IN THB DIFFERENT STATES IJI 



plants have been thoroughly established. This, how- 

 ever, is not an insurmountable difficulty, and would 

 not operate if we were sure of a permanent stand, or a 

 good stand for a number of years after it was once 

 obtained. But for the farmer to be at considerable 

 expense and labor to get a stand that is likely to perish 

 in one or two years, even under the best treatment, 

 does not appear to be profitable. On the station 

 grounds we have cut two good crops and one-half crop 

 per year for two or three years, but have not had what 

 we could call a good stand to last through any long 

 period. As a feed we consider alfalfa hay superior to 

 red clover. It is a source of deep regret that we do not 

 succeed better with it, and we intend to continue our 

 efforts. It is likely that we shall be successful on open 

 sandy soils, but they are usually our best bottom-lands, 

 and could be more profitably kept in corn and wheat; 

 so, for the present at least, such lands will not be 

 generally available for alfalfa. ' ' 



MONTANA 



Prof. S. M. Emer3', for many years director of the 

 Montana Experiment Station, writes: "Alfalfa fields 

 in Yellowstone County have been mown for sixteen 

 consecutive years. It has been tested in many of the 

 counties, and under proper selection of soil has usually 

 succeeded remarkably well. When not successful it 

 has usually been where, from irrigation, the water-table 

 has been forced upward or was too near the surface. 

 Alfalfa has succeeded best on second bench-lands— that 

 is, the second rise of land from the ordinary bottom- 

 lands bordering streams. Irrigated lands are desirable, 

 especially in the first years of the plant. Lands un- 



