ALFALFA I9I 



ous results from pasturing close in the autumn or 

 winter, except in the most favored alfalfa regions. 

 In addition to what has been already said, the wis- 

 dom of not grazing alfalfa the first year is here em- 

 phasized, and also the mistake of grazing at any 

 time when the ground is frozen, at least in areas 

 east of and, generally speaking, adjacent to the Mis- 

 sissippi River. 



Alfalfa as a Fertilizer. — Alfalfa is not consid- 

 ered equal to medium red clover as a direct means 

 of fertilizing and otherwise improving the land on 

 which it grows. This does not arise from less in- 

 herent power on the part of alfalfa to draw nitrogen 

 from the air and deposit it in the soil, but rather 

 from the fact that clover establishes itself more 

 quickly, and is much more frequently grown in the 

 rotation. Several crops of medium red clover can 

 be grown in short rotations, each one being a source 

 of much benefit to the crops that follow, while one 

 crop of alfalfa occupies the land. But when the al- 

 falfa is all fed upon the farm on which it grew, 

 where the plants grow freely, it then becomes a 

 source of fertilization without a rival, probably, 

 among plants grown upon the farm. 



The fertility thus furnished does not consist so 

 much in the plant food deposited in the soil di- 

 rectly as in that furnished in the successive crops 

 that are grown and fed every year. In Farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 133, published by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, it is stated that the Wy- 

 oming Experiment Station found 44 pounds of 

 nitrogen, 8.27 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 



