AS A PASTURE PLANT. 



It may almost be said that alfalfa is unfitted for 

 pasturing. Grasses grow by the increase of the 

 lower parts of their stems and blades. They there- 

 fore do not suffer from being nipped off, as 'they can 

 yet push up from below. Alfalfa, on the other hand, 

 grows from terminal and lateral buds. If these are 

 bitten off, growth must cease until new buds can 

 form and growth starts anew. Again, grasses are 

 safe pasturage and alfalfa a risky one, because of 

 the danger of animals, in their greed, so gorging 

 themselves that they suffer from indigestion and 

 consequent bloat. 



Notwithstanding these facts very many farmers 

 pasture alfalfa with great profit and almost every 

 man growing it will desire to pa&ture it more or less. 

 The brief study of the conditions under which it 

 may be most safely pastured will be profitable. 



Care in Pasturing. For the good of the alfalfa, 

 animals must never run on the field when it is 

 frozen nor when it is soft and muddy. To tread on 

 frozen alfalfa crowns is to destroy them in most 

 instances. Therefore, as soon -as a 'hard freeze 

 comes all sto-ck should be taken away from the al- 

 falfa field, and the gates locked. 



Animals must not be permitted to gnaw it too 

 close. A small field of alfalfa thrown into a large 



(336) 



