PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES 297 



United States department of agriculture. At the experi- 

 ment station at Knoxville, alfalfa has been successfully 

 grown for many years. Heavy applications of farm- 

 yard manure and the use of 300 pounds of acid phosphate 

 and 25 bushels of lime per acre invariably insures large 

 yields of alfalfa. Crab-grass, Panicum sangidnale, in 

 summer and chickweed, Stellaria media, in winter are 

 enemies to alfalfa in this latitude. These pests should be 

 gotten rid of by the use of clean culture crops prepara- 

 tory to the sowing of alfalfa. With plenty of stable 

 manure, lime, and phosphorous, artificial inoculation 

 seems unnecessary. Any soils of over a few feet deep 

 may be prepared so as to grow profitable crops of alfalfa. 

 This preparation is much more expensive on some soils 

 than others. 



TEXAS. 



Prof. B. C. Pittuck, Agriculturist of the Texas experi- 

 ment station. — ^Alfalfa should receive the attention of 

 farmers in every section of Texas where conditions are in 

 any way favorable to its growth. At present prices, 

 after it is once established, a yield of one ton of hay per 

 acre will afiford a good profit, while yields of four and six 

 tons, which are not unusual on favorable soils, make the 

 investment exceedingly profitable. The present demand 

 is much greater than the supply and bids fair to increase 

 in greater proportion during the coming year. Its in- 

 creasing popularity with the farmer is based upon sound 

 business principles, as its value does not consist solely in 

 its market price, but in its value as food for his stock and 

 food for his soil. It will furnish green pasturage and 

 hay of the best quality without materially impoverishing 



