152 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



curious result. In Iowa on the experiment station 

 farm at Ames a field was sown in alfalfa. All the 

 seed was sown the same day and in no way was the 

 treatment of one part of the field different from 

 the treatment of any other part, yet there was se- 

 cured a fine stand of thrifty alfalfa on one side of 

 the field and very thin and poor alfalfa on the other 

 side. The explanation seemed to be that on a previ- 

 ous year one side of this field had been manured and 

 sugar beets grown thereon. Yet all the field seemed 

 very fertile and Director C. F. Curtiss thought that 

 planted in corn all of the field was rich enough to 

 grow 80 bushels to> the acre. But that addition of 

 some stable manure a year or two previously made 

 one side of -the field eminently fit for alfalfa, while 

 the other side remained in unprofitable condition so 

 far as alfalfa was concerned. From experience I 

 feel sure that I had rather take a rather poor piece 

 of land, well manured, for alfalfa growing, than a 

 naturally rich piece of land with no manure. In 

 truth some of the heaviest alfalfa I have ever seen 

 grew on Woodland Farm on soil naturally very in- 

 fertile, though well filled with lime, after the field 

 had been well coated with manure, the manure 

 turned under deep and alfalfa sown. 



One day I was plowing in this self same field when 

 a curious thought came. A flock of black birds was 

 following the plow, hopping eagerly along and 

 keeping up animated discourse, meanwhile busily 

 searching for something. What they were after, of 

 course, was earth worms. The thought then came, 



