IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 121 



had a patch of alfalfa heavily seeded but so short he 

 could not save it. He tried our method, and thrashed 

 sixteen bushels of seed from one load. Another great 

 advantage in gathering a seed crop in this way is that 

 the seed is not shelled and lost in the handling. ' ' 



IvOUISIANA 



W. C. Stubbs, of the I^ouisiana station, says: 

 " Alfalfa has just now quite a boom, a result of ex- 

 periments made at this station in the last eight or ten 

 years. We estimate that there are at least 10,000 

 acres of it now growing in l/ouisiana. Upon the allu- 

 vial lands it is a great success; upon the hill lands 

 they are making it a success by artificial methods. 

 The first essential ^is a rich soil, well drained and 

 brought into a state of high preparation. We sow in 

 Odlober fifteen to twenty pounds an acre, upon well- 

 prepared pulverized soil. "It is ready for the first 

 harvest early in March, and upon the alluvial land we 

 cut from five to eight crops a year. It is usually cut 

 when the blooms appear all over the fields. Upon the 

 hill lands we cut from three to six times. We have 

 no trouble in getting the stand. It will last usually 

 from four to six years without diminution, affording 

 from twenty to thirty crops of excellent hay; after 

 this it is thought better to plow up and replant than 

 continue to harvest from a reduced stand. We have 

 never pastured cattle, horses, or sheep upon alfalfa, but 

 have used it very satisfadlorily with hogs. One of our 

 large Red River planters reports having raised 3,000 

 pounds of pork per acre of alfalfa. The weather, if 

 very dry, of course aSe&s it; but with irrigation, which 

 we can praAice upon the alluvial lands, it is made to 



