GROWING ALFALFA SEED, 463 
light rainfall but one crop, or at best two crops, of alfalfa hay 
can be secured in each season. 
Next to the problem of providing and maintaining a firm, 
moist seed bed, the controlling of the weeds offers the greatest 
difficulty. This is especially true during the first season, when 
their rapid growth makes it difficult to control them by cultiva- 
tion owing to the danger of covering the small alfalfa plants. 
It is expected that the machinery now in use in most com- 
munities can be adapted to the growing of seed in rows. While 
the results indicate that the row method of culture will probably 
become an efficient factor in the development of the semi-arid 
regions, too much must not be expected of it. Those undertaking 
the work will be pioneers. To them will fall the task of develop- 
ing new devices and special adaptations of the implements at 
hand, upon which will depend in large measure the practical suc- 
cess of the method. 
The alfalfa plant requires but a small supply of moisture when 
seed setting is going on. Heavy seed crops are to a large extent 
dependent upon the prevalence during this time of a certain 
amount of dry weather ind heat. In many parts of the semi-arid 
regions an unusually favorable combination of these conditions is 
present. The power to regulate by surface tillage the supply of 
soil moisture makes the method of growing alfalfa in cultivated 
rows for seed of especial romise in those parts of the Great 
Plains, intermountain area, and other sections where the average 
annual rainfall ranges from 14 to 20 inches. 
Alfalfa in Dry Farming.—P. K. Blinn, of the Colo- 
rado agricultural college, thus tersely advises those 
attempting dry farming: 
If a farmer on the dry plains has a well that will furnish just 
enough water for fifty head of stock, it would be absurd for him 
to try to keep sixty or seventy head on the same supply of water; 
and it is equally ridiculous for him to attempt to crowd plants in 
soil where the moisture is limited. 
Some plants may develop with less moisture than others, but 
alfalfa is not one of these plants; on the other hand, it is con- 
ceded by all western farmers than an abundance of moisture is 
the key to success in growing alfalfa for hay. When it is well 
established, alfalfa will endure long droughts and still revive 
when water is applied; to that extent it is adapted to dry farming, 
and its deep-rooting tendency may enable the crop to grow without 
irrigation, if the roots can penetrate to moist soil. There are 
many localities on the plains where the run-off from heavy show- 
