MINNESOTA
Prof. W. M. Liggett, Director Minnesota experiment station.—Our experience with alfalfa has extended over 12 or 15 years. In the early days of this station, it was not very successfully grown. During the past eight or ten years, however, the changes in soil due to manures and cultivation and the discovery of several varieties of alfalfa which appear to be hardy, have made it possible to grow it successfully in nearly every part of the state. For the past five years we have cut three crops of alfalfa hay, yielding from 4 to 51⁄2 tons per acre each year. With the land properly prepared and some attention given to seeding at the right time, there is no difficulty in growing it on the state farm. Occasionally it will winterkill. We were unfortunate enough to have a heavy, driving rain during March of the present year which froze as it fell and smothered the alfalfa crop. We are not discouraged, however, as the clover crop in southeastern Minnesota was killed at the same time and from the same cause. We regard alfalfa just as sure as Red clover. It is sometimes a little difficult to get a stand under careless methods of farming. With the land nicely prepared and with a good supply of humus in such condition that the plant food is readily available, strong, vigorous growth and a good stand can be secured during any normal year. We have alfalfa growing at the northwest sub-station at Crookston, and in several localities in the northwestern part of the state, where even clover is not supposed to grow. The outlook at the present time for this crop is very bright. Dairymen, swine raisers and sheep men unite in praising its merits as stock food.