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Show Alfalfa Improves Soil Texture. Alfalfa also improves the tilth J or physical condition of the soil. The roots grow to a large sizej and penetrate to unusual depths into the subsoil. Samples of roots, taken at the Kansas Ex-. iperiment Station, were found to f 1 reach a depth of over nine feet, j !At the Colorado Experiment' Station, Dr. Hcadden traced the, ; roots of alfalfa to a depth ofj twelve and one-half feet, and there are several reports, not well authenticated, in which alfalfa roots are said to have been found at even greater depths. v When the land is plowed to destroy the alfalfa, these roots decay forming humus, which aids in loosening the soil and gives it greater capacity to hold 'moisture, and the openings in the soil left by the roots forma system of channels for the penetration of air and water into the hard subsoil of heavy clay lands. Doubtless this physical effect which alfalfa has on the soil, accounts for ranker growth and larger yield of wheat, which the writer observed, on an old alfalfa field fourteen years after ' breaking the alfalfa sod. Selected. Select-ed. i . - |