146 AI,FAI<FA 



' ' Perhaps we have on our farm half of the alfalfa in 

 the state. "We sow about twenty-five acres yearly and 

 plow up as much, generally that which has been sown 

 four years. Doubtless we ought not to plow it up. 

 Our land is not yet well enough drained, and corners 

 and strips winter-kill. We find that stock will destroy 

 it if allowed to tramp it in frosty weather, or if they are 

 put on it in sufficient numbers to gnaw it down too 

 close. If a pasture has in it a small area of alfalfa and 

 the rest grass the alfalfa will surely disappear, as the 

 animals will not eat much grass when they can get 

 alfalfa. Yet, a small proportion of grass in an alfalfa 

 pasture is good, as it tends to prevent bloat. We sow 

 Bromus inermis as a mixture with alfalfa; the two 

 grow well together, and Bromus is a fine pasture grass 

 here on good land. It does not seem to be adapted to 

 poor soils in Ohio. We pasture with sheep, mainly, 

 lyast season we lost two per cent. ; this season not one 

 thus far. We take them ofE at 9 a.m., put on again as 

 soon as they want to graze, and they remain all night. 

 Cattle run on it all the time. ' ' 



OKLAHOMA 



John Fields, diredlor of the Oklahoma station at 

 Stillwater, Payne County, says : ' ' Generally speak- 

 ing, location seems to determine the success or failure. 

 It is difficult to grow alfalfa on extreme upland, while 

 on the bottoms, if not too sandy, it is very profitable. 

 Deep plowing and a thoroughly prepared seed-bed are 

 essential. The land should have been in clean culture 

 crops for one or two years before seeding. The great- 

 est drawback is the crab-grass, which chokes out the 

 alfalfa. We use about twenty pounds of seed per acre. 



