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Clovers For High Ground-water

Categories: Grains and Forage Crops

Where, in California, is alfalfa being raised successfully above a

water-table of, say, 4 feet or less, and are any unusual means used to

accomplish this?



Over a high water-table, the alfalfa plant will be shorter lived

according to the shallowness of soil above water. One could get very

good results at from 4 to 6 feet, whereas at 2 or 3 feet the stand of

alfalfa would soon become scant through decay of its fleshy root. Where

the water comes very near the surface, a more shallow and fibrous

rooting plant, like the Eastern red clover, should be substituted for

alfalfa in California. It is a very vigorous grower and will yield a

number of crops in succession although the water might be very near the

surface, as in the case of the reclaimed islands in the Stockton and

Sacramento regions and in shallow irrigated soils over bedrock in the

foothills or over hardpan on the valley plains. In this statement,

freedom from alkali is presumed.



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