260 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



of ground wheat and barley each day, and think I could 

 have had as many more hogs on the pasture. The sod is 

 very hard to plow, but it can be killed. On a piece of hog 

 pasture plowed under, I raised 70 bushels of barley to the 

 acre. My alfalfa seems to do the best on black, sandy 

 land and on gumbo, with sand or open subsoil below. 



/. R. Blackshere, Chase county. — I began with alfalfa 

 in 187s, by sowing ij4 bushels of seed bought in San 

 Francisco, at the rate of $21 per bushel. As the germi- 

 nation was defective, or the seed grown so far away was 

 not adapted to our soil or climatic conditions, a good 

 stand was not at first obtained, but I now have 700 acres 

 on Cottonwood river bottom land, having a clay sub- 

 soil underlaid by a layer of sand 20 feet below, and with 

 a good portion of gumbo, where the best alfalfa grows. 

 The soil is not especially moist until water, 20 to 30 feet 

 below, is reached. My best results have been obtained 

 on corn land, cutting across the rows with a disk harrow, 

 leveling with a plank drag, and sowing, after danger of 

 freezing is past, 20 pounds of seed pet acre with a disk 

 having seeder attachment, being sure to have all the seed 

 covered, I cut the weeds ofif with a mower, and leave 

 them on the ground. After the first year my average 

 product annually for 10 or 12 years has been about five 

 tons per acre. That permitted to ripen seed yields three 

 to five bushels per acre. I do not irrigate. The plant 

 will thrive on upland having a clay subsoil without a 

 stratum of hardpan. Grazed closely late in the fall, it is 

 liable to die out in a dry winter. 



Benj\ Brown, Osborne county. — I have had four years* 

 experience with alfalfa growing in this country, and have 



