— 40 — 
We have given ourselves some trouble to establish some 
thing definite regarding the terms stand, good stand, etc., in 
connection with the weight of stubble plowed under. 
A piece of alfalfa, six months old, contained fifteen 
plants to the square foot, or 653,400 per acre (Prof. W. W. 
Cooke), which is one plant for every seven seed on the 
basis of twenty pounds of seed to the acre. A measured 
piece, twenty-five feet square, was plowed up and the plants 
picked out of each furrow in turn, the whole of the soil be¬ 
ing turned over by hand, and the number of plants to the acre 
was found to be 526,793. Prof. A. E. Blount writes me that 
this field was seeded to alfalfa May 10, 1886, and was conse¬ 
quently ten years, old. The roots were very small, not over 
one quarter of an inch thick at the crown, and were in a re¬ 
markably healthy condition. This portion of ground is as 
high as any other cultivated portion of the college farm 
and is a fine, loamy soil. The yield last year was rather 
over four tons (weighed) per acre. 
Mr. Philo K. Blinn, Superintendent of the Rocky Ford 
Experiment Station, in Otero county, at my request, meas¬ 
ured off a square twenty-five feet on the side and counted 
the plants. He found i39>39 2 to the acre. This is a most 
excellent piece of land, alluvial soil. The yield of alfalfa 
hay last year was 4.4 tons per acre. Mr. Blinn measured two 
small squares, 5x5 feet, obtaining 291,000 and 305,000 plants 
in these. 
I selected an average plat 25x25 feet in a field one year 
old seeded with twenty-two pounds of seed to the acre, 
cross drilled 11 pounds each way. The soil is a fine loam, 
subsoil sandy clay succeeded by fine sand. This plat has 
been in cultivation a number of years. The stand would be 
designated as “ very good.” The cross drilling showed 
plainly at this date, April 29. Number of plants per acre, 
331,122. 
A piece 25x25 feet of another field, sowed to alfalfa 
May 17, 1884, twenty pounds of seed to the acre, (Prof. A. 
E. Blount), was plowed up. This field of alfalfa is in bad 
condition. The stand is very irregular, large patches of 
ground being entirely bare. The soil is a sandy loam, with 
clay subsoil; water plane four to eight feet from the sur¬ 
face. Number of plants per acre, 70,283. Nearly every 
plant has a hollow crown and root; yield per acre last year 
something over three tons. At three tons this is approxi¬ 
mately r 1-4 ounces of hay or less than 4 1-6 ounces green 
weight to the plant for the season. In the case of the 562,- 
793 plants and four tons yield, it is only 1-4 ounce of hay to 
the plant, or one ounce of green weight for the three cut- 
