HABIT OF GROWTH. 89 
cannot judge of when alfalfa should be cut by the 
appearance or non-appearance of bloom. Usually 
when it ought to be cut it will be in bloom. The only 
safe indication, however, is found in little shoots 
or buds that put out from the base of the stems near 
the earth. When these shoots put out, like little 
suckers, ready to make new growth, then cut the 
alfalfa and cut it immediately. Cutting must not 
be delayed else the shoots will become so high that 
they will be cut off with the hay. The alfalfa must 
not be cut before these shoots appear, because if 
this is done the alfalfa will not start off promptly, 
and when it does start will be singularly deficient in 
vigor and thrift. The reason is not known, but the 
fact is often observed that when a part of a field is 
mown only a few days too early and the rest of the 
field after the shoots have appeared there will be 
a difference of 100% or more in the yield of the 
next crop in favor of that cut at the right time. 
Further, when it is cut too early it often becomes 
unthrifty, rusted, yellow, sickly, and weeds and 
grass spring up and choke it. Thousands of ruined 
fields all over eastern America and in England trace 
their injury to having been cut at the wrong time. 
When it is mown off too soon all seems to go wrong 
with it. It may be that in some way the sap sours 
in the roots, the bacteria die, or some poison is 
secreted. Some such catastrophe is needed to ac- 
count for the behavior of the plants. 
Cutting for Soiling Weakens.—In England the 
writer has frequently observed that the habit there 
