ALFALFA 



farm soon becomes filled with the proper germs. Where 

 exceedingly heavy applications of barnyard manure are 

 placed upon small areas, the alfalfa does well, and in the 

 second year of its growth has the proper nodules even 

 without artificial inoculation. The United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, some of the colleges of. agriculture, 



Fig. 87. Scattering bacteria-laden soil for inoculation purposes previous to sowing 



alfalfa seed. 



and several commercial firms are now preparing artificial 

 cultures which readily take the place of soil for inoculat- 

 ing purposes. 



Rotation. No definite rotation of crops is practiced 

 by farmers in general. When a field of alfalfa is well 

 established the desire is to continue cutting as long as the 

 field will furnish good crops. When alfalfa can be grown 

 successfully on all portions of a farm a five-year rotation 

 can be maintained, in which alfalfa can be grown for three 

 years and grain crops for the other two years. This 

 practice will result in better yields of grain crops. 



Feeding Value of Alfalfa. The feeding value of alfalfa 



