Thirty-fourth Annual Convention. ^^^ 



would give from four to six weeks' time during which to prepare 

 the seed-bed in cases where it is desired to sow alfalfa after small 

 grain or other early harvested crops, and ordinarily it will be pos- 

 sible to do it satisfactorily in this time in spite of considerable dry 

 weather which often occurs at this time of the year. 



Concerning the weather conditions it may be said that the 

 late summer and fall weather was on the whole a little better than 

 usual as regards moisture supply, but there were some important 

 exceptions, as may be seen in the column of remarks. (The bulle- 

 tin containing this report gives reports from 57 farmers on fall 

 and spring conditions of alfalfa sown in late summer 1906.) As 

 regards the length of the fall growing period, the conditions were 

 unfavorable all over the state and growth was checked consid- 

 erably earlier than usual on account of the severe frosts in the 

 early part of October. The winter and early spring were unusu- 

 ally severe, and judging from the effect on clover, caused con- 

 siderably more damage than would ^ have been the case under 

 ordinary conditions. 



Of the fifty-seven reports received, thirty (53 per cent) state 

 that the fall weather was, on the whole, favorable. In the other 

 cases (47 per cent) the fall weather was more or less unfavorable 

 at one time or another. O'f the forty-four (77 per cent) w^ho 

 report good stands, sixteen (36 per cent) say the fall weather was 

 rather too dry, and in five cases very dry. Of the nine (16 per 

 cent) who report medium stands, four (44 per cent) say the 

 weather was too dry, two had good weather, two do not state, 

 and the other sowed the alfalfa too thin. The four (7 per cent) 

 who report poor stands also report very dry weather. One of 

 these also reports sowing in standing corn. 



Of the thirteen who report deterioration in the stand during 

 the fall, six attribute it to dry weather, two to weeds and dry 

 weather combined, one to sowing in corn, one to grasshoppers, 

 one to a severe storm and two give no particular reason for de- 

 terioration. 



While dry weather is held responsible for the majority of 

 the failures to get a good stand or satisfactory fall growth, it 

 appears that in a number o fcases good results were secured under 

 very dry weather conditions. 



Concerning winter-killing, the reports do not show any re- 

 lation between the date of seeding and the amount of winter- 



