4 
ALFALFA—ITS GROWTH, DIGESTIBILITY, ETC. 
it readily secures a stand, and the first season makes a crop 
of one or two tons per acre—often without an irrigation in 
this arid climate. 
It is the most tenacious of all forage plants, enduring 
more harsh treatment, more dry weather, heat and cold, 
after making a stand, than any of the others. It is, in¬ 
deed, “ a child of the sun,” defying the hottest suns, the 
driest soils and the greatest variations of temperature—in 
fact, it keeps fresh and green while all other plants dry up 
and die around it. 
Its growth is exceedingly rapid. In some soils and 
under certain conditions it makes a growth of thirty to 
forty-five inches a month, and in some localities a cutting 
every month in the summer season. The first cutting is 
ready about the middle of June—-just before blooming— 
and is considered the best for working teams, inasmuch as 
it contains more fattening elements, and hence is a 
stronger food. The second crop is cut in July, and the 
third in September, and if the fourth is cut, it is ready in 
October. The second crop, and particularly the third, is 
better for milch cows, and animals that do not work, inas¬ 
much as it is more succulent, contains fewer coarse stems 
and is more easilv masticated. , 
The feeding value, as seen in the tables given, is clearly 
demonstrated in practical stock feeding. No other clover, 
grass or forage plant compares with it, or contains a greater 
per cent, of protein substances. 
Horses grow fat on it alone; cattle make fat, flesh and 
milk; sheep thrive and are perfectly healthy when fed on 
it, and even hogs, when pastured on it, need no other 
food. 
The preparation of the soil for sowing alfalfa is about 
the same as for clover, turnips, or other small seeds; if 
quite moist, good stands are secured on the raw sod 
merely by harrowing, or drilling the seed. The condition 
