16 
Colorado Experiment Station 
But the efforts to determine the role of soil moisture in seed || 
production did not end with the above experiments. An experi- v| 
ment was planned to control all the water available to the plants by 
cutting off a possible subsoil supply. 
To carry out this experiment, 24 cement lined soil pits were ' 
constructed, each four feet long by two feet wide by four feet ' 
deep. The pits were dug oval shaped. The walls and bottom were 
plastered with cement and made water tight by several coatings of 
cement. The soil from each pit was replaced. As soon as the soil 
was well settled, two alfalfa plants were transplanted into each i 
pit. These transplanted plants had all been propagated by crown 
cuttings from two large stooled Grimm alfalfa plants. Thus, the 
plants in the separate pits each had the same inheritance, the same 
inherent seed setting tendencies, because they were parts of the same 
original mother plant. 
The plan was to get the plants established in each soil pot under 
as uniform conditions as possible for the first season. Then, during 
the second season, it was proposed to supply a 'series of different 
amounts of Avater to the different soil pots. The plan was carried out j 
on two series or in duplicate sets, according to the folloAving tabular [ 
arrangement. The first application was made April 25, 1916, at the i 
time the plants began to shoAv the first signs of a need of water, j 
The plants in all the soil pots were very nearly uniform in size. ' 
A field of Baltic alfalfa planted in rows with a view to seed production. On the right are 
shown rows of alfalfa alternating with rows of grain. The grain was planted with the idea 
ot reducing the amount of water which the alfalfa would receive, in the hopes that it would 
increase seed production. The results were entirely unsatisfactory. 
