HAY AND PASTURE PLANTS RECOMMENDED. 5D 
and he left those undisturbed only because he could not get at them 
conveniently with the plow. In 1898 the roots left developed aston- 
ishingly, and in 1899 the stalks were too large and too tough to suffer 
seriously on account of the rabbits. In 1900, when the writer visited 
the Garote farm, he found the alfalfa growing as vigorously as any 
one could reasonably wish without any cultivation at all. Bunches, 
each one of which would have furnished a good sized bundle, were 
examined, some of them 24 to 36 inches high, and the stalks were well 
leaved and full of blossoms and seeds. In March, 1898, Prof. Jared 
G. Smith sowed a plot of the station grass garden with lucern on 
freshly broken sod. A rather thin stand was secured, and the drought 
of that year was very hard on it. In the autumn following the roots 
that survived began a vigorous growth, but the most of them were 
destroyed by prairie dogs and rabbits, which congregated on the 
alfalfa plot from far andnear. In October, 1898, the plot was plowed 
deep and a surprising number of roots were found still alive. The 
following spring (1899) they made a vigorous growth, and a small plot 
(about 25 by 25 feet) on which there was a satisfactory stand was set 
apart for further tests. In the meantime the garden had been fenced 
in with woven wire and the prairie dogs and rabbits shut out. By 
June the stalks were 18 to 27 inches high, and a first cutting was made; 
July 2a second cutting was made, many of the stalks measuring 24 to 
28 inches; July 22 a third crop was ready for cutting, some of the 
stems measuring 18 to 20 inches in length. From November 1 to 
July there was abundant rainfall for the section and season. The 
alfalfa on this spot made a splendid growth in 1899 and in 1900, and 
in March, 1901, when the station was turned over to its owner, there 
were roots growing from 3 to 5 feet down into the heavy soil nearly 
as strong and vigorous apparently as in the Garote farm of lighter 
sandy soil. In 1899 (April 25) alfalfa seeds were sown in the garden 
in drills. Good stands were secured, and the growth was satisfactory 
up to about June 20, by which time there was a severe drought. By 
August 1 the foliage was dried up, and even the roots appeared to be 
dead or dying. October 26a good rain fell, and in a few days green 
leaves had started from the roots, and by the beginning of winter 
(December 1) the new growth was 8 to 10 inches high. During 
November there were several frosts, but the alfalfa continued green 
through the winter. 
TURKESTAN ALFALFA (Medicago sativa var. turkestanica). 
In April, 1899, seeds of alfalfa from Bokhara, Tashkend, and Samar- 
kand—all in Russian Turkestan—were sown in the grass garden in 
drills. About the same time seeds of the common lucern were also 
sown in the garden. The Turkestan variety came up quite as well as 
the other, and quite as good a stand was secured. The drought of 
