SUMMABT OF ALFALFA SOWING. 505 



fcsfore made above $60 worth of hay per acre, be- 

 sides a lot kept at home for feeding a dairj- herd. 



Lest one might think this behavior of the alfalfa 

 on the lime-clay accidental, I will say that there were 

 other places in the field where ditches had been dng 

 to great depth and the pebbles and subsoil thrown 

 out; wherever these appeared the alfalfa survived. 

 We had not supposed that the field was in need of 

 lime, since there is so much of it down only about 

 16", but we now see that could we plow deep enough 

 to turn up this lime-impregnated subsoil we could 

 greatly benefit the field. With a deep-tilling plow 

 we can reach a part of this material, and shall do so. 



Phosphorus for Old Alfalfa Fields. — One part of 

 the field at the home farm was not mowed the fourth 

 time in the fall of 1911, the reason being that the 

 growth was too poor to warrant it. This part did 

 not winterkill and there was a thick, even stand. It 

 is a comer of the field remote from bams. In our 

 father's day it had little manure; since his death 

 it has had little. Studying this comer at the time of 

 the first cutting, I was disappointed in its growth. 

 The alfalfa was too short. Something was lacking. 

 What was it f I suspected a deficiency of phosphorus. 

 We had made a practice of going over our alfalfa 

 meadows with acid phosphate each year, allowing 

 about 300 pounds to the acre. This comer had for 

 some reason missed getting its proper share. The 

 first cutting of hay would have satisfied some; it 

 made more than a ton to the acre, yet to my eye 

 something was wrong. 



