EFFECT OF DISKING pN ROOTS AND STEMS 83 



Ihe crop was allowed to grow for hay. The strong, 

 vigorous growth of the plant, however, was noticeable; 

 likewise the almost total absence of grasshoppers and 

 native grasses were points noted by the farmers as they 

 drove over the meadows under experimentation. The 

 160 acres disked in 1898 were left uncultivated last 

 spring, and the beneficial effedls of the previous sea- 

 son's culture appeared again last season, since in both 

 the first and second crops there was a material increase 

 in the yield over that on adjoining lands. In fadl, my 

 observations now go to show that in the territory under 

 discussion, where alfalfa is sown upon sod, if this 

 method of culture is not carried on, the native grasses 

 will crowd out the alfalfa and reclaim the soil, where- 

 as, on the contrary, if this method of culture is vigor- 

 ously prosecuted, a strong, hearty, produdlive forage 

 plant is the result. 



' ' Plans had been made to condudl experiments upon 

 this method of culture in other parts of the state. In 

 every case the continued wet weather kept the soil in 

 a condition untillable until the alfalfa had grown several 

 inches. Mr. John H. Silsby, of I^e Roy, Cofiey County, 

 however, by way of experiment, disked five acres 

 when the alfalfa was six inches high, resulting in a 

 noticeable increase in the yield. 



EFFECT OF DISKING ON ROOTS AND STEMS 



" Getting down to the foundation of the matter, ten 

 roots were dug this season just as they grew in the 

 drill-row in an average place in three fields — and here 

 it might be said that all alfalfa under experimentation 

 was sowed in 1896" upon newly broken sod in the same 

 vicinity, so the conditions of all were as nearly as 



