. Effective farming; a text-book for American schools. Agriculture. Legumes 189 field of alfalfa being cut. Notice the quantity of forage. Be- cause of the long life of the plant and the fact that so much hay can be cut annually, farmers in the East and South often go to considerable trouble and expense in their efforts to grow the crop. Alfalfa seems to prefer a loose, deep soil; however, good crops have been grown on fairly heavy soils. The soils must be well drained. The water-level should be at least two feet below the surface and preferably three or four feet or more. Fertility of soil is
. Effective farming; a text-book for American schools. Agriculture. Legumes 189 field of alfalfa being cut. Notice the quantity of forage. Be- cause of the long life of the plant and the fact that so much hay can be cut annually, farmers in the East and South often go to considerable trouble and expense in their efforts to grow the crop. Alfalfa seems to prefer a loose, deep soil; however, good crops have been grown on fairly heavy soils. The soils must be well drained. The water-level should be at least two feet below the surface and preferably three or four feet or more. Fertility of soil is an important factor; it never pays to try to secure a stand of alfalfa on poor soil. Also, sour soils should be avoided. Like red clover, alfalfa will not make satisfactory growth on such soils and often the reason for a poor stand is that the soil was not sufficiently limed be- fore seed planting. In addition to its use as a hay, alfalfa is a valuable soiling crop. It makes so many cuttings a season that a small acreage will furnish green feed for a large number of cattle. It is used to some extent as a pasture for hogs, but not often for cattle. When pasturing a piece of alfalfa, care should be taken that it is not closely grazed, for if so the new growth may be injured. Like red clover, alfalfa seed often contain impurities and this should be kept in mind by purchasers. Bur clovers. — Although called clovers, the bur clovers. Fig. 81. — Spotted bur Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Sampson, Harry Oscar, 1879-. New York, Macmillan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
