en in the absence of a grain
supplement. The later cuttings of the season are thought to be the most
suitable for calves and also for sheep and lambs, because of the greater
fineness of the fodder and the greater abundance of leaves on it.
Alfalfa hay is used with much advantage in wintering swine, especially
brood sows. Swine have been wintered on alfalfa hay without any grain
supplement where the winters are mild, but they will fare much better
with a grain supplement. It is thought that half the usual amount of
grain fed will produce equal results when fed with alfalfa, to those
obtained from feeding a full allowance of grain in its absence. Alfalfa
and sorghum properly grown make an excellent food for swine, and the two
may be profitably fed thus where the conditions may be over-dry for
corn, but not for sorghum. When feeding alfalfa, the aim should be to
use it in conjunction with a carbonaceous food, as corn. Fortunate is
the country which grows good crops of corn and alfalfa.

=Securing Seed.=--Localities differ much in their capacity to produce
alfalfa seed. The best crops of seed are now grown west and southwest of
the Mississippi River. Certain areas in the semi-arid country east of
and between the ranges of the Western mountains seem to have special
adaptation for growing seed. At the present time the greatest
seed-producing States are Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and
California. But in some areas east of that river paying crops can be
grown. It has also been noticed that when the crop is sown less thickly
than it is usually sown for hay, the plants seed more freely, when sown
with sufficient distance between the rows to admit of cultivating the
crop, and when such cultivation is given, the influence on seed
production is also markedly favorable; such treatment given to the
varieties of recent introduction may possibly result in the production
of seed from the same, notwithstanding that they bear seed very shyly
when grown in the ordinary way.

Nearly all the seed now grown in the United States is produced by fields
that have been sown in the usual way, and primarily to produce hay, but
in some areas, especially where irrigation is practiced, it is
sometimes grown mainly for seed. On the irrigated lands of the West it
is customary to grow the first cutting of the season for hay and the
second for seed. But in many instances the second cutting also is made
into hay, and the seed is taken from the third cut