110 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



ciently hardy to live over winters where the climate is severe. 

 Quite a number of men have been trying for years to get or 

 produce hardy strains of alfalfa for the Northwest, and it 

 is now possible to get seed that is comparatively hardy. 

 It is advisable when possible to get alfalfa seed from a field 

 that has grown under conditions similar to your own and 

 has withstood the winters. Such seed is reasonably sure 

 to be hardy. It is never wise to sow alfalfa seed that you 

 have purchased until you have had it tested for germination 

 and for purity. You want to be sure the seed will grow, 

 and that it contains no bad weed seeds. Your experiment 

 station will usually make these tests free of charge. 



Soil for Alfalfa. — With hardy seed, alfalfa may be 

 grown successfully on nearly any soil that will produce 

 good corn. It requires a well drained soil and soil that is 

 not sour. The richer the soil is, the better the alfalfa 

 w^ill grow; but, when once started, it will make fairly good 

 growth on even poor soils. If soil is sour, the application 

 of limestone will correct it. It is advisable, if possible, to 

 plow land for alfalfa in the fall, then top-dress it with manure, 

 either in the fall or spring, then in the spring thoroughly 

 disk and harrow the land before the alfalfa seed is sown. 



Sowing. — Alfalfa may be seeded in the spring with a 

 nurse crop or in midsummer alone. The safer plan is to 

 disk and harrow the field every few days from spring until 

 midsummer. These operations will destroy most of the 

 weeds, make a very fine mellow seed bed, and leave the soil 

 warm, moist and rich. Seed sown under these conditions 

 will start and grow rapidly, and usually get aliead of the 

 weeds. Weeds are quite troublesome in getting alfalfa 

 started. When sown in midsummer the seed is usually 

 sown broadcast and covered with the harrow. If sown in 

 the spring, it is usually sown with a nurse crop the same as 

 timothy or clover. 



Inoculation. — Alfalfa, like clover, has the power of 

 adding nitrogen to the soil. It can do this only when it 

 has alfalfa bacteria growing on its roots. The necessary 

 bacteria are not always present in the soil. This is likely 

 to be true in soils that have never grown alfalfa before. 

 Farmers have found this out and are attempting to pro- 



