14 ALFALFA 



Up in its zigzags — reached moist soil. The shortest 

 plant is from what is known as a "gumbo " spot, yet 

 in spite of the extremely hard subsoil it pushed its root 

 downward thirty inches in the five months. The sea- 

 son was most unfavorable for seeding to alfalfa or any 

 other crop. These plants were treated as nearly as 

 possible according to the methods suggested in this 

 volume; they were cut with a mowing-machine three 

 times during the season. 



Mr. Charles W. Irish, chief of ' ' Irrigation Inquiry, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture," in an article on 

 ' ' Alfalfa and Where to Grow It," makes the following 

 interesting observation: "The writer had an opportu- 

 nity to observe the great depth to which alfalfa roots 

 will penetrate in search of moisture, while making a 

 survey of a mining tunnel in Nevada a few years 

 since. The tunnel was driven into a rock known to 

 miners as ' rotten porphyry. ' It was much shattered 

 and seamed, and. through the crevices in the rock in 

 the roof of the tunnel water came out drop by drop; 

 through the same crevices came also roots of plants; 

 these were found to be alfalfa roots, which came down 

 from an old field of the plant over the tunnel through 

 a depth of soil and rock of 129 feet." 



This unusual penetrating power is of the greatest 

 agricultural importance. The alfalfa thereby not only 

 obtains its food from far below the root-range of ordi- 

 nary crops, thus leaving the surface store for shallower 

 feeders, but when these deep-boring roots die and 

 decay they leave not only their own fertilizing proper- 

 ties but innumerable openings for air and moisture and 

 humus from the surface to penetrate. This, at first 

 thought, might not appear of much importance, but in 



