THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 61 



can assure ourselves of both cleanliness and purity. By placing between 

 layers of damp blotting paper we can test its power of germination. It 

 should sprout in five days. Good seed is quick to germinate. If 

 kept in a dry place, alfalfa seed keeps good for five or six j'ears. 



We have great advantages here in our rainless summers of California 

 to produce our own seed, and should generally do so. It is always desir- 

 able that seed be grown in a locality where the climate is not unlike 

 that where it is to be sown. Seed production is often most profitable. 

 Subirrigation is specially favorable to seed production. By keeping 

 our fields clean so we can guarantee purity, we can make seed pro- 

 duction exceedingly profitable. Four sacks (400 pounds) are often 

 produced per acre in a large acreage, and $13.00 per sack is not an 

 unusual price. Alfalfa seed weighs sixty pounds to the bushel. It 

 takes much longer to produce seed than it cloes hay. If one crop of seed 

 is harvested, it will result in one less crop or cutting in the season. 



TIME TO PLANT. 



There are two seasons for planting, spring and fall. If we plant in 

 fall, we must be sure that there is sufficient moisture to germinate the 

 seed. If we have not sufficient moisture to insure subirrigation, Ave 

 better sow as early as October. The ground should have been cultivated 

 some time before, and as the subsoil must be compact, it ought to have 

 been well settled, either by a rain or thorough irrigation. The upper 

 two inches sliould l)e loose and finely pulverized. The seed on clay land 

 should be one inch beneath the surface of the ^oil ; on sand, a little 

 deeper to insure moisture. 



About twenty pounds of seed to the acre are found desirable. Good 

 ranchers often succeed with fifteen pounds. If we were sure that the 

 seed was first-class, and that all conditions were favorable, ten pounds 

 would often give excellent results. I think most growers agree on 

 twenty pounds as giving the best promise of success. The seed may be 

 sown broadcast, but it is better drilled in. as this gives even distribution, 

 and places all at a unifohn depth beneath the surface of the soil. 



A NURSE CROP. 



While a nurse crop is advocated in the East, we do not think it 

 favored in the Pacific coast states. Its purpose is to shade the young 

 alfalfa plants and to protect against drifting sand in case of light soils 

 and regions of high winds. In case the nurse crop is used, barley is 

 preferable, and to conserve the moisture, this may be cut early for hay. 

 Straw or coarse weed-free manure is often spread over the surface with 

 advantage after seeding to prevent injury by drifting sand. 



INOCULATION. 



It has been repeatedly proven that unless alfalfa has been grown on 

 the soil recently occupied by alfalfa or sweet clover (Melilotus) the 

 nitrifying bacteria will likely be absent, and success uncertain. It is 

 always wise to inoculate the soil. This can be done by taking earth — 

 three hundred pounds for each acre — from an old alfalfa field and 

 scattering it broadcast on the field to be planted. This inoculating soil 

 should not be exposed to the sun and best be applied late in the day, 

 and the land harrowed at once. 



