42 

 Prof. A. E. Blount, Fort Collins, Colo. : 



Our soil is mostly sandy loam aDd clay loam, gray, and to all appearances very 

 poor. It is dry, hard, and destitute of black soil, except in low marshy places and 

 on the streams. On this soil, which has never been leached or deprived of its fertility 

 by moisture, we sow Alfalfa at the rate of 20 pounds to the acre. If kept well irri- 

 gated two crops can be taken the same season that the seed is sown, yielding as high 

 as 3 or 4 tons per acre. The second season, if a good stand was secured, three cut- 

 tings are made, yielding as high, in some localities, as 7 tons. Our largest yields 

 come from those farms where water is applied immediately after each cutting. 

 Among the best farmers 4 tons to the acre is a very small average. I have known 9 

 tons to be taken from an acre where the most careful attention was given. When 

 once rooted it is next to impossible to eradicate or kill the plant. One man plowed 

 up a piece and sowed it to oats, and after having thrashed out 42 bushels of oats per 

 acre, he cut 3 tons of Alfalfa hay per acre from the same land. Some have raised 

 wheat, corn, and potatoes with excellent success, after turning under a crop of Alfalfa, 

 without in any way interfering with the stand of the latter the next year. 



S. Pelton, Dickinson, Dak. : 



I have been writing for three years to awaken the farmers of the Xorthwest to the 

 necessityof cultivating grasses and forage i^lants, especially Alfalfa, and have suc- 

 ceeded. The amount of evidence which I get through the Northwestern papers of 

 the success of Alfalfa in Dakota and Montana is abundant, and several report success 

 in Minnesota and Wisconsin. One writer in Wisconsin reports four crops a year; one 

 from Brainerd, Minn., reports success, as do several others from that State. The 

 Cow Boy, published at Medora, 40 miles west of ns, reports success in ten different 

 trials in that section, and no failures, and says that the Alfalfa was thrifty all last 

 season, when every other plant and grass was dried up. 



It stands our season and will undoubtedly thrive from Texas to Manitoba on sandy 

 loam and moderately mellow soils, that are dry and have permeable subsoils. Our 

 seasons are long enough, so that after the plant is three years old it will give three 

 good crops of hay, and then furnish pasture from September 1 until winter. 



F. W. Sweetser, Wiunenmcca, Xev. : 



Alfalfa is cultivated quite extensively in several parts of the State. It does best 

 in a dark loam. It is hardy and yields with irrigation about 5 tons per acre'. One 

 season without irrigation will kill it. 



O. F. Wright, Te.mescal, San Bernardino County, Southern California: 



Alfalfa is cut from one to six times per year. The yield when good is as follows: 

 First cutting, 2 tons of not very good hay; second cutting, 3 tons of good hay ; third 

 cutting, 2^ tons of good hay; fourth cutting, 2-J tons of good hay; fifth cutting, 1 

 ton of good hay. If the land is very dry, there may be but one cutting, the roots 

 living, but the tops apparently dead. If it is very dry the roots die also. 



-Pasturing in the latter part of summer does not injure it much, but in winter and 

 spring, when annual plants are growing, it soon kills it. A good stand cannot be 

 obtained without mowing, for worthless weeds would otherwise choke it out. The 

 plants increase in strength for three years. 



E. G. Judson, Lngonia, San Bernardino County, California : 



Alfalfa is fairly hardy, but it cannot stand extreme cold. On dry lands it cannot 



be grown without irrigation. It can be subdued by repeated plowings, or keeping 



away water. 



William Schultz, Anaheim, Los Angeles County, California: 



Alfalfa fails without irrigation on account of the gophers, which eat off the roots a 

 few inches below the surface. It is one of the best forage plants we have. 



