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seeded one of the fields with alfalfa. When we started with our 

 work there that field was, I think, probably seven or eight years old, 

 alfalfa had disappeared but for a few isolated plants here and 

 there, with the exception of one corner where it still was very good. 

 I asked the owner if he could explain why that particular corner 

 of the field still had a fine set of alfalfa. He said : "I have no ex- 

 planation to offer except possibly this : Just prior to the seeding of 

 alfalfa we limed our land at the rate of one or one and one-half 

 tons per acre. We had a load or two left over and I told the boys 

 to dump it in one corner. Probably that may explain why that 

 alfalfa is growing so vigorously." 



I want to emphasize the importance of using enough lime not 

 only to secure a successful stand, but also enough to keep the plants 

 in full vigor. 



There is a field of alfalfa in California that is fifty years old 

 and the plants are still there. We also know that alfalfa grows al- 

 most naturally in the irrigated sections of the United States. When 

 we stop to examine the character of these soils we will find they are 

 all rich in lime. 



In our own State, New Jersey, the people who have grown 

 alfalfa without any particular effort are mostly located on limestone 

 soil. The lime permits the alfalfa to hold its own against other 

 crops, weeds, and particularly grasses. Unless the environment is 

 agreeable to alfalfa it will be crowded out. Too much cannot be 

 said, therefore, of the importance of adding an abundant supply 

 of lime to the soil, not only to secure the growth at the beginning 

 but to maintain it for some years. 



Now, in the course of years, there has come to be an adjust- 

 ment between the plants and the bacteria. We do not understand 

 this adjustment, but we know that clover and alfalfa are not normal 

 plants when not inoculated. They are abnormal plants and in order 

 to become normal plants they must have nodules on the roots. I 

 do not mean to say that we cannot grow alfalfa without bacteria. 

 In fact alfalfa plants are grown in old gardens without any sign of 

 nodules. Thus we have plants which derive their nitrogen from the 

 soil rather than from the air, making the soil poorer rather than 

 richer. When we study successful alfalfa production we recognize 

 the three important attributes — proper soil drainage, the presence of 

 lime and of inoculation. The third is as important as any and 

 is as likely to be absent as any. We must therefore provide for the 

 inoculation of the soil. 



To begin with, the successive steps in the process, as it is 

 followed by most successful alfalfa growers, what are the important 

 stages in the growing of alfalfa? In the first place, the alfalfa 

 grower will provide for a clean seed bed. In other words, in the 

 competition with weeds or grasses the young alfalfa plants are more 

 likely to win out in the struggle when a clean seed bed is provided. 

 Therefore alfalfa is seldom grown after timothy or sod of any sort, 

 but preferably after the land has been covered by some cultivated 



