IN THE DIFFERENT STATES 12J 



winters and to start well when first planted in cold, 

 moist soils, in the springtime. They are finding some 

 hardy varieties, which it is hoped will prove more suc- 

 cessful in the future. They have experimented on 

 heavy, medium, and light soils, and on light soils with 

 standing water ten feet below the surface. The seed- 

 bed has been prepared in various ways, generally 

 planted early in the spring, with nurse-crop, without 

 nurse-crop, broadcast, and in drills. It has been cul- 

 tivated, hand-weeded, and even planted with a sort of 

 listing contrivance. At the experiment station it has 

 generally lived one or two years, then, with an open 

 winter, part or nearly all dies out. A suitable stand 

 to afford a yield has not been secured, with two excep- 

 tions. The cutting was done when in early blossom, 

 and two or three hght cuttings obtained on those plots 

 which had best withstood the winters. They have 

 not tried pasturing alfalfa; it stands the dry, hot sum- 

 mer, but not wet, cold springs or cold winters. No 

 plant or insedl enemies have as yet been encountered, 

 and what experience they had in feeding has been sat- 

 isfadtory. It is believed that alfalfa will yet be found 

 useful in Minnesota, but it must come through finding 

 hardier varieties. 



Prof. Thomas Shaw expresses the opinion that past 

 failures do not prove conclusively that alfalfa will not 

 yet be successfully grown in wide areas of Minnesota. 

 " The same want of success followed the first attempt 

 to grow clover. Certain trials have been made near 

 Lake Minnetonka, in which it has been ascertained 

 that alfalfa grown from acchmated seed will succeed 

 much better than that produced by seed grown far- 

 ther south. This will mean that alfalfa seed should 



