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Show " : : . CHARACTERISTICS AND HABITS OF ALFALFA OUTLINE MAP OF UNITED STATES, SHOWING VARIETIES OR STRAINS OF ALFALFA RECOMMENDED FOR VARIOUS SECTIONS, BASED UPON CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. (Prepared by the United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture.) It is desirable that farmers know the characteristics and habits of the nine fairly distinctive commercial strains of alfalfa, according to Farmers' Bulletin 707 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricul-ture, in order that adaptation of the strains to climatic conditions can be determined to best advantage. "Common alfalfa," says the bulletin is a term that is used to include till of the alfalfas that are not clearly of hybrid origin or that do not have distinct dis-tinct and uniform varietal characteristics, character-istics, such as the Peruvian and Arabian Arabi-an variet'es. Numerous strains are coming to be1 recognized in the "common" "com-mon" group. They are often designated desig-nated by the geographic name of the locality where grown, as Kansas-grown Kansas-grown alfalfa, Montana-grown alfalfa, and many others, or by some term descriptive de-scriptive of the conditions under which the crop has developed, such us dry-land alfalfa, irrigated alfalfa, and uonirrigated alfalfa. Strains developed in the South usually usu-ally produce larger yields than those developed in the northern states, but they are less hardy. The "dry-land" alfalfa seed offered on the market has so far failed to show any noticeable superiority su-periority in ability to resist drought over that grown with an abundance of moisture. The commercial Turkestan alfalfa has been tested quite thoroughly in all parts of this country, and in nearly every case has proved inferior to American-grown strains. The leading commercial strains ot, variegated alfalfa are the Grimm, the' Baltic, the Canadian variegated, and sand lucern. With the exception of sand lucern, they have been found more resistant to cold than other commercial com-mercial varieties or strains and are therefore recommended for sections, where winterkilling occurs frequently. Peruvian alfalfa is not resistant to severe cold and can -be grown successfully success-fully only where the winter temperature tempera-ture is comparatively mild, as .In the southern and southwestern states. Under Un-der favorable conditions it outyields any other commercial strain. Arabian alfalfa is not a satisfactory variety because of its tendency to be short lived. As a result of numerous experimental experiment-al tests the adaptations of the various varieties and strains of alfalfa have been quite, definitely determined. It Is highly advisable that the farmer should learn to distinguish good from poor seed. Plump seed of an olive-green olive-green color almost invariably germinates germi-nates well, while shriveled or brown seed generally germinates poorly. The presence of any appreciable quantity of weed seeds or other impurities Indicates In-dicates a poor quality of seed. Owing to the fact that alfalfa does not produce seed satisfactorily under humid conditions, there is little use in trying to grow It for seed in the eastern east-ern states. Breeding work with alfalfa offers great possibilities, but the time and exi pense involved are so great that q farmer cannot afford to undertake it. Proportion of Intertilled Crops Affects Farm Yields. Farm management specialists arq recognizing that there is a fairly de. finite relation between the proportion of a farm devoted to intertilled crops and the yields from the farm as a, whole. The problem is stated in this) way by the U. S. department of agriculture: agri-culture: ' Given a hundred acres to be devoted to crops in general farming, what proportion pro-portion should be devoted to corn or other intertilled crops in order to secure se-cure the most favorable effect on crop yields? The department believes that the answer an-swer to this question can approximate, ly be determined, locally, for any given giv-en type of farming on any given typ? of soil. Recent surveys conducted by the office of farm management indi cate that for Chester county, Pa., am for the corn belt of Illinois it is about thirty-seven acres, and that for Lenawee Lena-wee county, Mich., it is about thirty, two acres. 'It was found that farms devoting to intertilled crops area? ranging from 32 to 37 per cent of tota1 crop acreage realized, on the average, higher yields for- all crops than did those farms upon which either a Iarg-er Iarg-er or a smaller percentage of crop area was devoted to corn, potatoes, and other oth-er crops of that class. In imiking this investigation the "crop index" was used as a treasure of efficiency in the maintenance of crop yields. The crop index indicates the standing of a farm in percentage of yielding power, the yield of the average aver-age farm of the group surveyed representing repre-senting 100 per cent. It was found that the crop index went up uniformly uniform-ly with an increase in acreage of intertilled in-tertilled crops until that acreags reached a point above 31 and lower than 3S per cent of the total crop area, and then declined uniformly as such acreage'- increased above that limit. In explanation of the falling off in yield of all crops after the area in intertilled in-tertilled crops passes a certain point, the department specialists advance thg theory that it is due to the excessive loss of humus entailed by the extra tillage. It was found that this falling off in yield was present even when there was an Increase in the number of live stock per acre. These figures are not advanced as wholly conclusive, but as suggestive as to what may be done along this line. |