60 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN, 



The starting of an alfalfa growth will be hastened if the land has had 

 a generous: coat of stable fertilizer some time before. It is best to add 

 the manure the previous year, which will help to eliminate the trouble 

 from the Aveed-seed, so likely to be in the barnyard fertilizer. If we 

 grow a hoed crop, it will be all the more successful. We must never 

 lose sight of the weed problem. If possible it will often pay to plow 

 under a good crop of vetch before seeding to alfalfa. This will put the 

 soil in excellent condition for the crop. 



Lime is often found to work wonders if sowed two or three tons to 

 the acre. This may be added before planting. Stone lime finely 

 ground is best. It is always wise to sow lime on a small area and watch 

 results. An acid soil is death to alfalfa, and alfalfa requires a large 

 amount of lime for its proper nutrition. 



The grading should be very carefully looked after, the field should be 

 leveled by a surveyor's level, and the slope should be uniform, in case 

 the ground is not level. Care and plan in grading, especially in case of 

 a slope, will pay many times over. 



THE SEED. 



Alfalfa seed, though varying slightly in form and size, is kidney- 

 shape (Fig. 11-1), about one twelfth of an inch long and about one half 

 as broad. In color, w'hen good, it is either olive green or bright yellow. 



Fig. 11. — Alfalfa seed. (1) shows plump, well • filled, kidney-shaped seeds, 

 the tyye that should always be used in sowing, and' (2) poorly filled, irregular 

 seeds of which only a few will germinate. (Photo by Geo. P. Weldon.) 



Seed is sometimes foul with dirt and rubbish and more often adulter- 

 ated with weed seed. It is easy to detect the former; not so easy to 

 discover adulterants. Of course clover and grass seeds are impurities, 

 while such weeds as dodder, or love vine (Cuscula sps. Fig. 9), and 

 foxtail are common in much of California. Seed before planting should 

 be examined by experts at the State University that its purity may be 

 assured. Our worst adulterant, dodder (Figs. 17, 5 and 8), is so com- 

 mon and the size of the seeds is so similar that safety requires special 

 pains. By examining seed on a white background by aid of a lens we 



