Alfalfa Sled Production 
5 
irrigated it required considerable water to produce a maximum crop of 
hay. It was principally during this period of time before the subsoil 
became filled with moisture, that the good yields of alfalfa seed were 
secured. When the subsoil was dry the growth of alfalfa was retarded 
and the conditions were more favorable for seed production. Numbers 
of farmers have related practically the same experience,—where 
certain fields had produced alfalfa seed very successfully, until a ditch 
or irrigation on higher ground caused a water table to form under the 
land, after which the fields no longer produced seed satisfactorily, but 
they continued to grow forage more luxuriantly than ever. The con¬ 
clusion seems evident, that too much moisture in the subsoil or con- 
No. 1.—The first selections of alfalfa to increase seed production one year from date of 
seeding; four rows to the left, grown from seed selected from heavy seed producing plants; 
the six rows in the center sown at the same time, Turkestan alfalfa, commercial seed. 
ditions resulting from long continued irrigation are the causes of the 
decreased yields of alfalfa seed on the well irrigated land. The attempt 
to regulate moisture supply for seed production on such land has be¬ 
come fruitless because of the lost control in an over supply of subsoil 
moisture. The uncertain elements of drainage and capillary action in 
different soils under different conditions make it impossible to depend 
on results. 
