712 Grasses and Leguminous Crops in New York 



come from various causes, and be the result of innocent ignorance 

 or of general inefficiency, for which, the locality, soil, or climate 

 are in no way responsible. It might come, for example, from 

 sowing seed, adulterated or otherwise impure ; from seed reason- 

 ably pure, but in some way damaged so that it was not germ- 

 inable ; from sowing too much or too little ; from sowing at the 

 wrong season of the year or at an unpropitious time, wh,en 

 weather conditions were unkind; from improper sowing on 

 exhausted or naturally thin land ; from sowing on land improperly 

 prepared, poorly drained, unfortunately situated, or foul with 

 weed seed ; from sowing on land so situated as to be too we^, or on 

 old land robbed of its fertility and humus by long-continued 

 cropping. 



Among its fundamental requirements are a fairly fertile soil, 

 naturally or otherwise well drained, free from weed seeds, in good 

 tilth — deeply tilled, but compacted afterward rather than loose 

 and ashy — with a surface painMakingly fined, leveled, and 

 smoothed. However, it should not be sowed in freshly plowed 

 ground. The cleaner the ground the more plant food there is 

 available to the alfalfa, and the thriftier its growth. Other con- 

 ditions being right, there must be in the soil certain bacteria, and 

 if not already present they must be supplied. This is easily done 

 by drilling or broadcasting and promptly harrowing into the 

 freshly plowed ground, without exposure to the sun, 200 to 500 

 pounds per acre of surface soil from a well-established alfalfa field, 

 or soil in which white sweet clover flourishes. Bacteria from other 

 clovers are valueless for alfalfa. The expense of inoculation is 

 so small that no one can afford to court failure by leaving it 

 undone. Also, if a soil is sour it must be made sweet with lime. 

 All the best alfalfa soils are strong in this ; the plant thrives upon 

 and is a glutton for lime. A very large percentage of failures is 

 due to a lack of lime, proper bacteria, or both. They are both 

 necessities and belong together, A ton of caustic lime or two tons 

 of ground limestone per acre, well worked into the surface, is 

 usually sufficient. 



In the Middle West, where alfalfa is most largely grown, 

 tendencies are toward late summer or early fall sowing, say about 



