496 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



gomery. On this chalk or limestone rests usually 

 n black soil, varying in depth from a few inches to 

 many feet, termed Houston clay. A sub-variety is 

 known as Trinity clay. These are the somewhat 

 famous lime lands of the prairie belt of the two 

 states. A similar soft limestone is found in Geor- 

 gia. Within recent years much has been written of 

 these lands for alfalfa growing. Naturally they are 

 among the best lands of the world and have marvel- 

 ous durability under continuous cropping. They 

 vary much in desirability, some being too shallow, 

 some fully charged with lime and some lightly so, 

 or even deficient in lime. I know of no other soils 

 east of the Missouri River so full of lime as are the 

 best of these black belt lands. 



Having grown melilotus, they are usually natu- 

 rally inoculated for alfalfa. Being rich in phos- 

 phorus (or assumed to be rich) none is ever applied; 

 in fact, the only thing done is to sow the seed and 

 reap the crops. There is but one serious fault in 

 these lands : they are underlaid by the watertight 

 chalk in a climate of excessive rains. The black 

 soils fill with water, and alfalfa suffers, perhaps 

 dies. In winter or early spring when it would like 

 to grow the land is too waterlogged to permit 

 growth. I have gone in April from alfalfa in the 

 mountains of north Georgia, leaving the crop 30 

 inches high and nearly ready for the mowers, sev- 

 eral hundreds of miles south to the lime lands to 

 find the alfalfa there less than half as high and 

 waiting for the land to dry out before it would 



