THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XII 687 



Fig-. 22. — A perfect stand of alfalfa on the college farm without a weed 

 in the entire field. Seeded the middle of August, 1912, on summer fallowed 

 land. 



When alfalfa is seeded in the spring the weeds are likely to be very- 

 troublesome unless the ground is very clean, owing to previous cultiva- 

 tion. The use of a nurse crop tends to keep these weeds in check until 

 the alfalfa seed has had a chance to get a start. It is true that the nurse 

 crop takes much of the moisture and plant food which would go to the 

 alfalfa were it seeded alone, and it also tends to shade and smother it. 

 However, this smothering can be checked by regulating the rate of 

 seeding of the nurse crop, while the smothering of weeds cannot be 

 controlled if no nurse crop is used. The fact that the alfalfa can be put 

 in at little or no extra expense aside from seed is an added advantage 

 of seeding with a nurse crop. Moreover, it is not necessary to give up 

 the use of the land for a whole season in order to get the alfalfa estab- 

 lished. 



SPRING SEEDING WITHOUT NURSE CROP 



The second method, in more or less common use, is to seed in the 

 spring without a nurse crop, usually seeded later than the ordinary time 

 for seeding small grain. When this method of seeding is used, it is 

 very important that the land be worked thoroughly for some weeks in 

 advance of seeding, so that as many as possible of the weed seed in the 

 soil may be sprouted and killed, or else that the alfalfa be seeded very 

 early. 



In all cases when alfalfa is to be seeded in the spring, the land should 

 be manured and plowed in the fall, as the preparation will add very 

 materially to the chances of success with the crop. 



