CONNECTICUT
Dr. E. H. Jenkins, Director Connecticut experiment station.—Alfalfa has been tried in a haphazard way in Connecticut for many years and scattered plants and colonies may often be seen in fence corners and headlands. Within five years, however, some farmers under direction of the agricultural station at New Haven, or on their own initiative, have made more careful experiments and while failures are numerous, there are at present a number of small areas well established, yielding three or four cuttings yearly and highly valued by their owners. On the farm of C. W. Beach of West Hartford, F. H. Stadmueller had for seven years a considerable field of alfalfa which yielded well and was used as a soiling crop. Mr. Barnard of North Haven, after repeated failures, has a fine field and feeds it to both cows and poultry. The Gaylord Farm sanatorium at Wallingford, John Matthies of New Milford and others might be cited as successful growers of alfalfa. It does well on a variety of soils with us. Liming heavily, 1500 to 2000 pounds per acre, is a necessity. Some form of inoculation of the soil is generally required and clean, well-tilled land. Weeds are the worst enemy of the newly seeded alfalfa and easily smother the crop. For that reason we prefer August seeding, using at least 30 pounds of clean, fresh seed. It will pay to fallow the land, in order to kill the weeds before seeding down. Thin spots cannot be successfully patched by seeding later. Great care in preparing the land pays with a permanent crop like alfalfa.