78 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 
and should be worked at frequent intervals the first summer. 
This means no returns the first year. Again, alfalfa can 
not be made a paying crop on poor, unproductive soils. Al- 
falfa ground must be sweet and in good physical condition 
if the returns from the crop are to justify the necessary 
expense. Most of the black prairie soils of the Corn Belt 
can be made good alfalfa land by the application of lime- 
stone to the soil. 
Alfalfa should be made a money crop rather than used 
BALING ALFALFA HAY ON CLOVERDALE FARM 
This field made over five tons of hay per acre, the year after 
it was sown 
as a soil-building legume. If alfalfa is grown it is grown 
for the hay and large quantities of phosphorus and potas- 
sium are removed from the soil in the hay. On the other 
hand some nitrogen is stored in the roots and the physical 
condition of the soil is undoubtedly improved. In actual 
practice, then, alfalfa improves good land but cannot be 
considered in connection with poor land, as it is not a 
profitable crop to grow on unfertile soils. 
