Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations


ders and in spots where the alfalfa stand was thin. Inclusion
of a reseeding clover in the initial planting might be justified
as a measure to insure a good forage stand.
 Seeding of the pasture mixture was delayed until the latter
part of September to avoid loss of oats by diseases during hot
weather. Under practical conditions alfalfa could be seeded
alone in August and thereby could provide earlier grazing. If
oats pasture is desired, it could be seeded separately and heavy
nitrogen application made early to stimulate early growth for
fall grazing. Land seeded to oats then could be used for pro-
duction of summer annual pastures such as millet.
 Wide variability in distribution of feed supply from the
pasture in relationship to a rather constant level of need by a
herd is a major problem influencing the acreage to plant and
profitableness of the pasture. These variations (Figure 1) were
caused primarily by weather conditions and by plant diseases.
Some improvement in yield and distribution of feed supply was
accomplished by irrigation.
 If acreage planted is adequate to meet herd needs for forage
only during periods of peak forage production, then large defi-
ciencies will occur most of the season. However, practically all
of the forage would be used for grazing purpose, and a high feed
replacement value would be realized for all produced. Con-
versely, if sufficient acreage is grown to provide forage needs
during periods of low production, then large surpluses would
occur during favorable growing seasons. The lower utilization
value of this surplus would reduce profitableness per acre. Fac-
tors important in determining the acreage of pasture to plant
include: acreage of land available; productivity of pasture; and
availability, quality, and costs of other roughages.
 Plant diseases, including stemphylium leaf spot, root disease,
and crown disease, were responsible primarily for a decline in
amount of forage obtained from alfalfa during the summer and
for the necessity of replanting alfalfa each fall (2). A disease-
resistant, perennial alfalfa should increase both the annual yield
of nutrients and improve the seasonal distribution of feed supply.
 Infestations of spotted alfalfa aphids necessitated dusting
for control in December 1956 and January 1957. Another aphid
population build-up occurred in February. However, the weather
turned warm and humid, and this infestation was reduced and
controlled primarily by fungi parasitism. Although spotted al-
falfa aphids were found occasionally during warm weather, their
control did not constitute a problem during these seasons.