298 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



the soil Many farmers refrain from planting alfalfa 

 because some neighbor, far or near, planted on land ap- 

 parently similar to theirs, and it died of the disease com- 

 monly known as cotton root rot. It would be far better 

 for each farmer to test his own land, for alfalfa may be 

 affected by this fungus at one place and entirely unaffect- 

 ed on ground only a few rods away. The value of an al- 

 falfa meadow is such as to warrant a farmer in giving 

 considerable time, labor and study to the plant, before de- 

 ciding that natural conditions prohibit him from success- 

 fully growing it. 



tJTAH. 



Aaron F. Farr, Jr., Cache county, ---Fiiteen years ago, 

 when I began raising alfalfa, I had 40 acres, and for the 

 past eight years I have had about 135 acres, all on heavy 

 clay soil, containing considerable salt, and underlaid with 

 very stiff, white clay. The soil is dry on top, but below 

 a depth of 2>^ feet is damp, and salty water is found at 

 a depth of eight feet. Small grain was raised on the new 

 land for one or two years, after which the ground was 

 plowed in the fall, and again in the spring, harrowed, 

 and well pulverized. Seed was put in, 12 pounds to the 

 acre, two inches deep, with a press drill. The time for 

 sowing is about the same as ior corn, in April or May. 

 If there is plenty of water, it is well to sow the alfalfa 

 with oats, and then cut for hay the first season. Some 

 of my land is irrigated, by flooding, three times in the 

 season, by means of a large canal from the river. The 

 more water is used, the more alfalfa there will be, but the 

 hay from unirrigated land is less sappy than that which 

 has been watered. The plant is not liable to winterkill 



