SUGGESTIONS TO SETTLERS ON BELLE FOURCHE PROJECT. 7 



contains enonoli alkali to prevent the growth of alfalfa. It seems 

 likeh^ that western wheat-grass is better adapted to the heavy soils, 

 especially in the lower places that receive the rim-off from the sur- 

 rounding slopes. These loAv-lying lands are not well suited to 

 alfalfa, while wheat-grass does well on them. Some of this grass is 

 being tried at the experiment farm, but it is yet too soon to know 

 how it will succeed under artificial seedinjr. 



SPECIAL POINTS ON ALFALFA GROWING. 



It would not be advisable for the new farmer without previous ex- 

 perience to seed a large area of alfalfa. It should be planted on land 

 that has been under cultivation for a year or two at least. "Wlien 

 young, alfalfa is delicate and requires very favorable conditions, 

 though when once well established it becomes very hardy. It should 

 be seeded during May, at the rate of about 8 to 10 pounds of seed per 

 acre, without a nurse crop, and the moisture in the soil up to the time 

 of seeding should be conserved by thorough tillage. Alfalfa should 

 be seeded with a grain drill, if possible, to a depth of 1 to 1^ inches, 

 and it can be harrowed lightly after it is several inches high if the 

 conditions of rainfall and soil require it. Under irrigation it can be 

 seeded more heavily — 12 to 15 pounds of seed to the acre — and, if 

 desired, with a nurse crop of wheat or oats. 



Some alfalfa seed is raised in the area, and if this is clean and 

 sound it will pay to use it in preference to any other. If no local 

 seed is available, care should be used to get seed of hardy northern- 

 grown strains. Alfalfa fields may be greatly improved by surface 

 cultivation in the spring, which not only hastens the early growth 

 but postpones the time when the first irrigation is necessarj\ It may 

 even be possible, if the season is favorable, to delay irrigation until 

 just before the first crop is ready to cut. It is important that 

 alfalfa be irrigated just before cutting rather than soon after. Al- 

 falfa fields are often badly injured by scalding when irrigated just 

 after a crop is removed, and much moisture is also unnecessarily lost 

 before the plants become tall enough to shade the ground. When 

 irrigated before cutting, the 3'oung shoots will begin growth while 

 the crop is being removed and the second crop will make a quicker 

 growth. 



TREE PLANTING FOR WINDBREAKS. 



Tree planting should be one of the first things undertaken by the 

 plains farmer, so that windbreaks may be established as soon as 

 possible. The proper preparation of the land for this purpose is 

 an important requirement. An attempt to start trees by breaking a 

 few furrows of sod and giving no subsequent cultivation is likely to 

 prove unsatisfactory. Under this treatment some of the trees may 



[Cir. 83] 



