14 
Colorado Experiment Station 
the rows about one hour. The fourth section had the water running 
about two hours. The fifth and last section had the water running 
thru the rows about five hours. These dilferent irrigations pro- 
vided a large range in the amount of water applied to the different 
sections. 
In this experiment there was practically no difference in seed 
formation between any of the five sections. The unirrigated section 
seemed to be equally as good as the others. The only difference 
noticed between these five different applications of water was that 
the section where the water ran five hours gave a slightly higher | 
yield in forage than the unirrigated section. 
These results apparently indicated that all the plants might be 
receiving subsoil water. Investigation with the soil auger proved 
that moisture was rising by capillarity from an underground water 
table which was 12 feet below the surface. 
Two other similar tests have been conducted on the Experiment 
Station at Rocky Ford. Several different comparative moisture 
tests were made by alfalfa seed growers. The results of these 
experiments have not shown any consistent relation between alfalfa 
seed setting and any limit in the amount of moisture applied to the 
alfalfa crop. 
In general, a limited amount of water seems better for the 
production of alfalfa seed than a larger amount. But it sometimes 
A field of dry land alfalfa planted in rows for seed production. While this field is on dry 
land, it receives some water from an underground water table approximately 8 feet 
below the surface. 
