158 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



very good start, but it was all killed during the winter. 

 This was in good, well-drained land, as good land as any we 

 could find in Amherst for the purpose. We have tried 

 again this season, soAving a little earlier than last year, about 

 the 20th of July ; but this has been an extremely dry season. 

 The plants are not as large as I would like to see them, and 

 I very much fear that they will be killed this winter. I 

 think crimson clover, as it is more commonly called, if 

 sown in the spring, would not be much of an acquisition, 

 because it would not give us a better crop than red clover ; 

 and, unless it will live through the winter, of which there is 

 grave doubt, it will not, in my opinion, prove of much 

 value. 



I think alfalfa is more liable to be killed in the spring 

 than it is in the winter. I think one reason why we cannot 

 raise it here is because we have more freezino; and thawing, 

 while in Canada they have snow, which protects it until the 

 weather becomes settled. The same is true in Japan. 

 There we could grow almost anything, as, the snow pro- 

 tected it. There was none of that rainy season, with freez- 

 ing and thawing. I have now about an acre of alfalfa sown 

 on a very high, sandy knoll. If alfalfa will live anywhere 

 in Massachusetts it will live there. It made a good start, 

 and on one field grew two feet in height, of pretty good 

 weight to the acre the first year; but it received careful 

 attention, — it had hand weeding and hand mowing. It 

 would not pay to raise it, if it is going to be killed this 

 winter or in the early spring ; so I await with interest the 

 arrival of next spring, to learn the condition of this crop. 



Prof. J. W. Sanborn (of Lower Gilmanton, N. H.). I 

 think the alfalfa or lucerne, as it is known in the arid 

 regions, finds its best habitat in arid sections, where the 

 subsoils are open and abound in potash and lime. It does 

 not thrive on compact subsoils, such as we have in New 

 England. 1 have known of ten tons per acre dry crop, 

 while seven tons are common with three or four cuttino-s. 

 I think we may as well dismiss all hope of making this crop 

 a successful competitor of clover, for in this section it will 

 be inferior to that crop. As a grazing crop it goes to stalk, 

 which is often followed by death. 



