32 
sowing, no harrowing will be necessary. The field selected should be free from 
weeds, and the alfalfa should be sown without tei nurse crop, as the young 
lants are very ña and are easily choked o y a nurse crop or a rank 
growth of weeds. A cr y be cut as soon as it as attained the height of 12 
to 15 inches, The and d following crops should be cut when the plant is 
coming into bloom, as at that period it contains the highest amount of digestible 
food. A heavier yield may be obtained by waiting, as many do, until the pods 
commence to form, but the stalks are then woody and less palatable, and there 
will be more waste in feeding than if it had been cut when in early bloo:n. 
Considerable care is necessary in curing, to prevent heating, and especially to 
prevent the loss of leaves. The t preis e is to cure in haycocks. Stacks of 
alfalfa will not turn water Po pus are topped off with inarsh or prairie hay, 
or covered with hay eaps. The feeding value of alfalfa is very high, provided 
the erop is eut in due season; at the time of tho first flowering, the crude pro- 
tein amounts to about 13 per cent, and decreases 
to 11 per cent about the time ripe seed is 
forme a To be used economically, alfalfa hay 
Should be fed ik prairie or timothy hay, millet, 
corn fodder, or some other forage rich in car- 
hydrates. When cut in time, and properly 
and climate are adapted b it, a field of alfalfa 
should be on every man's farm. 
Medicago tuberculata. 
An annual herb which, according to Baron von 
Mueller, is valuable for pasture lands, as 
its nm although somewhat ough, never 
Medicago turbinata. Snail clover. (Fig. 30.) 
This resembles M. tuberculata, and has been recom- 
mended by the California Experiment Station 
for the same purpose. Its pods are liable to 
become spiny when the plant is grown in rich 
soil (Von Mueller) it is an excellent winter 
forage plant in California, the yield of tops and 
urs beine larger than with the ordinary bur 
clove 
Melilotus alba. Sweet clover; Bokhara clover; 
Large white clover; Tree clover; Cabul 
clover 
This is a weedy biennial, coucerning which extravagant claims have been made. It 
is chiefly valuable in the Southern States for early pasturage and for green 
FIG. 30.—Snail clover (Medicago 
turbinata). 
kly learn to eat it e wn alone in August, or in Febru- 
ary, at the rate of ope a e. to the acre. If sown in spring, a crop may be 
cut in autumn, and t r three erops the second season. It must never be 
i allowed to goto e 8 
