PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 287 



of producing paying crops here. It will yield two or 

 more tons of hay per acre annually and will, when sown 

 on well drained land, continue to live from year to year 

 as it does in old alfalfa districts. A little growth should 

 be allowed to stand through the winter season to protect 

 the roots by catching a covering of snow over the entire 

 field. Our people are thoroughly awakened and en- 

 couraged by the results secured at the experiment station, 

 and its growth is likely to soon be a common practice in 

 the state. 



OHIO. 



Prof, Charles E, Thome, Director Ohio experiment 

 station, — Numerous attempts were made during the lat- 

 ter half of the nineteenth century to grow alfalfa in Ohio, 

 but so far as the knowledge of the writer goes, that of 

 Joseph E. Wing of Mechanicsburg was the first that 

 could be pronoimced a decided success. Mr. Wing had 

 seen the plant growing in the arid region of the West, and 

 was fortunately able to make his initial experiments on 

 the soil formed from the decomposing limestone gravels 

 of Champaign county, a soil possessing three of the in- 

 dispensable requisites for alfalfa culture. Plenty of lime, 

 plenty of humus and good drainage. Other farmers 

 during recent years have attempted the culture of this 

 plant, and where experiments have been conducted upon 

 suitable soils and carried out with sufficient care and per- 

 sistence, they have been successful Thus far the most 

 promising alfalfa fields in the state are to be found either 

 in such localities as those of Mr. Wing, namely upon the 

 soils underlaid with limestone gravel which are found 

 over the western half of the state, or upon such of the 



