FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 391 



vents the meadow from becoming sod-bound and that the brome grass 

 protects the alfalfa from the evil effects of tramping. The June 

 growth makes a splendid hay crop. 



The beneficial effects of manure on land which is afterward 

 seeded to alfalfa is clearly seen in several of our fields, where a dis- 

 tinct line can be noticed between the alfalfa on manured and unma- 

 nured ground in the same field. In fact, the lack of manure in a por- 

 tion of one of our fields caused absolute failure, the manured part of 

 the field giving a perfect stand. The question of inoculation does not 

 annoy us. The busy bacteria are here and, as Professor Davenport 

 of the Illinois Experiment Station says, are 'working for nothing, 

 boarding themselves and paying for the. privilege." 



S'oux County, Iowa. 



ALFALFA WITH OR WITHOUT NURSE-CROP. 



Willis 0. Wing in Breeders' Gazette. 



The season of alfalfa inquiries is approaching. In February it 

 Avill be in full blast. I wish to save a few of your readers some trou- 

 ble, however, in regard to the best way to sow alfalfa in the East. From 

 careful reading of Coburn and other eminent Western authorities I 

 find that their conditions demand different methods from Eastern, 

 that arid soils or sem.i-arid soils are best sown without nurse-corp:5 

 and often late in the season. 



In Ohio we like to sow as early in the year as possible, say the 

 seventh to the twentieth of April. We feel very sure, after repeated 

 trials, that a nurse-crop sown thinly on the ground will insure a bet- 

 ter stand and a stronger stand of alfalfa than can be secured v\^hen 

 sown alone. I will tell you why it does better. 



During the first few weeks that alfalfa is sown a myriad of tiny 

 weeds and foxtail grass spring up. The alfalfa plants grows slowly 

 without a nurse-crop and the weeds and foxtail are presently higher 

 than the alfalfa and choking it. Suppose then you clip it close with 

 a mower; some weeds are ^killed, other.?' sprangle sideways and are 

 worse than ever and the foxtail seems to thicken for the clipping. I 

 watched a field this past summer farmed by a progressive neighbor. 

 The field was clipped many tiir.es but the foxtail had rather the best 

 of it in the fall. 



Now then suppose you use a nurse-crop. It takes possession of 

 the ground during the warm moist months of May and June. In July 

 you harvest it and the alfalfa may look pretty bad. The leaves may 

 drop off the decapitated plants. But the alfalfa has possession of the 

 ground for the remainder of the season and grows in dry weather 

 better than the weeds or other grasses. 



Sow then with the nurse-crop and sow the nurse-crop thin on the 

 ground. What kind of a nurse-crop? The crop that will mature quick- 



