SUMMARY OF ALFALFA SOWING. 507 
had been taken; then came good rains, dissolving 
the fertilizers, and it was as though a miracle had 
occurred. The alfalfa stood in tall, thrifty fresh- 
colored ridges where the fertilizer had been put; it 
remained healthy but small where it had not been 
fed. While we did not weigh the strips separately, 
I have no doubt that the fertilization more than 
»s doubled the yield of alfalfa. A dollar spent in phos- 
phorus for this field would return at least $4 or 
$5, 
The lesson was not new; it was merely striking, 
and it illustrates the fact that we can not get the 
maximum profit from alfalfa unless we feed it; that 
practically all the lands of the United States are 
hungry for phosphorus; that alfalfa bacteria can 
not appropriate atmospheric nitrogen well unless 
they too have plenty of phosphorus with which to 
work. That alfalfa got no nitrogen from us; it gave 
us, after being fed with phosphorus, twice the nitro- 
eon that we had before. Under our system of farm- 
ing, as we feed the alfalfa hay to animals, we keep at 
home much of the fertility thus gained. 
Basic Slay, Acid Phosphate or Raw Rock Phos- 
phate-—Admitting that we can make large profit by 
purchasing phosphorus in some form, how shall we 
best buy it? We admit that we are yet undetermined 
in this matter. We have used three carloads of 
fine-ground Tennessee phosphatic rock and think 
that we got results from its use. We put it out 
directly on the land at the rate of 1,000 pounds per 
acre, followed by spreading manure over the land 
