8 
Colorado Experiment Station 
exactly the same way, using the same amount of seed as was used in 
irrigated and more humid regions. Frequently also, improper and 
unadapted varieties were used. 
In the dry farming sections of the plains the water supply is always 
limited, except in an occasionally unusually wet year, and thick plant¬ 
ing of alfalfa, such as thrives under irrigation or in humid conditions 
did not survive because there were more plants upon the land than 
there was soil water upon which they could draw. Failure, of course, 
followed. 
Jn a practical way the Brott Brothers of Sextrop, Nebraska, just 
across the northeastern Colorado line, were the first to successfully 
solve the difficulties. Their method of meeting the difficulty was to 
plant alfalfa in rows and cultivate. Different distances to plant the 
rows were expcrin'ented with until finally it was decided that under 
dry land conditions it was necessary to put the rows from 3 to 3^ 
feet apart. 
J. F. Payne, working as Agronomy Field Agent of the Experiment 
Station, worked out six or eight years ago the fact that alfalfa must 
be planted thinly on the iand if it is to survive in the dry land sections. 
Under his direction a number of farmers made broadcast plantings 
using 3 and 5 pounds of seed to the acre. The three pound seedings 
were the most successful Definite experimental work since that time 
has shown for Colorado conditions that it was necessary to plant altalfa 
in r'/ws in order that the number of plants might be easily limited on 
the land to prevent ‘pthei plants coming in and competing for a part 
of the moisture supply, and the rows cultivated to keep down weeds. 
In the past four years, successful row plantings on dry lands have 
been made in Weld, Farimer, Sedgwick, Elbert, El Paso, Lincoln, 
Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Otero, Crowley Counties and a few other local¬ 
ities. Experience with these plantings has been that row planting is a 
success for seed production. When it is considered that on an average 
the grower can count on a yield of about three-fourths of a ton of cured 
hay per annum for dry land conditions, it must be acknowledged that 
row planted alfalfa gives promise of having a very important place 
among the forage crops of the dry lands. 
Varieties .—Experimental work has shown that the less hardy 
common alfalfas are absolutely no good for the dry lands. Work of 
the Experiment Station has shown that Baltic, Grimm and Hardy 
Turkestan alfalfa are the best varieties, in the order named. The 
Baltic and the Grimm are very much alike—in fact, the Baltic is a 
selection from the Grimm. These two sorts are very superior, both 
for hay and seed production wherever we have experimented with 
them on the Colorado Plains. Next to these varieties just mentioned, 
it has been found that if common alfalfa is used, the seed of which is 
taken from fields which have stood eight or ten years, that fairly good 
results are always obtained. Where the field of alfalfa has stood for 
ten years, most of the weak and non-hardy plants have been killed out 
so that seed is obtained only from plants capable of enduring the con- 
