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Show ALFALFA NEEDS MUCH WATER Eprlmnt( Show That It I Moit Important to Have Plenty of Moisture In the Soil. North Platte government experiment experi-ment show that It I moot Important to accumulate water In the noil before starting alfalfa, a the plant will use. practically n that falls thereafter. In the Great I'lnlna region, alfalfa ha shown It ability to take more moisture from the noil than any other plant, brome grass coming second and buffalo gr.'.s third; oat, wheat, com and barley coming respectively next, though, wheat on one occasion led the corn. The problem wltb alfalfa under Rood condition la not no much to pet the stand ii H to retain It, for If It dees not find water lower flown It will ol'ten live to or three year on utored foil niolMtir until It lias exhausted It nnd then die cut H work, how-I how-I ever, cnimiitf ring the gfeut Improve-tnent Improve-tnent It hits worked In soil conditions, even under thesn clriMimstnne s, for U has filled the subsoil with vepet-ftb'e vepet-ftb'e pipe lines which, as I hey decay, will carry moisture down beyond the attraction of wind nnd tun and fur-ti'ph fur-ti'ph plcjjt food, where time was little liefore, In an available tevc. The storage reservoir of the soil at North finite Is from four to six feet j for sprint- urn Ins. rind two feet dee I er for wlnur cereals, f-vr alfalfa Mm depth ha not been dctltilt ly ascertained, ascer-tained, but t rerfihi'v nl;es water j to a (!e"tb of fir'cct) feet. The soil Is capable of holding I." rer cent of molr-t ur. And i.lfalfa enn :draw It (inwii to Or, per c nt One percent, to a depth of IT, feet amounts to ; 5 Indie rf water, so the alfa'fn receives ti.Ti per cent., or CI Im hes of water. Tliee fir-ores show at oi"-o the nd vantage alfalfa ha over o'lo-r crops find nt the same time i t si limitations. I In that It can go ahead of the avom-e r.iintall fur a term of yffirs and ile. ctrov Itself mile? It reaches a nib-sell nib-sell sheet of wa'er or a suti soil eon-tain eon-tain Intr an excess of free water for Its requirement, which Is. foHunately. often the cave. When the al!"lfa does Its ow n piiinplnir free r.f rliarr It w ill1 have an Intermedial" dry t-round and yet produce pood crop nn crises to draw so heavily on the fr-e soil wale wa-le above, reducing the moisture content con-tent to only 8,5 per cent. Instead of 6.5 per cent. On account of Its rapid rrowth. alfalfa al-falfa takes a grcnt deal or moisture to transpire and from Its dry content whose bulk will be governed by the nniount of water In the soil. l!y (rood cultural methods water ran be stored In the loam sol to n depth of ten to fifteen feet, nnd where borings bor-ings show plenty of moisture at such depth there 1 prent bepo of success, but If a dry, Impervious bed 1 met by the root beyond their power to penetrate, they eprny out and lose tiirlr penetrative power to po deeper. This points to the fad that sue rps?lve alfalfa seeding would plve much profiler hope of sncces than the first one under unfavorable circumstances, circum-stances, which la Indeed true of all plants where roots have already penetrated pene-trated the subsoil, a profession of deeper and deeper rang becoming possible. |