HABIT OF GROWTH. 85 



plants will stand on the groiund. One by one the 

 weaker plants will be crowded out till at last the 

 strongest plants will gain their normal position 

 when there will be a plant for each square foot of 

 surface in very deep, rich soils of the West, and 

 these big plants with roots as large as one's ankle; 

 or there will be four or more plants to the square 

 foot, as in good land in Nebraska or Kansas; or 

 there will be a plant for each 4", as, in thinner, 

 poorer and shallower soils in Ohio and the East. 

 Alfalfa roots will not stand close together in any al- 

 falfa soil, be sure of that. Nevertheless it is good 

 to start them thick, since spare alfalfa plants are 

 better than weeds in the field. 



Roots. — Alfalfa roots are very tough, strong and 

 hard tO' cut. Penetrating the soil so deeply they 

 make drainage channels when they decay and thus 

 make the soil more alive. They are hard to plow. 

 Once cut off they do not sprout again, though the top 

 part if kept in moist earth will send out new fib.ers 

 and may grow. Alfalfa is not hard to destroy by 

 plowing; once cut off and cultivated a few times it 

 dies. 



The large roots are not the ones that feed. The 

 small fibrous root hairs penetrate each tiny crevice 

 of the earth and absorb the soil moisture and thus 

 drink in their food. Going to great depths they are 

 able to bring up mineral substances that may have 

 leached down there. They are able to find moisture 

 when the surface soil is parched with drouth. 



The Bacteria. — Alfalfa roots absorb all that is in 



