GROWING ALFALFA SEED. 431 



well in another part. Seed from Peru will winter- 

 kill in one place and thrive exceedingly in another. 

 Arabian seed gives a good account of itself in one 

 part, is a failure in another. As with corn, it is safer 

 to take seed from north of you rather than from 

 south of you. 



A Money-Making Crop. — Fortunes may be made 

 in growing alfalfa seed. Millions of acres that are 

 too dry for profitable grain-growing will grow al- 

 falfa seed under right treatment. The demand is 

 insistent and rapidly increasing. The supply is not 

 often equal to the demand. In 1890 I bought alfalfa 

 seed for $4 per bushel of 60 lbs. It is now worth $10 

 to $12. It is very desirable that alfalfa seed should 

 be cheaper. It is a plant that would come into short 

 rotations if only the seed were cheap enough. There 

 is profit in growing it at half the present prices. 



A Kansas View. — The following study of alfalfa 

 seed growing is by Prof. A. M. TenEyck of the Kan- 

 sas agricultural college: 



The Soil. — Good crops of alfalfa seed may be produced on a 

 variety of soils, ranging from black gumbo to sandy loam, but 

 the general experience is that the soil should be well drained and 

 of average fertility. Very fertile land, and soil supplied with an 

 abundance of moisture, produces plant, not seed. On this ac- 

 count in central and eastern Kansas upland or second bottom is 

 usually considered superior to bottom-land for alfalfa seed pro- 

 duction. A soil poor in fertility will produce only light crops of 

 seed, while large yields of seed may be produced from fertile land 

 in a favorable season, but with unfavorable weather conditions 

 the seed crop is more apt to fail on the more fertile soil. Rank- 

 ness in growth of plant is not conducive to the production of seed. 

 Alfalfa will not thrive on a shallow soil with hard-pan subsoil, or 

 on low or poorly drained land. 



