Alfilaria is a good winter-growing forage plant in places where it accepts the situation.  It is an annual and therefore does not make permanent pasturage except where it may re-seed itself.  On the coming of the dry season it will speedily form seed and disappear.  It is therefore of no summer use under the conditions which you describe, nor is it possible to secure any perennial grass which will be satisfactory on dry hillsides without irrigation.  Improved winter pasturage can be secured by scattering seed of common rye at the beginning of the rainy season, or of burr clover, both of which are winter-growing plants.  Pasturage is also capable of improvement by being careful not to overstock the land, so that the native annuals may be able to produce seed and provide for their own succession.  The secret of successful pasturage on dry uplands is to improve the winter growth.  It is too much to expect much of them for summer growth without irrigation.

Grasses for Bank-Holding.

We desire a grass to be used on levees, to keep from washing.  Bermuda or Johnson gross are dangerous to farming lands.  What we desire is a grass that will grow in good dirt with no water to support it during most of the year, except the annual rainfall of Fresno county.  Of course, this grass will also have to endure a great deal of water during the flooded season of the year.  We have heard that the Italian rye grass would be suitable.

The rye grasses do not have running roots; therefore are not calculated to bind soil particles together as Bermuda grass does.  If you want a binding grass, you must take the chances of its spreading to adjacent lands.  Of course, if you could get a sod of rye grass it would prevent surface washing from overflow, etc., to a certain extent.  We are not sure how far it would prevent bank cutting by the flowing water, for it makes a bunchy and not a sod-like growth.  It would not live through the summer unless the levee soil keeps somewhat moist.  The only way to determine whether you can get a permanent growth of it, will be by making a trial.  Seed should be sown as soon as the ground becomes moistened by rain.  It is a very safe proposition, because if it is willing to live through the summer, it is one of the best pasturage grasses for places in California where it will consent to grow, and it is not liable to become an annoyance by taking possession of adjacent land, because it would be readily killed by cultivation.

Alfalfa and Alkali.

I sowed several acres of alfalfa seed with a disc this season and none of it has come up.  I think the reason for it not coming up is that the disc put it into the ground too deep.  We sowed some by hand and it came up very well.  Is there any probability that later in the season this seed will germinate, or has it rotted in the ground?  Water stands within three feet of the surface and has considerable alkali.  What can I plant on this land and get a crop?  It is our intention to sow it to alfalfa next fall.  The land adjoining, although higher, has a good stand of alfalfa now.