I lO ALFALFA 



soil-feed horses, mules, and cattle, but is rarely made 

 into hay. Alfalfa is permanent after being well 

 started, but is liable to become infested with weeds 

 unless carefully cultivated ; hence sowing in drills is 

 preferred, permitting of the use of a cultivator and 

 hoe. It does not stand pasturing well, for it is under- 

 stood that the crowns are liable to severe injury from 

 close grazing and tramping. The crop endures drouth 

 well, but growth is much retarded by it. It is not 

 afEedled injuriously by wet weather or cold, but is 

 killed down by severe freezes when the foliage is of 

 recent growth and tender. It is attacked by dodder 

 and many insects, although none peculiar to the plant, 

 and the injury from these is not serious. It is supe- 

 rior to any of the clovers and equal to vetches, and is 

 considered the best soiling-plant. It is true, however, 

 that perhaps the majority of farmers in Georgia are 

 not even aware that alfalfa is identical with lucerne, 

 and very many of them would not recognize the plant 

 at sight. It furnishes an illustration of the prompt- 

 ness with which Northern and Western farmers take 

 advantage of a ' good thing, ' while Southern farmers 

 have been content to grow cotton and corn, potatoes 

 and sugar-cane, and pay very little attention to such 

 valuable plants as lucerne." 



IDAHO 



"William Howard, of Blackfoot, Bingham County, 

 writes; ' ' The two hundred acres of land on which I 

 have grown alfalfa for six years is upland, with sandy 

 loam soil, and subsoil the same, with water at a depth 

 of forty feet, the ground being dry all the way down 

 in summer and fall. The land to be seeded is first 



