ALFALFA .179 



fed with alfalfa, to those obtained from feeding a 

 full allowance of grain in its absence. Alfalfa and 

 sorghum properly grown make an excellent ' food 

 for swine, and the two may be profitably fed thus 

 where the conditions may be over-dry for corn, but 

 not for sorghum. When feeding alfalfa, the aim 

 should be to use it in conjunction with a carbo- 

 naceous food, as corn. Fortunate is the country 

 which grows good crops of corn and alfalfa. 



Securing Seed. — Localities differ much in their 

 capacity to produce alfalfa seed. The best crops of 

 seed are now grown west and southwest of the Mis- 

 sissippi River. Certain areas in the serai-arid coun- 

 try east of and between the ranges of the Western 

 mountains seem to have special adaptation for grow- 

 ing seed. At the present time the greatest seed- 

 producing States are Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Ari- 

 zona and California. But in some areas east of that 

 river paying crops can be grown. It has also been 

 noticed that when the crop is sown less thickly than 

 it is usually sown for hay, the plants seed more 

 freely, when sown with sufficient distance between 

 the rows to admit of cultivating the crop, and when 

 such cultivation is given, the influence on seed pro- 

 duction is also markedly favorable; such treatment 

 given to the varieties of recent introduction may pos- 

 sibly result in the production of seed from the same, 

 notwithstanding that they bear seed very shyly when 

 grown in the ordinary way. 



Nearly all the seed now grown in the United States 

 is produced by fields that have been sown in the 

 usual way, and primarily to produce hay, but in 



