There would be no objection to pasturing lightly this fall.  Be careful, however, to keep off the stock while the land is wet and not to overstock so as to injure root crowns by tramping.  The manure can be used as a top dressing during the rainy season, unless you think it better to save it for the growth of other crops.  Alfalfa is so deep rooting where conditions are favorable that it does not require fertilization usually on land which has been used for a long time for grain or other shallow-rooting plants.

Alfalfa Sowing with Gypsum.

I intend sowing alfalfa this fall on land that has some very compact hard spots.  I aim to doctor these spots with gypsum at the rate of about 1000 pounds per acre and cultivate the gypsum in thoroughly two or three weeks before sowing the alfalfa seed.  Would this be all right?  Is there danger of injury to seed by coming in contact with gypsum?

Gypsum will not hurt the alfalfa seed.  It is not corrosive like an alkali.  Whether it will have time enough to ameliorate the soil in the spots in the period you mention depends upon there being moisture enough present at the time.

Red Clover for Shallow Land.

What can you say of red clover on shallow soils in the Sacramento valley under irrigation?  How many crops, etc.?

Red clover is fine under the conditions you describe.  We could never understand why people do not grow more of it on shallow land over hardpan which is free from alkali and not irrigated too much at a time.  It is good on shallow land over water, where alfalfa roots decay, etc.  Though we have no exact figures, we should expect to get about two-thirds as much weight from it as from an equally good stand of alfalfa.

Clovers for High Ground-Water.

Where, in California, is alfalfa being raised successfully above a water-table of, say, 4 feet or less, and are any unusual means used to accomplish this?

Over a high water-table, the alfalfa plant will be shorter lived according to the shallowness of soil above water.  One could get very good results at from 4 to 6 feet, whereas at 2 or 3 feet the stand of alfalfa would soon become scant through decay of its fleshy root.  Where the water comes very near the surface, a more shallow and fibrous rooting plant, like the Eastern red clover, should be substituted for alfalfa in California.  It is a very vigorous grower and will yield a number of crops in succession although the water might be very near the surface, as in the case of the reclaimed islands in the Stockton and Sacramento regions and in shallow irrigated soils over bedrock in the foothills or over hardpan on the valley plains.  In this statement, freedom from alkali is presumed.

Vetches in San joaquin.

In Michigan I was familiar with the use of the sand vetch as a forage plant, for hay, for green manure, and as a nitrogen producer.  In western Michigan, on the loose sandy soil, I sowed in September or October 20 pounds per acre for a seed crop and 40 pounds per acre for pasture, hay, or green manure.  Can I expect good results in Fresno and Tulare counties without irrigation?  Will fall seeding the same as wheat produce a seed crop?  Will sand vetch grow on soil having one-half of one per cent alkali?