238 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
again to lucerne (alfalfa) till it has rested for some 
seasons.’’ It is safe to assume that the ancients 
had seen signs that alfalfa best liked fresh land. 
Alfalfa culture is too new in America for us to 
know much about this question. It is the practice 
on Woodland Farm to grow alfalfa for four years 
on a field, sometimes for a longer time, then to plow 
and plant twice to corn (maize), after which the land 
is sown again to alfalfa. Some of our fields have 
had alfalfa on them for about 12 years all told. We 
do not think that we see any signs yet of deteriora- 
tion. In some instances we see that the alfalfa is 
much more vigorous than it ever was. We feed the 
soil, however, with phosphorus when growing alfalfa 
and with manure when growing corn. It is doubtless 
better to let a crop of some cereal or roots intervene 
between the crops of alfalfa and if two years inter- 
vene it may be wiser; we do not know. 
There are yet no serious diseases of alfalfa preva- 
lent. On soils well stored with carbonate of lime 
alfalfa seems so vigorous and healthy that it resists 
disease most markedly. Yet there are illusive and 
hard to determine causes that make soils sicken of 
plants of one order and produce more vigorously 
of plants of a different order in rotation. 
Alfalfa in the Rotation.—It is often objected that 
alfalfa does not fit well into a rotation, that it is too 
long in getting established, too feeble an infant, and 
demands too long a use of the land. 
On land well suited to alfalfa growing it establishes 
itself as soon as does red clover. The following 
