Clovers and How to Grow Them

Medium red clover is quite frequently sown alone; that is, without admixture with clovers or grasses. It is always sown thus when it is to be plowed under, as green manure. It is also usually sown alone in rotations where it is to be cropped or grazed for one year. But when grown for meadow, which is to remain longer than one season, it is commonly sown along with timothy. The first year after sowing, the crop is chiefly clover, and subsequently it is chiefly timothy. Orchard grass or tall oat grass, or both, may also be sown along with medium red clover, since these are ready for being cut at the same time as the clover.

When medium red clover is sown to provide pasture for periods of limited duration, it is frequently sown along with alsike clover and timothy. Sometimes a moderate amount of alfalfa seed is added. But in arable soils in the semi-arid West, these will provide pastures for many years in succession, if supplied with moisture. The same is true of much of the land west of the Cascades, and without irrigation. East from the Mississippi and for some distance west from it, much of the medium red clover will disappear after being grazed for one season, but the alsike, timothy and alfalfa will endure for a longer period.

In permanent pastures, whether few or many varieties of seed are sown, medium red clover is usually included in the mixture. It is sown because of the amount of the grazing which it furnishes the season after sowing, and with the expectation that it will virtually entirely disappear in the pastures in two or three seasons after it has been sown.

When medium red clover is sown for being plowed under as green manure, it is always sown with a nurse crop. Some farmers, in localities well adapted to the growth of clover, sow more or less of the medium red variety on all, or nearly all, of the land devoted to the growth of such cereals as rye, wheat, barley and oats, when the land is to be plowed the autumn or spring following. Reduced quantities of seed are used. They believe that the benefit from the young clover plants to the land will more than pay for the cost of the seed and the sowing of the same.

The amount of seed to sow will depend on the degree of suitability in the conditions for growing medium red clover. The more favorable these are, the less the necessity for using maximum quantities of seed, and vice versa. More seed is required when the clover is not grown with other grasses or clovers than when it is grown with these. When grown without admixture, 16 pounds of seed per acre may be named as the maximum quantity to sow and 8 pounds as the minimum, with 12 pounds as an average. With all the conditions quite favorable, 10 pounds should suffice. In New England and some of the Atlantic States, many growers sow much more seed than the quantities named, and it may be that the necessities of the land call for more. In Great Britain also, considerably larger quantities are sown.

When sown in grass or clover mixtures, the amount of the seed required will vary with the other factors of the mixture, and the amount of each that is sown; that is, with the character of the hay or pasture that is sought. The seed is much more frequently sown with timothy than with any other kind of grass, and the average amount of each of these to sow per acre may be put at 8 pounds of clover and 6 pounds of timothy. When other clovers are added, as the mammoth or the alsike, for every pound of the seed of the former added, the seed of the medium red may be reduced by one pound, and for every pound of the alsike added it may be reduced by 1½ pounds. In mixtures for permanent pastures, 6 pounds may be fixed upon as the maximum quantity of medium red clover seed to sow, and 3 pounds as the average quantity. When sown to provide green manure, maximum quantities of seed are used when it is desired to improve the soil quickly. Usually not less than 12 pounds per acre are sown, and quite frequently more. But when the gradual improvement of the land is sought, by sowing the seed on all land devoted to the small cereal grains, not more than 6 pounds per acre are used, and frequently even less than 4 pounds. The greater the hazard to the plants in sowing the seed thus, the less the quantities of the seed that are usually sown, with a view to reduce the loss in case of failure to secure a stand of the clover.

A stand of medium red clover is sometimes secured by what may be termed self-sowing. For instance, where clover has been cut for hay and then allowed to mature even but a portion of the seed before being plowed under the same autumn, the seed thus buried remains in the ground without sprouting. When the land is again plowed to the same depth and sown with some kind of grain, the clover seed thus brought to the surface will germinate. If the plowing last referred to is done in the autumn, it ought to be done late rather than early, lest the seed should sprout in the autumn and perish in the winter, or be destroyed by the cultivation given in sowing the grain crop that follows. The same result may be obtained from clover pastured after the first cutting for the season, when the pasturing is not close.

When medium red clover is much grown for seed, many of the ripe heads are not cut by the mower, since they lie near the ground, and many break off in the curing process. The seed thus becomes so distributed in the ground, that many plants come up and grow amid the grain every season. These may, of course, be grazed or plowed under for the enrichment of the land, as desired. Seed thus buried is, therefore, not lost by any means. The plants which grow will render much assistance in keeping the land in a good condition of tilth, as well as in enhancing its fertility.

When clover seed is much grown, therefore, on any piece of land, the quantity of seed sown may be reduced materially. In fact, it may be so much reduced that it has been found possible to grow clover in rotation for many years without adding seed. The first growth of the clover was taken as hay, and the second growth as seed. The ground was then plowed and a crop of corn was taken. The corn land was then plowed and sown with some cereal, such as wheat, oats or barley.

Pasturing.—Medium red clover will furnish grazing very suitable for any kind of live stock kept upon the farm. All farm animals relish it, but not so highly as blue grass, when the latter is tender and succulent. No plant is equally suitable in providing pasture for swine, unless it be alfalfa; hence, for that class of stock, it has come to be the staple pasture outside of areas where alfalfa may be readily grown. When desired, the grazing may begin even at a reasonably early stage in the growth of the plants, and it may continue to the end of the pasturing season.

Usually it is considered unwise to pasture medium red clover the same season in which it has been sown when sown with a nurse crop. It has been noticed that when so pastured, it does not winter so well, and that the later and more close the pasturing and the colder the winter following, the greater is the hazard from pasturing the clover. This hazard arises chiefly from the exposure of the roots to the sweep of the cold winds. It should be the rule, therefore, not only to refrain from pasturing clover thus, but also to leave the stubbles high when pasturing the grain. Where the snowfall is light and the cold is intense, to leave the stubbles thus high is important, since they aid in holding the snow. But there may be instances when the clover plants grow so vigorously that in places of heavy snowfall, smothering may result unless the mass of vegetation is in some way removed. In such instances, pasturing may be in order; but when practised, the grazing should be with cattle rather than sheep or horses, and it should cease before the covering is removed. There may also be locations where much benefit follows in several ways close, or reasonably close, cutting of the stubbles quite soon after the nurse crop has been harvested.

When clover is sown without a nurse crop, it may be not only proper, but advantageous, to pasture it. The grazing should not, however, be continued so late that the plants will not have time to make a sufficiency of growth to protect them in winter. Such grazing is better adapted to areas in which the season of growth is long, rather than short; where weed growth is abundant, as on certain of the soils of the prairie, it may be necessary to call in the aid of the mower once or even twice during the season of growth.

When a crop of medium red clover is desired, the surest way to obtain it in good form is to pasture the field during the early part of the season, and closely enough to have the clover eaten down on every part of the field. When it is not so eaten, the mower should be so used that the growth and maturing of the seed crop may be even and uniform. The season for removing the live stock will depend upon latitude and altitude, but it will be correct to say that it ought to be from two to three weeks earlier than the proper season for cutting clover for hay.

When clover is not grazed the year that it is sown, in some seasons the stronger plants will bear seed, if allowed. To such an extent does this follow under certain conditions and in certain areas, that a considerable crop of seed could be obtained if this were desired, even as many as 4 or 5 bushels per acre in some instances. But it has been noticed that if thus allowed to produce seed, the effect upon the growth of the crop the next season is decidedly injurious. To prevent such a result the mower should be run over the field as soon as much hazard is certainly apparent, and the earlier in the season that this can be done the better, for the reason that all weeds growing are clipped off, and the clover has also a better chance to provide protection for the winter by growth subsequently made. When there is an over-luxuriant growth in the plants, it may be well to thus mow the field, even though seed should not be produced. The growth made by the plants and the mulch provided by the portion cut make an excellent preparation for entering the cold season.

But few pasture crops grown will furnish as much grazing in one season as medium red clover. It will probably furnish the most grazing if allowed to grow up before it is grazed until the stage of bloom is approached or reached, but since it is seldom practicable to graze it down quickly enough after that stage has been reached, and since there is frequently waste from tramping, grazing usually begins, and properly so, at an earlier period.

When cattle and sheep graze upon young clover, there is some danger that hoven or bloating may result to the extent of proving quickly fatal if not promptly relieved. The danger is greater if the animals are hungry when turned in upon the clover, and when it is wet with dew or rain, or in a more than ordinarily succulent condition. Such danger may be lessened, if not, indeed, entirely eliminated, by giving the animals access to other food, as dry clover hay, for instance, before turning them in on the pasture, and the danger is always less in proportion as grasses are abundant in the pasture.

Should bloating occur, relief must usually be prompt to be effective. In mild cases, certain medicines may bring relief. One of the most potent is the following: Give spirits of turpentine in doses of 1 to 5 tablespoonfuls, according to the size of the animal. Dilute with milk before administering. In bad cases, the paunch should be at once punctured. The best instruments are the trocar and canula, but in the absence of these a pocket knife and goose quill may be made to answer. The puncture is made on the left side, at a point midway between the last rib and hook point, and but a few inches from the backbone. The thrusting instrument should point downward and slightly inward going into the paunch. With much promptness the canula or the quill should be pushed down into the paunch and held there till the gas escapes. Before the tube is withdrawn the contents of the paunch that have risen in the same should be first pushed down.

Harvesting for Hay.—Medium red clover is at its best for cutting for hay when in full bloom, and when a few of the heads which first bloomed are beginning to turn brown; that is to say, in the later rather than in the earlier stage of full bloom. If cut sooner, the curing of the crop is tedious. If cut later the stalks lose in palatability. But when the weather is showery it may be better to defer cutting even for several days after the clover has reached the proper stage for harvesting, as the injury from rain while the crop is being cured may be greater than the injury from overmaturity in the same before it is mown.

When curing the crop, the aim should be to preserve to the greatest extent practicable the loss of the leaves. To accomplish such a result, the clover ought to be protected as far as possible from exposure to dew or rain, and also from excessive exposure to sunshine. Dew injures more or less the color of the hay and detracts from its palatability. Rain intensifies such injury in proportion as the crop being harvested is exposed to it. It also washes out certain substances, which, when present, affect favorably its aroma.

The injury from such exposure increases with the interval between cutting and storing the crop. Exposure to successive showers may so seriously injure the hay as to render it almost valueless for feeding. After the mown clover has been exposed in the swath to the sunlight beyond a certain time, it turns brown, and if exposed thus long enough the aroma will be lost. The aim should be, therefore, to cure the clover to the greatest extent practicable by the aid of the wind rather than by that of the sun.

The method of procedure to be followed is in outline as given below: Mow as far as possible when the meadow is not wet with rain or dew. Mow in the afternoon rather than the forenoon, as the injury from dew the night following will be less. Stir with the tedder as soon as the clover has wilted somewhat. The tedder should be used once, twice or oftener as the circumstances may require. The heavier the crop and the less drying the weather, the more the tedding that should be given. Sometimes tedding once, and in nearly all instances twice, will be sufficient. The hay should then be raked. It is ready for being raked as soon as the work can be done easily and in an efficient manner. When clover is not dry enough for being raked, the draught on the rake will be unnecessarily heavy, the dumping of the hay will be laborious, and it does not rake as clean as it would if the hay were in a fit condition for being raked.

The aim should be to have the crop put up in heaps, usually called "cocks," but sometimes called "coils," before the second night arrives after the mowing of the clover; and in order to accomplish this, it may be necessary to work on until the shades of evening are drawing near.

When there is a reasonable certainty that the weather shall continue dry, it is quite practicable to cure clover in the winrow, but in showery weather to attempt to do so would mean ruin to the clover. In no form does it take injury so quickly from rain as in the winrow, and when rain saturates it, much labor is involved in spreading it out again. Nor is it possible to make hay quite so good in quantity when clover is cured in the winrow, as the surface exposed to the sunshine is much greater than when it is mixed with timothy or some other grass that purpose, nevertheless, to cure it thus, especially when it is mixed with timothy or some other grass that cures more easily and readily than clover. It may also be taken up with the hay-loader when cured thus, which very much facilitates easy storing. But when it is to be lifted with the hay-loader, the winrows should be made small rather than large.

When the clover is to be put up into cocks, these should be small rather than large, if quick curing is desired. In making these, skilled labor counts for much. The cocks are simply little miniature stacks. The part next to the ground has less diameter than the center of the cock. As each forkful is put on after the first, the fork is turned over so that the hay spreads out over the surface of the heap as it is being deposited. Smaller forkfuls are put on as the top is being reached. The center is kept highest when making the cock. Each one may be made to contain about 100 pounds and upward of cured hay, but in some instances they should not contain more than half the amount to facilitate drying. When the heap has become large enough, the inverted fork should be made to draw down on every side the loose portions, which in turn are put upon the top of the cock. Such trimming is an important aid to the shedding of rain. An expert hand will put up one of these cocks of hay in less time than it takes to read about how it is done.

A light rain will not very much injure a crop of clover after it has been put up into cocks, but a soaking rain will probably penetrate them to the bottom. To guard against this, in localities where the rainfall may be considerable in harvest time, hay caps are frequently used. These may be made from a good quality of unbleached muslin or strong cotton, or they may be obtained from some of those who deal in tent awnings and stack covers. When of good quality and well cared for they should last for 10 to 20 years. Care should be taken in putting them on lest the wind which frequently precedes a thunder storm should blow them away. The pins used at the corners of the caps should be carefully and firmly inserted in the hay or the ground, or the caps should have sufficiently heavy weights attached to them at the corners to prevent their lifting with the wind. In putting up the hay the size of the cocks should be adjusted to the size of the covers used. One person should apply the covers as quickly as two will put up the hay.

When clover hay is put up into cocks, it undergoes what is termed the "heating" process; that is, it becomes warm in the center of the heaps up to a certain point, after which the heat gradually leaves it. The heat thus generated is proportionate to the size of the cocks and the amount of moisture in the clover. The sweating process usually covers two or three days, after which the hay is ready for being stored. When clover is cured in the winrow, it does not go through the sweating process to the same extent as when cured in the cock; hence, it is liable to sweat in the mow, and to such an extent as to induce mold, if it has been stored away with moisture in it beyond a certain degree. If a wisp of clover is taken from the least cured portion of the winrow or cock, and twisted between the hands, it is considered ready for being stored if no liquid is discernible. If overcured, when thus twisted it will break asunder. A skilled workman can also judge fairly well of the degree of the curing by the weight when lifted with the fork.

Under some conditions, it may be advisable to "open out" the cocks two or three hours before drawing them, that the hot sunshine may remove undue moisture. When this is done, if the cocks are taken down in distinct forkfuls, as it were, each being given a place distinct from the others, the lifting of these will be much easier than if the clover in each cock had been strewn carelessly over the ground. The lowest forkful in the cock should be turned over, since the hay in it will have imbibed more or less of dampness from the ground. But in some instances the weather for harvesting is so favorable that the precaution is unnecessary of thus opening out the cocks or even of making them at all.

Storing.—Storing clover under cover is far preferable to putting it up in stacks, except in rainless climates. With the aid of the hay-loader in lifting it from winrows in the field, and of the hay fork in unloading, the hand labor in storing is greatly reduced, but when it is unloaded with the horse fork, the aim should be to dump the hay from the fork on different parts of the mow or stack, lest it should become too solidly pressed together under the dump, and heat and mold in consequence.

When the hay is stacked, especially in climates of considerable rainfall, a bottom should be prepared on which to stack it. This may be made of poles or rails. A few of these should first be laid one way on the ground and parallel, and others across them. Where such material cannot be had, old straw or hay of but little value should be spread over the stack bottom to a considerable depth. Where these precautions are not taken, the hay in the bottom of the stack will be spoiled for some distance upward by moisture ascending from the ground. In building the stack, the center should be kept considerably higher than the outer edges, that rain may be shed, and the width of the same should increase up to at least two-thirds of the height, the better to protect the hay underneath. The tramping should be even, or the hay in settling will draw to one side, and the topping out should be gradual rather than abrupt.

In topping out a clover stack some hay should be used not easily penetrated by rain, as, for instance, blue grass obtained from fence corners, or slough hay obtained from marshes. The last-named is better put on green. If the clover is not thus protected, a considerable quantity will spoil on the top of the stacks. It is not a good hay to turn rain. The shape of the stack should in a considerable degree be determined by its size. It is probably preferable to make small stacks round, since they are more easily kept in shape, but large stacks should be long rather than round, as large, round stacks call for undue height in bringing them to a top. Because of the ease with which rain penetrates clover, it is very desirable to have it put under a roof. Where it cannot be protected by the roof of a barn or stable, the aim should be to store it in a hay shed; that is to say, a frame structure, open on all sides and covered with a roof. Such sheds may be constructed in a timber country without great cost.

Should the clover hay be stored a little undercured, some growers favor sowing salt, say, from 4 to 8 quarts over each load when spread over the mow. They do so under the conviction that its preservative qualities will be to some extent efficacious in preventing the hay from molding, and that it adds to the palatability of the hay. While it may render some service in both of these respects, it would seem probable that the benefits claimed have been overrated.

The more frequently clover hay is handled, the more is its feeding value impaired, because of the loss of heads and leaves which attend each handling of the crop. Because of this, it is not so good a crop for baling as timothy, and also for other reasons. It should be the aim when storing it for home feeding to place it where it can be fed as far as possible directly from the place of storage. In the location of hay sheds, therefore, due attention should be given to this matter.

In climates that are moist, some growers store clover in a mow when it has only reached the wilting stage in the curing process. When thus stored it is preserved on the principle which preserves silage. The aim is when storing to exclude the air as far as possible by impacting the mass of green clover through its own weight, aided by tramping. It should be more or less wilted before being stored, according to the succulence in it, and it is considered highly important that it shall also be free from external moisture. When thus stored it should be in large mows, and it should be well tramped, otherwise the impaction may not be sufficient. To this method of storage there are the following objections: 1. The hay has to be handled while it is yet green and wet. 2. There is hazard that much of the hay will be spoiled in unskilled hands. 3. Under the most favorable conditions more or less of the clover is pretty certain to mold near the edges of the mass. Where clover can be made into hay in the ordinary way without incurring much hazard of spoiling, the practice of storing it away in the green form, except in a silo, would seem of questionable propriety. The making of clover into ensilage is discussed in the book "Soiling Crops and the Silo" by the author.

Securing Seed.—As a rule, seed is not produced from the first cutting for the season of medium red clover. It is claimed that this is due to lack of pollenization in the blossoms, and because they are in advance of the active period of working in bumble bees, the medium through which fertilization is chiefly effected. This would seem to be a sufficient explanation as to why medium red clover plants will frequently bear seed the first year, if allowed to, though the first cutting from older plants will have little or no seed. But it is claimed that the ordinary honey bee may be and is the medium for fertilizing alsike and small white clover, but not that through which the mammoth variety is fertilized.

Experience has shown, further, that, as a rule, better crops of clover seed may be obtained from clover that has been pastured off than from that which has been mown for hay, although to this rule there are some exceptions. This arises, in part, from the fact that the energies of the plant have been less drawn upon in producing growth, and, therefore, can produce superior seed heads and seed, and in part from the further fact that there is usually more moisture in the soil at the season when the plants which have been pastured off are growing. There would seem to be some relation between the growing of good crops of clover seed and pasturing the same with sheep. It has been claimed that so great is the increase of seed in some instances from pasturing with sheep till about June 1st, say, in the latitude of Ohio, that the farmer who has no sheep could afford to give the grazing to one who has, because of the extra return in seed resulting. The best crops of seed are obtained when the growth is what may be termed medium or normal. Summers, therefore, that are unusually wet or dry are not favorable to the production of clover seed.

If weeds are growing amid the clover plants that are likely to mature seed, they should, where practicable, be removed. The Canada thistle, ragweed, plantain and burdock are among the weeds that may thus ripen seeds in medium clover. When not too numerous they can be cut with the spud. When too numerous to be thus cut, where practicable, they should be kept from seeding with the aid of the scythe. To prevent them from maturing is important, as the seeds of certain weeds cannot be separated from those of clover with the fanning mill, they are so alike in size.

The crop is ready for being cut when the heads have all turned brown, except a few of the smaller and later ones. It may be cut by the mower as ordinarily used, by the mower, with a board or zinc platform attachment to the cutter bar, by the self-rake reaper, or by the grain binder. The objection to the first method is that the seed has to be raked and that the raking results in the loss of much seed; to the second, that it calls for an additional man to rake off the clover; and to the third, that the binder is heavier than the self-rake reaper. The latter lays the clover off in loose sheaves. These may be made large or small, as desired, and if care is taken to lay them off in rows, the lifting of the crop is rendered much easier.

When the clover is cut with the mower, it should be raked into winrows while it is a little damp, as, for instance, in the evening. If raked in the heat of the day many of the heads will break off and will thus be lost. From the winrows it is lifted with large forks. When the crop is laid off in sheaves it may be necessary to turn them once, even in the absence of rain, but frequently this is not necessary. In the turning process gentle handling is important, lest much of the seed should be lost. The seed heads of a mature crop break off very easily in the hours of bright sunshine. Rather than turn the sheaves over, it may be better, in many instances, just to lift them with a fork with many tines, and set them down easily again on ground which is not damp under them, like unto that from which they have been removed.

Clover seed may be stored in the barn or stack, or it may be threshed directly in the field or from the same. The labor involved in handling the crop is less when it is threshed at once than by any other method, but frequently at such a busy season it is not easily possible to secure the labor required for this work. It is usually ready for being threshed in two or three days after the crop has been cut, but when the weather is fair it may remain in the field for as many weeks after being harvested without any serious damage to the seed. If, however, the straw, or "haulm," as it is more commonly called, is to be fed to live stock, the more quickly that the threshing is done after harvesting, the more valuable will the haulm be for such a use.

When stored in the barn or stack, it is common to defer threshing until the advent of frosty weather, for the reason, first, that the seed is then more easily separated from the chaff which encases it; and second, that farm work is not then so pressing. When threshed in or directly from the field, bright weather ought to be chosen for doing the work, otherwise more or less of the seed will remain in the chaff.

In lifting the crop for threshing or for storage, much care should be exercised, as the heads break off easily. The fork used in lifting it, whether with iron or with wooden prongs, should have these long and so numerous that in lifting the tines would go under rather than down through the bunch to be lifted. The wagon rack should also be covered with canvas, if all the seed is to be saved. If stored in stacks much care should be used in making these, as the seed crop in the stack is even more easily injured by rain than the hay crop. The covering of old hay of some kind that will shed rain easily should be most carefully put on.

Years ago the idea prevailed that clover seed could not be successfully threshed until the straw had, in a sense, rotted in the field by lying exposed in the same for several weeks. The introduction of improved machinery has dispelled this idea. The seed is more commonly threshed by a machine made purposely for threshing clover called a "clover huller." The cylinder teeth used in it are much closer than in the ordinary grain separator. The sieves are also different, and the work is less rapidly done than if done by the former. During recent years, however, the seed is successfully threshed with an ordinary grain threshing machine, and the work of threshing is thus more expeditiously done. Certain attachments are necessary, but it is claimed that not more than an hour is necessary to put these in place, or to prepare the machine again for threshing grain.

Since the seed is not deemed sufficiently clean for market as it comes from the machine, it should be carefully winnowed by running it through a fanning mill with the requisite equipment of sieves. It is important that this work should be carefully done if the seed is to grade as No. 1 in the market. If it does not, the price will be discounted in proportion as it falls below the standard. A certain proportion of the seed thus separated will be small and light. This, if sold at all, must be sold at a discount. If mixed with weed seeds it should be ground and fed to some kind of stock.

The haulm, when the seed crop has been well saved, has some feeding value, especially for cattle. If not well saved it is only fit for litter, but even when thus used its fertilizing value is about two-thirds that of clover hay. More or less seed remains in the chaff, and because of this the latter is sometimes drawn and strewn over pastures, or in certain by places where clover plants are wanted. Seed sown in the chaff has much power to grow, owing, it is thought, to the ability of the hull enclosing the seed to hold moisture. The yields in the seed crops of medium red clover vary all the way from 1 to 8 bushels per acre. The average yields under certain conditions are from 3 to 4 bushels per acre. Under conditions less favorable, from 2 to 3 bushels.

Within the past two decades the seed crop has been seriously injured by an insect commonly spoken of as the clover midge (Cecidomyia leguminicola) which preys upon the heads so that they fail to produce. A field thus affected will not come properly into bloom. The remedy consists in so grazing or cutting the clover that the bloom will come at that season of the summer when the insects do not work upon the heads. This season can only be determined by actual test. In Northern areas it can usually be accomplished by pushing the period of bloom usual for the second crop two to four weeks forward.

Renewing.—When clover is grown for hay, it is not usual to try to renew the crop, because of the short-lived period of the plant. But in some instances it has been found advantageous. On light prairie soils sandy in texture, located in the upper Mississippi basin, it has been found possible to grow timothy meadow for several years in succession with a goodly sprinkling of clover in it without re-seeding. In such instances, the land is not pastured at all, except in seasons quite favorable to growth, and in these the pasturing is not close. The clover plants that grow after the crop has been cut for hay produce seed. The heads in due time break off and are scattered more or less over the soil by the winds. In time they disintegrate, and more or less of the seed germinates, thus forming new plants, some of which, especially in favorable seasons, retain their hold upon the soil. This method may be worthy of imitation in localities where it has been found difficult to get a stand in dry seasons on this class of soils.

When the stand of clover secured is variable, that is to say, partial, as when the clover is abundant in the lower portions of the land and entirely absent on the higher ground, it may be worth while to re-sow the seed on the latter early the following spring. But before doing so, the land should be carefully disked in the fall, and the clover seed harrowed or otherwise covered in the spring. Should the summer following prove favorable, the seed thus sown may produce hay, but not likely in time to be harvested with the other portions of the field. But though it should not produce much hay the seed is likely to be benefited to an extent that will far more than repay the outlay involved in labor and seed.

If the clover has been sown for pasture, the renewal of the same on higher ground may be made as stated above, but with the difference that the same kind or kinds of grain may also be sown at the same time as the clover is becoming rooted.

In pastures, medium red clover may be renewed whenever the attempt is made to renew the pastures, as by disking them and then sowing upon them the seeds of certain grasses or clovers or both. The disking is usually done in the spring and while the frost is out for only a short distance below the surface. The amount of seed to sow need not be large, usually not more than 2 or 3 pounds per acre, especially when seed of other varieties is sown at the same time. One stroke of the harrow following will provide a sufficient covering for the seed.

Clover as a Fertilizer.—It would probably be correct to say that no plant has yet been introduced into American agriculture that has been found so generally useful as clover in fertilizing land and in improving the mechanical condition. Some who have investigated claim that there is more nitrogen in a clover sod after the removal of a good crop of clover than will suffice for four average farm crops, more phosphoric acid than will suffice for two, and more potash than will suffice for six. It begins to draw nitrogen from the air as soon as the tubercles commence to form and continues to add thus to the enrichment of the land during all the succeeding period of active growth. As previously stated, the nitrogen is drawn in great part from the air; consequently, soil from which a bountiful crop of clover has been removed will be considerably richer in nitrogen than before it grew the same, and this will hold true as intimated above, even though the crop should be removed and sold. Under the same conditions it will also be true in available phosphoric acid and potash. But the latter are gathered from the soil and subsoil while the plants were growing. Consequently, if crops of clover are grown in short rotation periods and if no fertilizer is given to the land other than the clover brings to it, while it will be abundantly supplied with nitrogen, a time will come when the supply of phosphoric acid and potash may be so reduced that the soil will not grow even good crops of clover. When this point is reached the soil is spoken of as "clover sick." Happily, however, nearly all soils are so well stored with phosphoric acid and potash that this result is not likely to follow for many years. But lest it should, attention should be given to fertilizing the land occasionally with farmyard manure, or with phosphoric acid and potash applied as commercial fertilizers. Because of this, and also for other reasons, it is usually considered more profitable in the end to feed clover on the farm and return it to the land in the form of manure. But clover may cease to grow on land where once it grew well, because of other reasons, such as changes in the mechanical condition of the soil caused by the depletion of its humus and changes in its chemical condition, such as increased acidity. The remedy is the removal of the cause.

The roots also put large quantities of humus in the soil. Where crops are regularly grown in short rotations they will suffice to keep it amply supplied for ordinary production. Because of this it is usually considered more profitable to cut both the crops which medium red clover produces in one season, or to pasture off one or both, than to plow under either as green manure. But when soils are too stiff or too open in character it may be advantageous to bury clover to restore the equilibrium. It may also be necessary to bury an occasional crop in order to put the land quickly in a condition to produce some desired crop, the growth of which calls for large supplies of humus. When clover is plowed under it will usually be found more profitable to bury the second growth of the season than the first. The crop is in the best condition for being plowed under when the plants are coming into bloom. If left until the stems lose their succulence the slow decay following in conjunction with the bulkiness of the mass plowed under might prove harmful to the crop following the clover. The influence of the roots upon the mechanical condition of the soil is most beneficial. The roots go down deep into the subsoil and also abound in fibrous growth. The tap roots in their decay furnish openings through which the superfluous water may go down into the subsoil. The fibers adhering to the main roots so ramify through the soil that when even stiff land is filled with them it is rendered friable, and is consequently brought into a good mechanical condition.

While all varieties of clover may be utilized in producing food and in enriching land, none is equal to the medium red for the two purposes combined. This arises from the fact that none save the medium red grows two crops in one season under ordinary conditions. Though the first crop should be taken for food, as it generally is, there is still ample time for a second crop to grow for plowing under the same season. This second growth is ready for being plowed under when time is less valuable than it would be when the mammoth or alsike varieties would be in season for being thus covered. And yet the work may be done sufficiently early to admit of sowing fall or winter crops on the land which produced the clover.

CHAPTER IV

Alfalfa is upright and branching in its habit of growth, more so than the common varieties of clover. It usually grows to the height of 2 to 3 feet, but it has been known to reach a much greater height. Although possessed of a single stem when the plants are young, the number of the stems increases up to a certain limit, with the age of the plants and the number of the cuttings. Forty to fifty stalks frequently grow up from the crown of a single plant where the conditions are quite favorable to growth, and in some instances as many as a hundred. The leaves are not large, but numerous, and in the curing of the plants they drop off much more easily than those of the more valuable of the clovers. The flowers are borne toward the top of the stems and branches, and they are in a long cluster, rather than in a compact head. They are usually of a bluish tint, but the shades of the color vary with the strain from blue to pink and yellow. The seeds are borne in spirally coiled pods. They resemble those of red clover in size, but are less uniform in shape. The color should be a light olive green. The tap roots go down deeply into the soil and subsoil where the conditions as to texture and moisture are favorable. It has been claimed that alfalfa roots have gone down into congenial subsoils 40 to 50 feet, but usually less, probably, than one-fourth of the distances mentioned would measure the depths to which the roots go. And with decreasing porosity in the subsoil, there will be decrease in root penetration until it will reach in some instances not more than 3 to 4 feet. But where the roots are thus hindered from going deeper, they branch out more in their search for food.

Alfalfa is perennial. In the duration of its growth, no fodder plant grown under domestication will equal it. It has been known, it is claimed, to produce profitable crops for half a century. In some of the Western States are meadows from 25 to 40 years old. Ordinarily, however, the season of profitable growth is not more than, say, 6 to 12 years when grown on upland soils. The meadows usually become more or less weedy or possessed by various grasses, and some of the plants die. The plants at first send up a single stem. When this matures or is cut back the uncut portion of the stem dies down to the crown of the plant, which then sends out other stems. This is repeated as often as the stems are cut down until many stems grow up from one plant as indicated above, unless the plants are so crowded that such multiplication is more or less hindered. The plants grow rapidly as soon as spring arrives, and as often as cut off they at once spring again into vigorous life, where the conditions are favorable to such growth; hence, from one to twelve cuttings of soiling may be obtained in a single season, the former result being obtained in arid climates, where the conditions are unpropitious, and the latter being possible only in congenial soils, where the winters are very mild and where the soils are irrigated. Usually, however, even on upland soils and in the absence of irrigation, not fewer than 3 to 5 cuttings of soiling food are obtained each year and not fewer than 2 to 4 crops of hay.

A number of varieties so called are grown in this country. They differ from each other more, however, in their adaptation in essential properties relating to the quality of the pasture and fodder produced, than in the quality of food product obtained from them. The variety commonly grown from seed produced in the West is usually spoken of simply as alfalfa, while that grown from seed European in origin has been more commonly called Lucerne. The former of these has a tendency to grow taller than the latter and to send its roots down to a greater depth. In addition to these, such strains as the Turkestan, the Rhenish, the Minnesota and Sand Lucerne have been introduced.

The Turkestan variety was introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture during recent years. It was brought from provinces beyond the Caspian in Russia, Asia. The object sought was to introduce a variety that would better withstand the rigors of a climate dry in summer and cold in winter than the variety commonly grown. Some strains of this variety have proved drought resistant to a remarkable degree. It has also shown itself capable of enduring without injury temperatures so low as to result in the destruction of plants of the common variety. In trials made by growers in North Dakota and Northern Minnesota, it has been found able to endure the winter's cold in these areas. But it has also been found that while the plants produced some seed in the Central Mountain States, they did not produce much seed when grown in the Northern States. Unless seed can be secured from plants grown in the latter in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of growers, it is feared that in time some of the hardy characteristics of this variety will be lost if the Central and Southern Mountain States must be relied upon as the American sources of seed supplies.

The Rhenish strain comes from Central Europe. It has been highly commended by some European seedsmen for its hardihood, but it has been as yet grown to only a limited extent in America. The Minnesota strain was doubtless brought to Carver County by German farmers, by whom it has been grown in the neighborhood of Lake Waconia for nearly 20 years. It has been found much hardier than the common variety when grown in that neighborhood, and the endurance of plants grown from seed of this strain far northward has been very pronounced. As this variety produces reasonably good seed crops in Central Minnesota, it would seem reasonable to expect that it will become popular in Northern areas. Sand Lucerne, which comes from Central Europe, has considerable adaptation for poor and light soils, and in trials made at the Michigan experiment station was found possessed of distinctive merit for such soils.

Where alfalfa can be grown freely, it is unexcelled as a pasture for swine, and is in favor also as a pasture for horses. While cattle and sheep grazed upon it are exceedingly fond of it, the danger that it will produce bloat in them is so frequently present as to greatly neutralize its value for such a use. It is a favorite pasture for fowls. In furnishing soiling food where it produces freely, it is without an equal in all the United States. It is highly relished by all kinds of farm animals, not excluding rabbits and goats, and when fed judiciously may be fed in this form with perfect safety. Its high value in producing such food rests on its productiveness, its high palatability and the abundant nutrition which it contains. As a hay crop, it is greatly prized. Even swine may be wintered in a large measure on cured alfalfa hay.

As a fertilizer, the value of alfalfa will be largely dependent on the use that is made of the plants. When pastured or fed upon the farm, the fertility resulting being put back upon the land, it ranks highly as a producer of fertility. But this question is further discussed on page 191. As a destroyer of weeds much will depend upon the way in which it is grown. This question also is discussed again. (See page 185.)

Distribution.—It is thought that alfalfa is more widely distributed over the earth's surface, furnishes more food for live stock, and has been widely cultivated for a longer period than any other legume. It is grown over wide areas of Asia, Europe, North and South America, and its cultivation is constantly extending. It was grown on the irrigated plains of Babylon long before the days of Nebuchadnezzar. It was the principal fodder used in the stables of the kings of Persia. From Persia, it is thought, it was brought to Greece about 470 B. C., and that its cultivation in Italy began at least two centuries before the Christian era. Several Roman writers, as Virgil, Columella and Varro, mention it. From Italy it was introduced into Spain and from Spain it was doubtless carried by missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church to Mexico and the South American States which lie west of the Andes, as Peru and Chili. In the arid and semi-arid regions of the Andes, the conditions were found so favorable to the growth of alfalfa that it is now the principal forage crop grown. It is almost certain that it was brought from Chili to California, from which it has spread over much of the cultivated portion of the arid and semi-arid west. Western grown seed is also the chief source of supply at the present time for all the States of the Union.

Fully a century ago attempts were made by Chancellor Livingstone and others to introduce it into the Eastern States, but without much success, owing, probably, to the lack of knowledge on the part of the people as to how it should be grown. The seed at that time was doubtless brought from European sources, probably France. It has been noticed by more recent growers in these States that the results from sowing such seed do not prove as satisfactory as those from American grown seed, but that alone should not sufficiently explain why the attempts to grow alfalfa just referred to were not successful.

But it is not alone in the areas named that alfalfa has proved so helpful to agriculture. In Central Asia and northward it has for long centuries furnished the Tartars with the principal forage crop grown. In Turkestan and other places it will grow under conditions so dry as to forbid the vigorous growth of many hardy grasses. In Southern Asia, from India to Arabia, it has lost none of the popular favor accorded to it long centuries ago. In Southern Russia it is extensively grown, and up and down the basin of the Danube. In the Mediterranean provinces of Southern Europe it is still one of the leading forage crops. In France it stands high in the popular estimate, and also in some parts of Germany. And even in humid England it is grown more or less freely on dry, calcareous soils. And the day is doubtless near when in many parts of Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Eastern South America this great fodder plant will be found capable of yielding abundant harvests. In some parts of Argentina it has been claimed that it grows like a weed.

It is believed by many that alfalfa if exposed to very low temperatures will perish and that it cannot stand as much winter exposure as medium red or alsike clover. This is only true of some varieties. Other varieties, as the Turkestan, for instance, will endure lower temperatures and more exposure than the clovers named. Alfalfa has been grown with some success at the government experiment station, Indian Head, Sask, Canada, and yet it sometimes winter kills in Texas. As with clover, it is injured most by exposure to sweeping winds blowing over it in winter when the mercury is low, and the injury is more fatal just after the removal of a snow covering and when the plants are young. Ice forming over the fields after a sudden thaw and remaining for a time is very liable to kill the plants. It can stand considerably more summer heat than any of the clovers grown northward, as witnessed in the good crops grown in some parts of Louisiana during the hottest weather of summer. Nevertheless, with reference to temperatures, what may be termed a mild climate, such as characterizes Southern France in Europe and Western California in the United States, is best adapted to its growth.

It is better adapted to climates that are dry, where the plants can be irrigated, as then rains do not interfere with the harvesting of the hay. Even in the absence of irrigation, a climate that is reasonably dry is preferable to one where drenching rains frequently fall, which wash away the soil when sandy, or which fill it full of water when composed of clay. But where rains fall frequently and in moderation, as in the northern Puget Sound region, the effect is helpful to the growth of the alfalfa plants, although it may add somewhat to the labor of making alfalfa hay, and to the hazard in curing it. Alfalfa will maintain its hold for years on some portions of the table lands of the mountain States under conditions so dry that the plants can only furnish one cutting of hay in a season. It is safe to assume, therefore, that alfalfa can be grown under a wider range of climatic conditions than any other legume grown in the United States. But the influence which climate should be allowed to exercise on the use that is to be made of it should not be lost from view. In climates much subject to frequent rains in summer, it should be grown rather for soiling food and pasture than for hay, whereas in dry climates, and especially where it can be irrigated, it should be grown for hay, soiling food and pasture, but especially the former.

While alfalfa can be successfully grown in one or the other of its varieties in some portion of every State in the Union, it has its favorite feeding grounds. The best conditions for growing it are found in the valleys of all the Rocky Mountain States, where the growth can be regulated by the application of irrigating waters. In these the conditions southward are superior to those northward, because of the milder climate, which precludes the danger of winter killing by exposure, which occasionally happens in the more northerly of the mountain States, and because of the more prolonged season for growth, which adds to the number of the cuttings. This does not mean that the river bottoms in other parts of the United States will not be found good for growing alfalfa. It can be grown in many of these; in fact, in nearly all of them, and to some extent by the aid of irrigation, if the waste waters were stored, but the deposit soil in these valleys being of much closer texture than that in the western valleys, is, on the whole, lower in adaptation than the soil in the latter.

In the western valleys of the mountain States, alfalfa is the crop around which it may be said that agricultural production centers. It is the principal hay crop of those States. The extent to which it may be grown there is revolutionizing the production of live stock on the ranges, as it is providing food for them in winter, which is fast removing, and will probably soon entirely remove, the element of hazard from live stock dependent on the range pastures for support in that season. The dairy and swine industries in those valleys must largely depend upon it. Fruit orchards must ultimately grow on buried alfalfa meadows, and the rotation of all crops in the same will be largely dependent upon the growing of alfalfa. Next in adaptation to the mountain States are, it is thought, certain soils that lie between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, especially such as are in proximity to rivers, or are underlaid with sheet water not far distant from the surface. But an unusually large proportion of the upland soil in these States, from Central Minnesota southward, have high adaptation for the growth of this plant. Particularly is this true of the soils of Nebraska and Kansas and of considerable portions of Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana.

In States east of the Mississippi, the adaptation is not so general, and is more dependent on soil conditions than on those that are climatic. In nearly all of the river bottoms of these States it will grow with more or less success. On nearly all upland soils it will also grow well, where the subsoil furnishes naturally good drainage. For the exception, see page 132. But in no State east of the Mississippi, is such a proportion of the area so highly adapted to growing alfalfa as in many of the States west of that river. In other States areas are found in which alfalfa will produce excellent crops, but usually these do not embrace the larger portion of the entire area in any State. In a considerable number of the States such areas are more or less limited, and usually they are distributed variously in the different States; that is, they do not lie side by side. The favorite soil conditions in these are a good loam, preferably more or less sandy and resting upon a porous subsoil.

A more exact idea will be given of relative adaptation in various States in what is now submitted. In California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, alfalfa is now grown chiefly by the aid of irrigation, and all of these States have highest adaptation for its growth. In some parts of California 6 to 10 tons of cured hay are obtained in one year, with pasture in winter additional. In Utah, good crops have been grown successively on the same land for more than a quarter of a century. In Colorado two cuttings are obtained the first season, and it is said that there the plants are not easily destroyed. It yields enormously in the irrigated valleys of New Mexico and Arizona.

In Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, it is grown with and without irrigation. In large areas in all these States, excellent crops are and may be grown, but the season of growth being shorter, not so many cuttings are obtained per year as in the mountain States further south. In Northern Idaho two cuttings may be obtained per year, even on high, dry land.

In North Dakota, especially westward, alfalfa gives promise of successful growth. It will grow well in much of South Dakota, especially on sandy soils not too distant from water. In Minnesota it has been grown successfully in Carver County since 1886. Good success is being obtained from growing it in other parts of the State, even in some parts of the Red River valley. In Western Iowa it is being grown with much success, and in some portions of Eastern Iowa. In Missouri, the two important centers for growing it are the northwest and the southeast, but in other areas it has also done well. In Kansas it will grow well in all parts of the State where the subsoil is porous. It has been cut for hay in that State in less than 60 days from the date of sowing. It grows equally well over at least two-thirds of Nebraska, especially the eastern half, and its growth in Nebraska is rapidly extending. In the Arkansas valley it luxuriates, and it is also being grown in Oklahoma. In Louisiana immense fields are being grown along the Red River and in other parts of the State. In Texas it is being grown more or less north, east and south, and especially in the valley of the Brazos.

In the Southern States alfalfa has not in many instances been given a good chance where tried. The plants have too frequently had to contend there as elsewhere with ill-prepared and weedy soils and imprudent pasturing. Yet it is being grown with considerable success, though as yet in limited areas, in all the Southern States. It has done well in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, and in Georgia are some alfalfa meadows 25 years old. In the other Southeastern States, viz., Virginia, the Carolinas and Florida, it does well only in areas more or less circumscribed, but it has been grown with some success even in the rainy climate of Southern Florida.

In the States northward from the Ohio River, that is, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, the necessity for growing alfalfa has not been so much felt as in some other States, because of the excellence of the crops of clover grown in these. Its growth, however, is extending in all of these States. Much of the soil in Illinois, it is said, must first be inoculated with the bacteria proper to alfalfa before vigorous crops can be grown, and this is probably true of sections of Indiana soil. Some sections of Ohio are becoming noted for the crops of alfalfa which they have grown, and in Wisconsin Hon. W. D. Hoard succeeded in securing 5.7 tons of alfalfa hay in one season from four cuttings made on three-fifths of an acre.

In all the Eastern and New England States, alfalfa is being grown to some extent. In some counties of New York, as Onondaga and Madison, it is becoming the leading soiling and hay crop. In Massachusetts it has borne cuttings year after year on sandy loam soil. On Long Island three to four cuttings each season have been obtained for a series of years. It is believed that it will grow over nearly the whole of Southern Maryland and also in much of the eastern part of that State, and its growth has been quite successful in parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Alfalfa will grow well in considerable areas in Canada. The statement would seem safe that at the present time profitable crops could be grown in some parts of every province of Canada in which the land is tilled. In Quebec, even on high land, it usually endures the winters. Near Montreal it has been cut for soiling food at the height of 30 inches as early as May 15th. In some parts of Eastern Ontario good crops can be grown, and also over considerable areas of Western Ontario. The author grew it with much success at the experiment station at Guelph in 1890 and subsequently, and during recent years considerable areas are being grown in several of the Lake Erie counties and in those that lie north from them. But in no part of Ontario are the conditions for growing alfalfa better than in some of the mountain valleys of British Columbia.

But few crops, if, indeed, any, are being experimented with at the present time to so great an extent as alfalfa; hence, the expectation is reasonable that there will be an enormous increase in the area grown in the future that is near. The two chief causes of failure in the past were want of knowledge in growing and caring for it on the part of the growers, and the absence of the proper bacteria in the soil. Acidity in some soils and want of drainage in others are also responsible for many of the failures referred to. But even where it does grow reasonably well, some trouble is found from the alfalfa failing in spots. In some instances the cause can be traced, as when coated with ice in winter, or where the soil is not uniform, but in other instances the precise causes have not been determined. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, however, greatly increased areas will be grown in the future, especially in States in which the dairy interest is paramount or even important.

Soils.—It was formerly thought by many that alfalfa would only grow vigorously on soils and subsoils sandy in character, and underlaid at some distance from the surface with water. It is now being ascertained that it will grow on a great variety of soils, providing they are reasonably fertile, free from acidity, sufficiently porous below to carry away water with reasonable quickness, and not underlaid with hard pan or a subsoil so tenacious that it is almost impervious to water.

The best soils for alfalfa are those of the Western mountain States, and in these the deposit soils of the river valleys stand among the foremost. These soils are usually of much depth. Many of them have water underneath, and the subsoil is usually so porous that the roots can go far down in them, such is the character of nearly all the bottom land west of the Mississippi. But in nearly all of the mountain region of the West, from Banff in British Columbia to Mexico, alfalfa will grow well under irrigation, or in the absence of irrigation, if ground water is not too distant from the surface. In this region alfalfa grows more vigorously and more persistently than in almost any other portion of the United States.

In regions where alfalfa is not dependent upon irrigation, the best soils probably are deep, rich calcareous loams, clay or sandy, and underlaid with what may be termed a mild or reasonably porous clay subsoil. With such soils the plants may be in no way influenced by sheet water below, as on some of these in Nebraska, for instance, such water is fully 150 feet below the surface. These soils are usually possessed of abundant food supplies to nourish the plants, and the roots can go far down into the subsoils to gather food and moisture. Such lands are found more or less in nearly all the States of the Union east from the Rocky Mountains; hence, when the requisite bacteria are present, good crops can be grown on them in every State in the Union.

On the ordinary black soils of the prairie, alfalfa will usually grow reasonably well if underlaid with clay not too distant nor too tenacious. When the roots get down into the subsoil, they can usually find much food in the same, and unless in very dry areas a sufficiency of moisture, but in many instances it may be necessary to introduce the requisite bacteria, and to apply farmyard manure to encourage sufficient growth to carry the roots down quickly to the subsoil. In some prairie soils the growth will be vigorous from the start, but usually these are lands that have grown hardwood timber, and that have in them more or less clay.

In climates where the rainfall is considerable, alfalfa will frequently grow well on gravelly soils and on those that are stony. Some of the best alfalfa soils in the State of New York, New England States, and in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario are of this character.

Alfalfa will frequently grow fairly well even on stiff clays, and in some instances on gumbo soils. But these soils must not be so retentive as to collect and hold water for any considerable time within a few feet of the surface. Such lands have usually much staying power; hence, alfalfa grown on them frequently improves for years after it has been sown. On the reddish soils that cover much of the South, it has been found, as in growing alfalfa on stiff clays in the North, that where deep subsoiling is practiced alfalfa is not only more easily established, but it also grows with added vigor.

On upland soils sandy or gravelly in character where the rainfall is much less than normal and where the subsoil is not underlaid with sheet water, alfalfa will not usually succeed, notwithstanding that it may grow well on these soils where the rainfall is normal. On such soils it is not easy to get a stand of the plants, as they are much apt to perish in the dry weather of the first season, but if once established on such soils the plants have much power to grow even where the rainfall is considerably less than normal.

Alfalfa will not grow well in soils naturally wet until they are drained. And when drained it will not grow with normal vigor, on what may be termed slough soils, where the subsoil is far down and covered with a deep covering of vegetable mold. What are termed slough soils in the Western prairies, therefore, are not well fitted for the growth of alfalfa. On these it may not succeed well, when it may grow with much vigor on the adjoining upland. When some wet soils are drained, alfalfa may not succeed well on them for a time and later may grow luxuriantly. This may arise from the lack of time for proper aeration after being drained, or from the want of lime to further correct acidity in the soil, or from the want of the proper bacteria. Notwithstanding that alfalfa will not grow well on undrained lands that are naturally wet, and notwithstanding that it will perish if the roots reach standing water at a distance too near the surface, the best crops by far are usually grown on irrigated lands. This arises, first, from the ability to adjust the supplies of water to meet the needs of the plants, and second, from the congenial character of the soil and subsoil. Next to these the best crops are grown where congenial soils are underlaid with ground water, not too near nor too distant from the surface. On these soils the plants are largely supplied with moisture from the water below ascending on the principle of capillary attraction. How near or how distant such water should be will depend somewhat on subsoil conditions. It would seem correct to say that it ought never to come nearer to the surface than 3 feet, nor should it be more than 20 feet down. The most suitable distance would be, say, 8 to 16 feet. When the roots of alfalfa reach water at too short a depth they will die.

Alfalfa may sometimes be grown satisfactorily on soils subject to overflow, but usually there is hazard in growing it on these. If the overflow occurs comparatively early in the season, if it is not of great depth, if it is of short duration, and if the waters quickly drain out of the subsoil possessed by the alfalfa, it may receive little or no harm from such overflow. Instances are on record wherein ice has formed on alfalfa and yet the plants survived, but such a condition will usually prove fatal to them. But should the overflow take place in hot weather, usually it will injure the plants seriously, and may, indeed, completely destroy them. So great is such hazard, that care must be taken against the application of an excess of irrigating waters under such conditions. Overflow waters that are stagnant are more injurious probably than those that are in motion, owing, it may be, to the less supply of dissolved oxygen in the former.

Soils suitable in themselves, but lying on stiff clay bottoms or underlaid with hard pan within two or three feet of the surface, will not maintain a good stand of alfalfa. The plants in these may grow well for a time, probably a year or two, after which they will fail. The roots are not able to go down to gather food. When the subsoils are simply stiff clays, deep subsoiling, as already intimated, may render much service, but when composed of hard pan this may not be practicable. In moist climates, however, reasonably good crops have been obtained from soils with underlying rock not more than four feet below the surface.

The fact should not be overlooked that soils may have the requisite physical conditions for growing alfalfa, and they may possess in fair supply the essential elements of plant food, and yet alfalfa will not succeed at the first when sown on these, because of the absence of the soil bacteria, the presence of which is essential to the vigorous growth of the plants. Because of this, growers should be slow to conclude that alfalfa will not flourish on the soils on which they sow it until they have first tried to grow it on those soils that have been inoculated with the requisite alfalfa bacteria. For the methods of procedure in such cases see page 53. Some persons claim that soils which will grow medium red clover in good form will also grow alfalfa in good form. This does not necessarily follow. While there is much of similarity in the soils suitable for the growth of both, alfalfa may fail on lands that grow red clover luxuriantly until the bacteria proper to alfalfa have been introduced. Soils may be tested for bacteria, and even in winter, by sowing some seed in pots and treating them like well-cared-for house plants. When the plants are 2 to 3 months old, if tubercles are found on the roots, the conclusion would seem safe that such soil does not require inoculation.