GROWING ALFALFA SEED. 435 



be caught immature by frost. In central-northern Kansas a farm- 

 er must usually decide whether to save the second or third crop; 

 if the third crop is to be saved for seed it is best to cut the first 

 and second crops a little early, giving as much time as possible 

 for the third crop to mature. Also the early cutting for hay may 

 give not only an earlier but a more vigorous growth to the third 

 crop, insuring a large production of seed in favorable seasons. 



Some growers state that the third crop should be preferred for 

 seed because it blooms and matures more evenly and in a shorter 

 period than the second crop. If this is a fact, it may be largely 

 due to the favorable weather conditions which are more apt to 

 prevail during the season of the year when the third crop is 

 growing and maturing. When it can be successfully done, using 

 the third crop for seed has an advantage over using the second 

 crop in that it allows the harvest of two good hay crops, while 

 if the second crop is harvested for seed only one crop of hay is 

 usually secured that season, the growth after the seed crop being 

 insufficient, as a rule, in the sections of Kansas named, to produce 

 hay. 



On the other hand, when the third crop is matured for seed 

 sufficient growth of the alfalfa usually takes places after remov- 

 ing the crop to give a good winter cover, and it is the general 

 report by those who practice this plan that, taking the third cht- 

 ting for seed does not exhaust the alfalfa plants so much as tak- 

 ing the second crop for seed, and a similar observation is made 

 as regards the seeding of the first or second crop, some growers 

 reporting^ that when the first crop was allowed to mature seed 

 there was little or no growth after the seed crop was removed, 

 during the balance of the season. 



Insect pests, as the grasshopper and web-worm, are als6 a factor 

 in deterrpining whether the feecond crop, or any crop, may be 

 safely saved for seed. The web-worm is more likely to attack the 

 second crop, but in southern Kansas the third crop is also apt to 

 be injured by this pest. 



A Good Seed Crop. — ^Alfalfa is a very uncertain seed crop, and 

 it is a difficult matter' to estimate with any degree of accuracy 

 early in the growth of the crop what the yield of seed will be. 

 If the weather and soil conditions have been favorable and the 

 alfalfa has made a proper growth (not too thick and rank, but 

 rather the stems should be of medium height and stout, with 

 many branches), and there is an even, heavy bloom over the field 

 in five or six days after the first bloom appears, and no rain falls, 

 the prospect for seed is good. The blooms should be large and of 

 a dark, rich color. When the blossoms are small and light in 



