Alfalfa, The Enchanted Hekb 71-3 



September 1, and without a nurse crop, but no one rule is ap- 

 plicable everywhere. Some sow in the spring and succeed ; others 

 sow with a nurse crop and have abundant success, Needing the sun 

 and being very delicate at first, it seems reasonable that the less 

 shade and fewer competing growths young alfalfa must contend 

 with, the better its prospects are likely to be. In any scheme of 

 general farming the most rational dealing with an alfalfa field 

 is to plow it up when three, four, or five years old and for a time 

 use it (to their great advantage) in other crops, having in the 

 meantime provided for an equal or larger sowing on another part 

 of the farm. This system is ideal for maintaining the farm's 

 fertility and giving renewed > vigor to its soil, but in practice its 

 defect is found to be that those having well-set alfalfa fields lack 

 the courage to plow them up for any purpose, and thus an impor- 

 tant factor in a most invaluable rotation is left unused. 



Abundant stable or barnyard manure applied to alfalfa land is 

 almost a necessity, and there is no record of an alfalfa field being 

 over-manured. 



character and quantity of seed 



There is no such thing as '' cheap " seed. Poor seed can 

 alone nullify all the sower's plans and preparations, however 

 perfect. Seed from about the same latitude as that in which it 

 is to be sown will be found most reliable, and that grown without 

 irrigation is best for land not to be irrigated. There is no 

 especially superior variety, however high-sounding or foreign the 

 name. To the general public, alfalfa seed means simply seed of 

 the common alfalfa we all know, and varying or multiplying 

 names or prices in catalogues and advertisements does not change 

 or improve the character of the product. 



The Ohio station, from observations on about three hundred 

 farms, concludes that fifteen pounds per acre is sufficient, and 

 says sowing broadcast by hand or with portable seeders is most 

 common, one half the seed being sown at right angles to the 

 other half. A drill made especially for sowing alfalfa, with 

 spouts four inches apart, finds much favor. From a half-inch 

 to an inch of fine, firmed soil is the ideal covering. 



