MAKING ALFALFA HAY. 19 
less waste. Under average conditions 20 pounds per acre sown broad- 
cast should be sufficient, if it is evenly distributed and covered toa 
uniform depth: but a few pounds more per acre may be sown to 
insure a good stand. Where alfalfa is grown for a crop of seed, a 
less quantity should be sown than where a permanent meadow is 
desired. 
MAKING HAY. 
As stated, it is best not te cut a crop of alfalfa hay the first season, 
but to allow the field to get well started for the next year. However, 
under favorable conditions, especially in California, one or even two 
or three crops of hay may be obtained the first year. The grower 
must use his judgment as to whether a crop can be taken from the field 
to advantage. In California it is customary to make two cuttings if 
the seed was sown in the fall with grain; the first cutting consists 
mostly of grain, and the second of alfalfa. After the first year the 
number of cuttings depends upon the length of the season and the alti- 
tude. Atthe higher altitudes or latitudes not more than two cuttings 
may be possible, while in the upper San Joaquin Valley in California 
five or six cuttings are usually obtained, and as high as ten cuttings 
are reported. The fields are usually irrigated once for each cutting, 
either before or after. If the irrigation is made after the cutting, 
sufficient time should elapse to allow the growth to commence, or there 
is danger of scalding. At Newman, which is in the center of the 
alfalfa district of the San Joaquin Valley, the first cutting is made 
about May 1, and others at intervals of four to eight weeks, six weeks 
being about the average. The last cutting is made in September, after 
_ which, for about four months, the fields are pastured. The yield of 
hay here for the season is about 8 tons per acre, though some farmers 
state that only three or four cuttings were made, yielding 5 tons. 
The opinion was expressed that the fields were often pastured too 
much. On the high plains of southern Wyoming only two cuttings 
are usually made, yielding about 5 tons of hay per acre. In the Love- 
lock Valley, Nev., where large quantities of alfalfa are grown, three 
cuttings are made, with a yield of 5 to 7 tons. 
Alfalfa hay is prepared in the manner usual for hay crops, but the 
operations are modified somewhat by the climatic conditions prevailing 
in the dry regions of the Northwest. One man with a team can mow 
about 15 acres per day. The alfalfa is usually raked within a few hours 
after mowing, thrown into bunches by hand, and stacked as soon as 
convenient. If the hay is allowed to remain too long in the swath or 
windrow, too much loss of foliage occurs in stacking on account of the 
dryness of the air. The stacks may be put up in the field or near the 
corrals, according to convenience. If the fields are pastured during 
the latter part of the year, the stacks are inclosed by afence. In some 
