PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 267 



tained, now speaks very discouragingly as to the outlook 

 in general. In conclusion, while we are not inclined to 

 discourage experiments with alfalfa, we do wish most 

 emphatically to caution against engaging in these experi- 

 ments upon an extended scale, for we feel that disappoint- 

 ment is almost inevitable. 



MICBIOAI^. 



Prof. C, D. 'Smithj Director Michigan experiment 

 station, — ^Alfalfa has had and is having a checkered 

 career. Under favorable conditions it makes a good 

 stand. Some fields have produced crops for many years, 

 the ground being occasionally fertilized by manurial salts. 

 The difficulties that environ the crop are: (i) the severe 

 winters, which sometimes kill off whole fields, leaving 

 scarcely a root alive; this has happened to fields two, 

 three, or four years old. (2) The Blue grass crowds 

 it out badly; (3) the ignorance of the farmers in regard 

 to the requirements of the crop and the consequent im- 

 perfect preparation of the soil in the matter of tillage 

 or fertilization, has made it difficult to introduce it in a 

 broad way. Notwithstanding these difficulties and the 

 farther consideration that alfalfa does not easily lend 

 itself to a short rotation, the crop is advancing in the state 

 by leaps and bounds. Hundreds of farmers are experi- 

 menting with it and are learning how to prepare the 

 ground, sow it and care for the crop afterwards. Statis- 

 tics are not at hand to show how many acres of alfalfa 

 there are in the state, nor can definite figures be given as 

 to the growth of interest in the crop and its actual acre- 

 age. When proper strains have been developed, it seems 



