726 Grasses and Leguminous Crops in New York 



have been introduced, which often succeed where the ordinary 

 commercial stock will fail. The "hardy varieties usually have 

 diffuse or branched root-systems instead of the taproot and are 

 able to withstand harder soil and climatic conditions. The so- 

 called hardy sorts are not superior to the ordinary stock except in 

 hardiness. Where the ordinary seed does well there is no advan- 

 tage in paying the extra price of the hardy. Furthermore, some 

 unscrupulous dealers will sell ordinary seed for hardy when they 

 have an order for the latter, so the buyer must be sure of his 

 dealer if he orders it. Many new varieties are being tested, but 

 few of them are yet available except for experimental purposes. 

 Varieties known as Grimm and Baltic have been quite thoroughly 

 tested out and the seed is on the market in moderate supply. 



Twenty or twenty-five pounds of seed per acre are usually 

 sown, and with good seed and favorable conditions fifteen will 

 do as well. 



INOCULATION 



Inoculation with nitrogen-gathering bacteria has come to be 

 regarded as a necessary practice in new alfalfa districts, but is 

 not necessary on land that has previously grown alfalfa success- 

 fully. Various methods of inoculation are practiced, but proba- 

 bly the most satisfactory is by means of cultures secured from 

 various experiment stations. JSTew York farmers can secure the 

 cultures at very moderate cost by addressing the Experiment 

 Station at Ithaca. 



PREPARATION OF THE SEED BED 



The conditions sought in a seed bed for alfalfa are a firm sub- 

 surface, a fine surface, freedom from genninating weeds, and an 

 alkaline soil. If the land is intended for spring seeding, the 

 firm subsurface can best be secured by fall plowing. The proper 

 use of the disc and harrow on fall-plowed land will produce a fine, 

 mellow surface. Land that is comparatively free from weeds 

 may well be prepared this way. If the land is spring-plowed, 

 it should be recompacted by thorough harix)wing and rolling 

 before seeding. A good soaking by rain after plowing will help 

 very much in recompacting the soil. Fallow ground is more 

 favorable for alfalfa seeding than sod land. If sod land is used, 

 the greater care must be taken to get it well settled and compacted. 



