74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Oct 



That may be true where you can sift the soil and seed or sow it 

 with a hand seeder, but I think that a man can better afford to use 

 2 tons than 200 pounds of soil. If I were going to grow alfalfa, I 

 would put in 2 or 4 square rods of ground. I would put this into 

 alfalfa in the spring. I would inoculate it heavily, and then from 

 that patch I would get soil for my field. 



For field inoculation I would use the manure spreader. I 

 would go to a piece of ground where the nodules are thick, shovel 

 off about 2 or 3 inches of the surface soil, and then load the 

 spreader with the soil that lies from 3 inches to 15 inches below 

 the surface. Then I would drive to the land which I intended to 

 sow in alfalfa. There I would put the spreader in gear, let it run 

 until the dirt began to pile up near the rear of the spreader, then 

 stop and crank the load to the front and then go ahead again. 

 When the dirt was again piling near the rear end of the spreader, 

 I would again shovel or crank it back to the front. You will do 

 well to make a big load cover a half acre. But you can give an 

 acre two loads with less labor and bother than you can putter 

 around with 200 pounds, if you have to sift it and use a hand 

 seeder. Three or four tons of soil are not too much. The soil 

 should be spread on a cloudy day, and it should be harrowed in at 

 once. I do not need to say that you run the risk of spreading 

 insects and plant diseases. Hence it is necessary to be very 

 cautious to get soil for inoculation from land free of diseases and 

 insects. 



We have found that the commercial cultures give us better 

 results and cost us less than the soil inoculation. Of course I 

 think both are better than either alone. You can get enough 

 culture for an acre of seed for $1.00, and you can hardly take a 

 man and team and spread your own soil for less than $1.00 per 

 acre. The inoculating of the seed is a simple process. The dir- 

 ections that come with each batch of the culture give one ample 

 information as to just what to do to inoculate the seed. We have 

 had good results from the use of commercial cultures. The United 

 States Department of Agriculture at Washington is very liberal 

 with cultures, and hence many of you can get the cultures free by 

 asking for enough to inoculate seed for the number of acres 

 which you intend to sow. Again I wish to tell you that I think 

 you should sow something like 4 square rods the spring before 



