Gunnison news-champion., 1924-08-15
4 SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION
On The ALFALFA FAILURE

NEE4c4AL4fAl Aoutge NeEs-N utess-
The alfalfa stem nenacode is be
coming very prevalent, al least Il Is
TOW being Zealously studied. il l.
understood that a certain rotting OF
the crowns Is attributed To this cause.
In any event the situation seems SEN
Gus, n the alfalfa j. dying 20 rapidly
that young stands, two or three years
old, are being plowed up because they
are Improbable.
This trouble is no, new: we have
had i long time. This general pre-
yalence may be new. II 50. there must
be some reason why il is so much
worse than formerly and il may not
De due 10 the nematodes. In Bulletin
IS Of the Colorado Experiment Station
on page 81, will be found the follow
ing mention Of this trouble: There
are two ways in which these plants
perish; one Is that for some reason or
other. the roots rot off jus, below the
crown, leaving the lower portion Of
the plant perfect in every respect; 30
far as is evident To the naked eye
This Is not APPARENTLY due TO age or
exhaustion Of the vitality of the plant.
The second manner in which they per
ish is due TO age and other causes. II
the stubble Of the second year be eN-
amined by splitting il open TO the
crown, there will be observed at the
node above the crown a blackening of
the tissue and also that il gradually
extends downward into the root itself.
Il begins in this manner and con-
tinues until the whole center Of the
crown has been destroyed. The new
II - b.
the crown under the old growth. The
center portion OF the crown and in
terror Of the root may be entirely de-
Stroyed TO a depth Of eighteen inches
or more. The decay finally extends
to such an extent that it involves the
whole neck Of the root and the plant
pefishes. This condition can be found
IN alfalfa of different ages.
The earlier statements made rela-
tive to the yield of hay put it at from
four 20 five or even more tons to the
acre. To the best of knowledge these
statements are correct, bu; it has been
too high for the past % years for this
section Of the country. There seems
10 have been a period during which
the yield fell TO about Slz tons per
acre for three cuttings. No satisfac-
tory explanation has ever been offered
for this
Another fact has been known for a
long time to which but little attention
has been paid, i. G.. that il is ofted
difficult or even impossible TO get a
good stand of alfalfa after alfalfa.
Complaint of this trouble is not con-
fGed to our section The writer is not
Il strong believer that poisons are de-
yeSped in the soil To such an extent
that another crop of the same plant
cannot be- grown upon IL But it is n
fact that trouble is often experienced
in obtaining stand Of alfalfa after
alfalfa II is not known how Young
plants die IN this case Good seed will
certainly gerninate.
We have this series of facts: alfalfa
dies out in curious manner, very
largely by the rotting OF the neck Of
the root OF late this is going or
rapidly Formerly il was bad in old
plantations, principally now it in
wolves such as are only two or three
years old so badly that they are plow-
ed up, whereas they formerly lived
ten to twenty or more years and
yielded well.
The plant was introduced into Cali
fornia about 1863 and quickly became
our principal forage plant, yielding
very we'll After about 25 years the
yield dropped materially from 20 to
% per cent Thirty years was just
about the time necessary for two
series of alfalfa plantations to follow
another at that time-ls62-l lse2-in
other words, we began at that time to
feel the effects of growing alfalfa in
our soils and this may have explained
the falling off in the yield We al
ready had 2 suggestion of this in the
difficulty experienced in getting a
yield of alfalfa after alfalfa. During
the thirty years since 1895 we have
plowed up and replanted alfalfa many
times and our troubles have increased
till We are compelled to plow under
two and three year old stands as un-
profitable. The nematode may be a
very serious thing but the situation
seems to be too general at the present
time, and of too long standing, and
of increasing intensity, to be due to
this parasite.
We have considered alfalfa as the
very king of our agriculture and its
failure from any cause would be most
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