10 The Bulletin. 



to great depths. However, in this and many other States it is grown 

 with great success upon some of the most compact red-clay soils and 

 those that are underlaid by heavy clay subsoils. In fact, it seems that 

 with proper care alfalfa may be produced on almost any sweet soil 

 that is not too open from sea-level to an altitude of G,000 or 7,000 

 feet, and that is w^ell drained and in a good state of fertility, either 

 naturally or by application. This crop is especially fond of a calcare- 

 ous soil. 



Unfavorable Soils. — Alfalfa does not grow well on a thin soil nor 

 on any kind of soil that is underlaid by a hard-pan, crawfish, barren 

 clay, or rock subsoil, for into these the roots cannot penetrate to 

 very great distances. As free-water in the soil is deadly to its growth, 

 a soil that is not well drained, either naturally or artificially, will be 

 found unsuited to the growth of this legume. Also soils that are 

 subject to overflow had best be put in some other crop to be reasonably 

 assured of a successful outcome. 



Alfalfa, as well as most all the other leguminous plants, being very 

 sensitive to acidity, will not do well upon soils that are very sour 

 or acid ; hence it has been found, generally for the soils of N^orth 

 Carolina, which arc frequently sour and usually very low in content 

 of lime, that a liberal application of lime is almost always a necessary 

 requirement for success. 



Preparation of- the Soil. — There is hardly any plant with which a 

 well-prepared seed-bed is a greater determining factor than with 

 alfalfa ; for the young plants are about the weakest of all farm crops, 

 and if the soil is not in first-class condition a failure in stand is 

 generally the result, matters not if all other conditions required for 

 success are favorable. Land intended for alfalfa should be selected at 

 least a year previous to the putting out of the crop, so that its treat- 

 ment may be such as to prevent weeds and grasses from going to seed, 

 as well as to induce all those seeds in the soil to sprout so that they 

 may be killed ; for there are not two more overpowering and deadly 

 enemies of the alfalfa plant during the first year than grass and 

 weeds. It will also be well, certainly for all soils in only a fair state 

 of fertility, to make an application of a very heavy coating of stable 

 manure (free from grass and weed seeds) to the crop preceding the 

 alfalfa. It has been found that cowpeas, corn, potatoes, tobacco, cot- 

 ton and other clean-cultured crops are well suited to precede this 

 crop. The ideal seed-bed is the one that is in a fine mellow condition 

 to the depth of about three inches, but below this is in a more or less 

 firm condition, without being hard, compact and impenetrable to the 

 roots of the young plants. This state of the soil may be obtained by 

 breaking the land well with a good two-horse plow, allowing it to 

 stand some little time and be exposed to one or two good rains, run- 

 ning the disk-harrow over it once or twice to kill the grass and weeds 

 that may have sprouted ; and then just before planting time break it 

 thoroughly again with some good cultivator or disk-harrow, preferably 



