18 
Colorado Experiment Station 
effect on seed production could not be detected as all of the plants 
seemed to set seed in about the same manner. The amount of seed 
set was'in about the same ratio as the size of the plant. The experi- 
ment did not show that alfalfa seed yields could be controlled by the 
application of any definite amount of water. 
An effort was made to repeat the experiment the following 
season. But for some reason the plants in the different soil pots 
developed great irregularity in growth. It is possible the^ir regular, 
abnormal growth was due to differences in root growth, the results 
of irregular settling of the soil in the pots. 
During the season of 1919 several plants in these pots were- 
supplied with excessive amounts of water. The soil Avas nearly 
saturated every week or ten days. In spite of the fact that all other 
alfalfa seed tests on the Experiment Station failed under field condi- 
tions in the season of 1919, the plants in the cement pots Avhich 
received the heavy application of water all set seed fairly Avell. 
The failure of the alfalfa seed under field conditions was thot to 
be due to abnormally wet conditions during the spring and summer 
months. Yet the plants growing in the open cement pots, which 
received the same precipitation and in addition heavy applications 
of irrigation water, were not apparently reduced in seed production 
by the excessive water. Again this seems to indicate that there are 
A af alfalfa sown, in thick drill rows. Seeding was done with an ordinary seeder, 
gett'ng resu ts much th.” ame as would be had by usins a drill hav.ns the spaced 
TTI inches. In this method of seeding, furrows, for trr.gat.on r!u'l,f'^"s 
feet. This makes it possible to control the irrigation water so as to get the alfalta a 
small an irrigation or make it as wet as is desired. 
