GROWING ALFALFA SEED, 4385 
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 
fer 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 cut- 
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 also a factor 
in determining whether the second 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 
