The Bulletin. 13- 



lation. Not only will these supply nitrogen, but will also store the 

 particular soil well with humus; a moderate quantity of which is 

 highly essential for the soil to produce its best results with alfalfa. 

 If the soil is not rich — and it will be difficult to get it too rich — 

 even though this previous treatment has been accorded, it will be well 

 usually to make a second liberal broadcast application of well-rotted 

 stable manure to the land, after the breaking and just before disking, 

 and work it thoroughly into the soil with the subsequent part of the 

 preparation. After the disking, usually about 1,000 pounds of high- 

 grade slaked lime per acre should be broadcast over the field uni- 

 formly and worked into the soil by means of the harrow. When this 

 is accomplished on the average soil of the State from 400 to 500 

 pounds per acre of a mixture of two parts of acid phosphate and one 

 part of kainit should be scattered over the field evenly and thor- 

 oughly worked into the surface soil. If the land is not for any cause 

 well supplied with available nitrogen, it will generally be found 

 expedient to add something like 50 to 75 pounds of nitrate of soda 

 or sulphate of ammonia to the mixture of acid phosphate and kainit. 



This treatment with the preparation suggested in another para- 

 graph should leave the land in good shape for the reception of the 

 seed. 



After Seeding.— Dwring late fall or early spring, after the first year 

 or so, it will usually be found advisable to apply broadcast over the 

 alfalfa field during the winter or early spring, at the rate of 300 to 

 400 pounds per acre, the mixture of acid phosphate and kainit given 

 above, and repeat the application at such intervals as the gTOwth and 

 appearance of the plants may indicate as necessary. It has fre- 

 quently been observed by alfalfa growers that, after the first few- 

 years' growth on most soils not of a calcareous character, and notwith- 

 standing the fact that liberal applications of fertilizers have been 

 kept up, the plants begin to fail perceptibly. The cause for this is 

 often due to a sour or acid condition into which the soil has gotten. 

 It will be the part of prudence to make an application on most North 

 Carolina soils of about 1,000 pounds of slaked lime per acre every 

 four to six years ; the frequency of the application being largely gov- 

 erned by the nature of the soil and the requirements of the plants. 

 On most lands in only a fair state of fertility, a broadcast application 

 of stable manure at the rate of 3 to 5 tons per acre after two or three 

 years will generally prove highly beneficial to the alfalfa. 



SEEDING. 



Time. — In North Carolina alfalfa may best be sown usually from 

 the middle of March to the middle of April, after heavy frosts have 

 passed, or from the twentieth of August to the first of October. There 

 are special advantages and disadvantages, however, attending both 

 spring and fall sowing. In the spring, the seed-bed can usually be 



