THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



175 



ALFALFA DODDER COSTLY 



By H. E. Vasey, 



Colorado Agricultural College 



Alfalfa fodder occupies an important place 

 among the enemies of alfalfa and ought to be re- 

 garded as a serious pest. The dodder plant occupies 

 a low position among the common green plants, in 

 fact, is guilty of three serious offenses. First, it 

 should be considered a loafer because it has lost the 

 habit of making its own food ; second, it is a robber 

 because it takes from the alfalfa the juices which 

 that plant needs for its own sustenance; and third, 

 it is a criminal because it brings about the death of 

 alfalfa plants on which it is growing. 



Alfalfa growers find dodder appearing most fre- 

 quently in the newly seeded fields because dodder 

 seed is very commonly found as an impurity in seed 

 alfalfa. Dodder germinates in the spring in about 

 three or four weeks after the alfalfa has begun 

 growth. It sends up slender, yellow thread like 

 stems which sway back and forth with the wind un- 

 til they come in contact with the stems of alfalfa. 

 Then they attach themselves firmly by twining and 

 producing tiny wart-like suckers at the contact. The 

 dodder stems then break connections with the soil 

 and live thereafter wholly upon the alfalfa, causing 

 the plants to turn yellow and die. 



The dodder plant is very peculiar in its make 

 up. It has no leaves, no roots and no evident green 

 pigment as green plants have. It does, however, 

 possess true stems, flowers and seeds. The flowers 

 are small and white in color. They are massed in 

 dense clusters on the slender yellowish stems. About 



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Irrigation Works 



Constructed by the U. S. Government. 



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mid-summer the flowers mature seed which falls to 

 the ground and germinates the following spring. 



The surest way to keep out dodder is to use 

 clean seed. In infested fields the pest can be re- 

 moved from small areas by cutting the infested 

 plants and piling on dry straw and burning them on 

 the spot where they grew. If a whole field is in- 

 fested it will be best to plow it under, but it should 

 be done before the seeds ripen. If seeds have been 

 allowed to mature, the crop should be mowed, dried, 

 and thoroughly burned. Cultivated crops should 

 then be grown for two or three years before the soil 

 is used again for alfalfa. 



THE IMPLEMENT BLUE BOOK FREE 



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 Mo., has left over a few copies of the 1916 Imple- 

 ment Blue Book, one of which it offers to mail free 

 of charge to any subscriber of this paper who will 

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 book has nearly 500 royal octavo pages and con- 

 tains complete classified descriptive lists of all farm- 

 ing implements, tractors, tractor plows, vehicles, 

 wagons and kindred goods made in the United 

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 than double its present size and will contain 

 much new and valuable matter for irrigation farmers, 

 project officials and construction companies. Sub- 

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