ther food and moisture. Such lands are
found more or less in nearly all the States of the Union east from the
Rocky Mountains; hence, when the requisite bacteria are present, good
crops can be grown on them in every State in the Union.

On the ordinary black soils of the prairie, alfalfa will usually grow
reasonably well if underlaid with clay not too distant nor too
tenacious. When the roots get down into the subsoil, they can usually
find much food in the same, and unless in very dry areas a sufficiency
of moisture, but in many instances it may be necessary to introduce the
requisite bacteria, and to apply farmyard manure to encourage sufficient
growth to carry the roots down quickly to the subsoil. In some prairie
soils the growth will be vigorous from the start, but usually these are
lands that have grown hardwood timber, and that have in them more or
less clay.

In climates where the rainfall is considerable, alfalfa will frequently
grow well on gravelly soils and on those that are stony. Some of the
best alfalfa soils in the State of New York, New England States, and in
the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario are of this character.

Alfalfa will frequently grow fairly well even on stiff clays, and in
some instances on gumbo soils. But these soils must not be so retentive
as to collect and hold water for any considerable time within a few feet
of the surface. Such lands have usually much staying power; hence,
alfalfa grown on them frequently improves for years after it has been
sown. On the reddish soils that cover much of the South, it has been
found, as in growing alfalfa on stiff clays in the North, that where
deep subsoiling is practiced alfalfa is not only more easily
established, but it also grows with added vigor.

On upland soils sandy or gravelly in character where the rainfall is
much less than normal and where the subsoil is not underlaid with sheet
water, alfalfa will not usually succeed, notwithstanding that it may
grow well on these soils where the rainfall is normal. On such soils it
is not easy to get a stand of the plants, as they are much apt to perish
in the dry weather of the first season, but if once established on such
soils the plants have much power to grow even where the rainfall is
considerably less than normal.

Alfalfa will not grow well in soils naturally wet until they are
drained. And when drained it will not grow with normal vigor, on what
may be termed slough soils, where