 portance of inoculation. After the alfalfa is once well started 

 you will get 1 to 2 tons per acre more each season as a result 

 of good, abundant inoculation. But that is little more than 

 half of the story. If you have abundant inoculation, your 

 alfalfa is to gather for you and store in your soil from $20 to 

 $30 worth of nitrogen each year after the first year. This you 

 are to get back in increased yields of potatoes and corn and in 

 richer protein content of corn and grain for years after the 

 alfalfa is plowed under. 



You ought to work out a crop rotation by which you can 

 leave your alfalfa down for three or more years. If you leave 

 the alfalfa down for three years, and if you had plenty of bac- 

 teria on the roots, you should have land that is at least $50 

 per acre richer in nitrogen when you plow it up. 



Harvesting Alfat^fa Hay. 

 After having gTown a crop which is equal pound for pound 

 to thrashed oats or wheat bran, a man can very easily lose much 

 of it by improper handling. He may injure his stand of alfalfa 

 very materially by cutting too early or too late. Alfalfa must 

 be cut when the little sprouts at the cro^vn are well started and 

 are yet not high enough to be cut oif by the mowing machine. 

 If mowed too early, they are little delicate, white sprouts that 

 cannot stand the exposure to the bright sunshine and cannot 

 yet make their own food. If cut too late, the plant may have 

 accomplished its natural life work of reproduction and hence 

 die a natural death ; or the mowing machine may clip the top 

 buds of each of the stems that were to have made the next 

 cutting. Then, too, if one cuts alfalfa in a humid climate, 

 especially where there is much moisture in the ground, and 

 cuts it in the forenoon, he cuts it when there is most moisture 

 in the stems and leaves. The hay is longer in curing, the bac- 

 teria of decay have a longer time to work, and hence the hay 

 is of less value. But if one cuts in the afternoon, when the 

 stems and leaves are wilted, he is able to put up the hay sooner, 

 it is dryer and richer, and in every way better. Of course this 

 does not offer so favorable a labor schedule, but alfalfa hay is 



