220 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



on the surface, and it will always be found to be advantageous if the soil 

 is plowed in the fall where it is the intention to sow clover in the spring. 

 As a rule too little attention is given to covering the seed properly. One 

 of the best methods which has been called to my attention is that of sow- 

 ing the clover seed after the surface soil has been thoroughly prepared 

 and afterwards sowing the grain by the use of the disc press drill. In 

 this way the clover seed is covered by the soil that is turned back by 

 the disc, and more than this, the young plants make their appearance 

 between the rows of grain. Where a drill is not available if the soil is 

 properly prepared it will seldom do any harm to disc in the seed. 



Early, oats may be used as a nurse crop and while this crop tends 

 to dry out the soil to a greater extent than wheat or barley; yet it often 

 happens that it may be cut even earlier than the other crops. If oats 

 are to be fed to farm animals it does no harm to cut them before they 

 are thoroughly ripened, the early taking off of the crop being of great 

 advantage to the young clover. 



After getting a stand the only precaution that should be taken the 

 first year is not to allow the clover to make too much top and also not 

 to pasture it too bare. A certain amount of top affords a much needed 

 protection to the root, while too much top is liable to smother the crop. 

 No mistake is more common than that of pasturing first crop clover too 

 closely. 



In the past the farmers of Iowa have had but little success with 

 alfalfa, and even at the present time there are few who take much stock 

 in this crop. However, it must be conceded that considerable has been 

 added to our knowledge as to how this crop should be handled during the 

 last year or two. We have generally been under the impression that it 

 was adapted to light soils in the semi-arid region, but such is not the 

 case. W r e have in mind a number of fields of alfalfa that are producing 

 their three or four cuttings a year on soil that is comparatively stiff in 

 texture. In fact it has been found that soils with a clay subsoil are 

 especially adapted to the production of alfalfa, the matter of chief im- 

 portance being good drainage. In the past our soils have not been inocu- 

 lated with the organism that enables this crop to extract nitrogen from 

 the atmosphere, and because of this the plant in the majority of case-3 

 have not grown strong, generally resulting in a diseased condition. It 

 now seems to be practicable to introduce a little soil from fields where 

 alfalfa has been successfully grown, this being sufficient to entirely 

 change the character of the plant. In many instances all that is neces- 

 sary to do is to scatter a few hundred pounds of this soil on the upland, 

 the organisms being spread from this to the lower land by the surface 

 water. 



Alfalfa should be sown in the spring as early as possible, on fall 

 plowing that has been well worked on the surface in the spring, and it 

 should be sown without a nurse crop. The seed should be sown at the 

 rate of twenty pounds per acre, and so much the better if a drill is used 

 in the seeding, in which case half this amount of seed should be sown 



