284 THE JBOOK OF ALFALFA 



rainfall during the time of its growth would make a fair 

 crop of hay; or 8 to 12 inches from May to September, 

 for two or three cuttings. 



I^EW YORK. 



Isaac Zoller, Montgomery county, writes in a recent ar- 

 ticle in American Agriculturist: *ln the spring of 

 1889, 1 sowed my first ten acres of alfalfa. The field was 

 reseeded for the second time in April, 1905. I now have 

 25 acres. The land was plowed in the fall after being 

 manured. In the spring, generally during the last two 

 weeks of April, the surface for five or six inches is made 

 €xtra fine and 25 to 30 pounds of the best seed is sown 

 with three pecks of oats as a nurse crop. By June i the 

 oats are cut three inches above ground and again every 

 four weeks during the first season. The following June 

 during the third week the first crop is cut, usually yield- 

 ing about three tons. The second cutting generally 

 comes during the last week in July when i 1-2 tons is an 

 average. By September, the third cutting is made, but I 

 generally let sheep browse it, but not very close or after it 

 is frozen. The season of 1905 it was cut and allowed to 

 wilt, raked with a side delivery rake, allowed to lie a 

 couple of hours, then rolled over with the rake and drawn 

 to the barn. Formerly I used to shock it and allow it to 

 sweat, but this is too much work. I feed it to sheep and 

 find it equal, if not superior to Red clover. To be at its 

 best it must be cut when about one-tenth of the blossoms 

 are out. The soil in which my alfalfa grows is a heavy, 

 clay loam and rolling, but is underdrained. The soil 

 here is apt to heave three or four inches during winter 



