10 BULLETIN 1424, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Tests were conducted at Redfield, S. Dak.; Bard, Calif.; North 
Ridgeville, Ohio; and Arlington Experiment Farm, Rosslyn, Va., 
near Washington, D. C, comparing losses in weight of plants cured 
with leaves attached and with leaves removed from the stems. As a 
matter of fact, in every case where the leaves were picked from the 
stems the alfalfa dried out somewhat more rapidly than where the 
alfalfa was allowed to cure in its natural state. The difference was 
not great, and just how much of this is due to handling can not be 
easily determined. However, it is perfectly clear from the data that 
alfalfa in the quantities here used cures at least as rapidly with 
leaves removed as with them attached. 
In one of the tests, stems with leaves attached were found to cure 
no more rapidly than stems with leaves removed, which is con- 
trary to general belief. Leaves attached to the stems seemed to lose 
moisture just as rapidly as leaves removed from the stems. If any 
appreciable quantity of moisture passes through the leaves after the 
alfalfa is cut they should remain in a fresh condition longer. 
At the beginning of the various tests, stems and leaves were almost 
equal in weight. This also proved to be true when the plants had 
reached the air-dry stage. During the intervening time the stems 
weighed considerably more than the leaves in most cases, because 
they lost moisture less rapidly. 
In most cases the alfalfa lost weight at about the same rate whether 
the leaves and stems were dried separately or mixed. There appears 
to be an exception to this in the results obtained in the test at North 
Ridgeville, Ohio, and in one of the tests at Redfield, S. Dak. 
As was to be expected, alfalfa lost moisture more rapidly in the sun 
than in the shade, but the comparative results from curing alfalfa 
with leaves attached and with leaves removed were very similar. 
LITERATURE CITED 
(1) Carrier, L. 
1925. hay. In Book of rural life. Vol. 4, illus. Chicago. 
(2) Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. 
1908. alfalfa. Kans. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 155: 181-345, illus. 
(3) McClure, H. B. 
1912. market hay. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bui. 508, 38 pp., illus. 
(4) 
1918. haymaking. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bui. 943, 30 pp., iUus. 
(5) Mohler, J. C. 
1916. alfalfa in Kansas. Kans. State Bd. Agr. Rpt. 1915-16, 484 
pp., illus. 
(6) Pieters, A. J. 
1923. red-clover culture. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bui. 1339, 
33 pp., illus. 
(7) Piper, C. V., and others. 
1925. hay. U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook 1924: 285-376, illus. 
(8) Roberts, G., And Kinney, E. J. 
1919. alfalfa. Ky. Coll. Agr. Ext. Div. Circ. 70, 21 pp. 
(9) Waldron, L. R. 
1911. alfalfa. N. Dak. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 95: 357-424, illus. 
(10) Wing, J. E. 
1912. ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 528 pp., illus. Chicago. 
