Show ALFALFA NEEDS MUCH mun WATER experiment shove ahat it la 18 most important to have plenty of moisture in n the soil north platte government expert ments abow that it ie Is moat most important to accumulate water in the eoll moll before starting af 1 fulla as the tho plant will use practically all blat falta falla thereafter in the great plain region alfalfa has shown ita its ability to take more moisture from the soil oil than any other plant brome grass coming second and buffalo grass third oate oats wheat corn and barley coming respectively next though wheat on ono one occasion led the corn tho the problem with alfalfa under good conditions ie in not eo so much to set get the stand as to retain it for if it t drca not find water lower down it will often live two or three ye yew irs on stored eoll soil moisture until it has exhausted it and then die out it la Is work vork however considering the great improvement it has worked in eoll soil conditions condl tlona evea even under these circumstances for it hae has filled be he with vegetable pipe lines which ne no they decay will carry moisture turo down beyond the attraction of wind and eun sun and furnish plant food where there was vas little before in an available elate state the storage reservoir of tho the eoll soil at north platte ie to from four to six feet for spring grains lud two foet feet deeper for winter cereas cereals for alfalfa the depth hae has not been definitely ascertained but it certainly takes water to td a depth of fifteen feet the soil poll ie in capable of holding IS 15 per cent of moisture ture and alfalfa can draw it down to 6 5 per cent ona a per cent to a depth of 15 feet amounts to 2 26 5 inches of water so the alfalfa receives 8 5 per cent or 21 inches of water these figures show at once tre advantage alfalfa has over other crops and at the same time its limitations in that it can go ahead of the average rainfall for a term of ears cars and destroy itself junices it reaches a sub soil sheet of water or a sub soil containing an excess of free water for its requirements which ie Is fortunately fortunat cly often tho the case when the alfalfa does ite its own purn pumping Ping free ot of charge it will havo have an intermediate dry ground and vet produce good crops and ceases to draw so heavily on the freo free soil water above reducing the moisture content to only 8 5 per cent instead of 6 5 per pe cent on account of ito its rapid growth alfalfa takes a great grent deal of moisture to transpire and from its dry content whose whoso bulk will he be governed by the amount ot of water in the soil ily good cul cultural methods water cin bo stored in tho the loam coil soil to a depth of cen to fifteen feet find whore bor ings show plenty of moisture mol aturo at such depth there Is great hope of success but if it ft a dry impervious bed la is met by tho the root beyond their power to too penetrate they spray out and lose their penetrative to go deeper vila points to tho the fact anat successive alfalfa seeding wo would ild give much greater hope of success atan the first ono one under unfavorable cir circumstances curn which Is I 1 indeed true of all plants roots hao already pene grated tho the subsoil a progression of deeper and deeper range becoming possible |