Rocky Ford enterprise., 1913-11-07
RAISE ALFALFA SEED
Either Too Much or Too Little
Water Affects Yield.
Sunlight Is Strong Factor and Isolated
Plant VIII Equal Several Crowded
Tosether-Rows Should Be
Trimmed by Disk.

A high development of the individ-
ual alfalfa plant is necessary for high
seed production. therefore plants
should not only be seeded in somewhat
wide rows, but even thinned, If neces-
sary, in the row. Either too much or
too little water will affect the yield
In the first case a second growth will
take place, and in the other there may
not be enough moisture to mature
crop. The margin is n narrow one
and unfavorable moisture conditions
account for many low yields. An Is
inch rainfall properly distributed is
about right for seed crop. Thirty
inches will prove too much, especially
If much rain falls in the blooming sea
son. High temperatures are necessary
for setting of seed and its develop
ment. though occasionally the flowers
are blasted by oYer-hot weather. Oc-
casional light frosts only retard seed
development, but either continued
light frosts or a killing one will spoil
the chances of seed crop. The ex-
clusion of insects from plants tends to
make them sterile, as the tripping OF
the fertilizing portions of the flowers
does not take place. Bumblebees,
from their weight. and wild bees. by
the insertion of their bodies, accom-
plish tripping more perfectly than the
tame bee, which draws the nectar
with its proboscis. Ordinarily alfalfa
sets its seed with the pollen from an
other flower, but it is self-fertilizing II
the flower be tripped. Lands where
alfalfa easily finds moisture are sell
dom good seed producers, as they
make a second growth from tie stems
of the first growth, which is so rank
as to lie down. Sunlight is strong
factor in seed production. and the iso-
lated alfalfa plant will equal several
plants crowded together, having a
much better developed system OF
branches to carry the seed pods. Two
to three pounds of seed per acre is suf
ficient for row seeding. and further
allowance should be made in the num-
ber of plants in an arid climate. When
moist seasons came the plants will
thrive below and above ground, the
spread of the branches will fill very
large area, and when moisture is lack
ing the rooots, with proper cultivation
have a much larger area from which
to draw moisture. The distance be
tween rows may be from IS inches uI
as high as four feet, at which distance
the yieds at Chico. Cal. were as good
as at any other width Probably less
distance will be better If the plants be
thinned in the rows by the disk or
plowing. and the yield of hay, which
is not much lessened by row sowing
over broadcasting, be finer when hay
rather than seed is desired.
The crop to leave for seed depends
on what season of the year gives the
best seed-maturing conditions; also in
the arid country it will often be evi
dent at the time of the first cutting
that there is not moisture enough in
the ground to start and mature a sec
ond crop either for hay or seed, and ii
must then depend on the growers
Judgment whether to cut for hay and
then cultivate the ground awaiting
rain. If the ground is merely dry on
top a good cultivation will restore
things, but IL digging shows it to be
dry clear down rain must be awaited
and If the alfalfa be allowed to stand
for seed in such condition my expert
ence is that second growth will al
most always start when rain comes
the seed be lost and two crops of al
falfa occupy the ground at the same
time. This is less apt to occur when
the rain gets clear down into the soil
than II 1t were merely superficial
which affects the upper part of the
plants and sprouts the buds at the ex
pense of the main plant.