30 BULLETIN 604^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



On the whole, conditions are favorable to a much greater extension 

 of the acreage of alfalfa in the area, especially on the heavier soil 

 types. However, a number of details should receive closer attention. 

 In a large number of fields the effects of poor drainage were clearly 

 evident. There were numerous spots where the alfalfa had been 

 winterkilled. These occurred ahke on hill slopes and in depressions 

 where the drainage was naturally poor or where seepage has kept 

 the soil constantly saturated with an excess of water. A thorough 

 system of tile drainage will prevent winterkilling to a very great 

 extent, if not almost entirely. If it is not convenient to give the 

 entire alfalfa field a thorough drainage system, it is at least highly 

 desirable to dizain the parts of the fields where the crop has been 

 killed out. This should be done before existing fields are reseeded, 

 or tile may be put in the parts of the field which have been killed 

 out and these may be reseeded without molesting the stand in the 

 remainder of the field. 



The results which have been obtained with alfalfa in this area have 

 been secured almost entirely without the use of lime or artificial 

 inoculation. There is no doubt that both would be of considerable 

 assistance in starting new fields and that they would add materially 

 to the production of hay after the crop is well estabhshed. On farms 

 where it has been difficult to get a stand of alfalfa, and especially on 

 the sandy types of soil, it would be well to apply from one to three 

 tons of ground limestone or marl per acre and work it well into the 

 surface while preparing the seed bed. This general treatment has 

 proven very effective on sandy lands in general in northern Indiana 

 and southern Michigan.^ 



In most cases the seed either should be inoculated with artificial 

 culture, or with sweet clover soil or soil from another alfalfa field 

 scattered over the surface and harrowed in shortly before sowing the 

 seed. (For full details see Farmers' Bulletm 704.) 



Considering the fact that alfaKa, in general, is doing well in nearly 

 all parts of the area surveyed, and that it has been estabhshed with 

 little effort other than preparing the ground thoroughly and sowing 

 the seed, it would seem that in this section this crop promises well 

 for the future. A little more attention to details would go far toward 

 insuring success. Tile drainage, lime, and artificial inoculation are 

 the essential factors of success which are being neglected most. More 

 attention should be paid to those factors, together with careful con- 

 sideration of the most desirable acreage to meet the demands of the 

 individual farm and at the same time not to interfere with the labor 

 schedule of the farm in general and with the cultivation of the corn 

 crop in particular. 



1 United States Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin 716, entitled, "Management of Sandy-land 

 Farms in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. " 



