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Adaptation To Eastern Needs

Categories: ALFALFA

The introduction of alfalfa into the

eastern half of the United States will prove a boon to its depleted

soils, encouraging the feeding of livestock and adding to the value of

manures. It will affect soils directly, as does red clover, when

farmers appreciate the fact that its rightful place on their farms is

in rotation with grain. Under western conditions, where no other crop

can compete with it in value, as is the c
se in semi-arid belts, its

ability to produce crops for a long term of years adds much to its

value, but in eastern agriculture this characteristic is not needed. On

most soils of the east it will not remain productive for more than four

to six years, and that fact detracts little from its value. It should

fit into crop-rotations, adding fertility for grain crops. When grown

in a six-years rotation with corn and oats or other small grain, it

furnishes a rich sod for the corn, and the manure made from the hay

helps to solve the farmer's fertility problem.



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