good natural surface drainage. The soil was rather light, and unusually deep and yields 25 to 30 bushels of wheat to the acre. The piece was plowed in the fall of 1904, harrowed, smoothed and seeded with Turkestan alfalfa. It was planted in drills 14 inches apart so as to give the plants plenty of room, in the hope that they could be used to grow seed. Two hand seed drills were used. One of the machines was set too close so that only every other row had a good stand. The poorly seeded rows were reseeded in June. The piece was kept free from weeds by the use of the hand wheel hoe and hand work. The piece was cut once in the mid summer of 1904. It went into the winter in good shape, and came through the winter in fine condition. In 1905 this piece presented the same peculiarities found at Houlton and referred to later. In some places it was dark green in color and very vigorous, and at cutting (July 21, 1905) was 3 feet high. In other places the alfalfa plants were short and yellow. Because of the very uneven growth this experiment has been abandoned.

At Houlton.

This experiment includes two and a half acres of land on the farm of Mr. John Watson. The land slopes to the south and east, and yielded over 100 barrels of potatoes to the acre in 1903. Judging from the yeild of potatoes the soil is quite uniformly productive. The whole field was fertilized with a high grade commercial fertilizer. One-half of the field was limed at the rate of one ton per acre, and one-fourth of the field was liberally dressed with hard wood ashes. The four plots were arranged so as to have lime, ashes, and no alkali on each plot. Plots I and 2 were seeded in May, 1904, and plots 3 and 4 in August of that year. Plots 1 and 4 were sown broadcast with a Massey seeder; plots 2 and 3 were drilled with a hand seeder in drills 14 inches apart. Plots 3 and 4 were harrowed frequently with a disc harrow up to the time of seeding in August. On the drilled part the weeds were kept down by the use of the hand wheel hoe and hand weeding. On the broadcast plots the weeds were kept down by mowing. Plot 2 was mown in July. The spring sown plots made a good growth, and went into the winter in good condition. Plots 3 and 4 were so late sown that the plants made but little growth before cold weather.

Treatment in 1905. The spring seeded broadcast plot (1) was badly choked with weeds. It is doubtful if many alfalfa plants were winter killed. Because of the weeds, the seeding of 1904 was abandoned and the plot was plowed, summer fallowed with frequent harrowing and it is planned to re-seed in 1906. The spring drilled plot (2) came through the winter without loss. The following notes were taken May 31. The plot presents very marked peculiarities. All over, it are occasional plants that are very dark colored and exceedingly vigorous. These vigorous plants are the most numerous on the part treated with ashes; less numerous on that with lime; and quite scattered on the part that had neither lime nor ashes. All over the piece there are plants of sickly appearance, seemingly nitrogen starved. These, of course are most numerous on the plots that have the least of the very vigorous plants. Specimens of both the luxuriant and poor alfalfa were dug and the roots were found to be about equally stocked with root tubercles. At this date, May 31, the best plants were about 16 inches high. The poor were about 6 inches high.

The field was tested in a number of different places with litmus paper and found to be acid. As the ashes were applied with a manure spreader they would be somewhat unevenly distributed, and it might be that the places where the plants were the most vigorous received a more liberal application and that the acid was neutralized in these spots. This explanation would not apply as well to the lime which was applied by hand in finely powdered form, and would not at all explain the presence of clumps of thrifty plants on the part that had no alkali. The alfalfa was cut in July. Because of the drought in July and August the plants made but little growth until September. They went into the winter in good condition.

Plots 3 and 4 (August seeded) did not come through the winter in good shape, and the 1904 seeding was abandoned. The piece was thoroughly harrowed, smoothed and seeded May 31, 1905, with Montana grown alfalfa seed at the rate of 25 pounds per acre. This seed was applied broadcast with the Massey seeder. No fertilizer was applied this year. The eastern part of the piece, rather more than half an acre, was seeded with scratched seed,"-i. e. seed that had been passed through a machine that scratched the seed coats, with the

thought of thus hastening germination. The remainder of the piece was seeded with unscratched seed. It germinated well, with no noticeable difference between the scratched and the unscratched seed. Because of the very dry July and August the plants made but little growth before cold weather came on.

At Fort Fairfield.

One piece of about half an acre was seeded broadcast on the farm of Mr. Clarence Powers near Maple Grove Station. This had borne potatoes the preceding season and was thought to be a very clean piece of land. It was found however to be so completely stocked with weeds that the alfalfa had very little chance. A few plants struggled through the summer, but the experiment was abandoned.

In co-operation with Dr. F. M. Perry, about one-half acre was sown near the Fort Fairfield station. This was located on the first river terrace, was light soil and naturally well drained. A liberal application of lime and of a high grade fertilizer was made. The piece was planted in drills 14 inches apart and kept free from weeds with a wheel hoe and hand weeding. A good stand was obtained, the plants grew well, were cut in July, made good second growth and went into the winter in good condition. The plants came through the winter in good shape. The stand was good and for the most part the plants were vigorous. The crop was cut in July, 1905. Because of the drouth but little second growth was made and the plants did not go into the winter of 1905-6 in as good condition as the preceding year.

EXPERIMENTS BEGUN IN 1905.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture placed at the disposal of the Station for distribution among experimenters in Maine, 500 pounds of Montana grown alfalfa seed. The following is quoted from a department letter relative to this seed. "This seed contains quite a percentage of hard seeds, i. e. seeds that will not germinate in the ordinary time and we are now considering the advisability of putting all this seed through a seed scratching machine to see if that will not improve its germinating power. * * * The Montana grown seed we propose furnishing you shows 53.5 per cent of sprouts in 3 days; probably a 7 or 8 day test will bring the germination up to 65 or 70.

At the expiration of that time there will undoubtedly be at least 25 per cent of hard seeds. This alfalfa seed has all been inoculated."

Of that sent, 400 pounds was unscratched and 100 pounds scratched. In no case did the experimenters report that there was any perceptible difference in the field germination of the scratched and the unscratched seed.

A note was put into the agricultural papers of the State that we had a limited amount of alfalfa seed that we would send to any Maine farmer applying for it on condition that the cultural instructions would be followed and results reported to the Station. A very large number of requests were received, many more than we had seed for. Seed was sent to the first 80 that applied with the following cultural suggestions.

Alfalfa-Directions for Culture.

Selection of Soil. Good deep mellow corn or potato land is usually a suitable soil for alfalfa. Good drainage is necessary, as the plants are quickly killed by excess of water in the soil or on the surface. Water must not be allowed to stand on a field of alfalfa more than forty-eight hours at a time, for if the ground becomes saturated with water and is allowed to remain so for any considerable length of time the plants will be drowned out and the roots will decay. Neither will alfalfa succeed if rock, stiff clay, or other impervious subsoil lies too near the surface. Although alfalfa requires good drainage, it also requires a fairly constant water supply and is likely to suffer from drouth on deep, sandy soil.

Preparation of the Soil. The seed is best sown in the early spring on land that was fallowed the preceding summer and left bare during the winter. The summer fallowing, if properly done, will eradicate all weed seeds that were near enough to the surface to germinate. It is well-nigh impossible to start alfalfa if the soil is not in fertile condition. The land should be put in excellent tilth and be in good heart before any attempt is made to sow alfalfa.

Sowing the Seed. The seed should be sown in early spring. For production of hay, alfalfa may be sown either broadcast or drilled. If practicable, drill the seed, as weeds can be more readily kept down. If sown broadcast, 20 pounds are used to

the acre. In drills six or seven inches apart, 15 pounds will be sufficient. This seed should not be sown with any nurse-crop, and the seed should not be drilled deeper than an inch or an inch and a half. On moist soils much less than this is better.

Inoculation for Root Tubercles. The Montana grown alfalfa seed sent herewith has been inoculated with the bacteria that produce root tubercles and enable the plant to acquire nitrogen from the air. Hence soil inoculation is not necessary.

Treatment the First Season. Drills should be cultivated frequently enough to keep down weeds until the alfalfa has a good start. Young alfalfa is unable to compete with weeds. It is better for the young alfalfa to mow it frequently, setting the cutter bar rather high, the idea being to cut back the young plants, so that they will branch freely. Frequent cutting also discourages weeds. It should not be cut much later than August 15, in order to leave a good winter protection of vines.

Notes Wanted. Kind of soil and previous treatment.
Date of sowing and whether in drills or broadcast.
Notes and appearance during the season.

Dates of cutting.

Length of vines when ground freezes.

The last of October (1905) blanks for reports were sent to the experimenters and replies were received from 61. Of these 61, less than half succeeded in getting a good stand. Choking out by weeds and the damage from drouth were the two most common causes of failure. Twenty-five of the experimenters report the plants as in good condition for the winter. Another season these 25 plots will be looked after and if the results are instructive, either negatively or positively, they will be reported.

NOTES AND INFERENCES.

Alfalfa growing has been tried many times in the State and while there are no alfalfa fields of any considerable size in Maine, there are a few people who have had partial success in growing the crop. At Bath there are alfalfa plants that have been established for more than ten years. The roots of a specimen sent to the Station last May were more than a half inch through at the crown. On the fine fibrous roots there were a few root nodules. A Topsham farmer has been experimenting with alfalfa for six or seven years and in a letter written last