220 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



will do good work in capable hands. An end gate 

 broadcast seeder that may be attached to any wagon 

 will do good work. It may be sown by hand if the 

 operator understands seed sowing, or it may be sown 

 with a drill, letting the seed fall behind or in front 

 of the hoes, according to circumstances and the con- 

 dition of the ground. The aim is ultimately to cover 

 the seed an inch or about an inch deep. The harrow 

 may follow the sower and finish the covering. Prob- 

 ably for this purpose the common slant-tooth 

 smoothing harrow is the best implement. When seed 

 and inoculating soil are applied together, the drill 

 or fertilizer distributer is the best implement to 

 use. 



Drilling in the Seed. The American Seeding Ma- 

 chine Co. has developed a drill that will sow alfalfa 

 seed accurately in rows 6" apart, putting it in at any 

 desired depth. I have seen alfalfa sown with one of 

 these machines, with 20 pounds of seed to the acre, 

 that was at least 10 times too thick. It is evident that 

 with a perfect seedbed and a proper alfalfa drill one 

 need sow no more than 5 pounds of seed to the acre. 

 This means a fine seedbed, firm underneath, level and 

 smooth. The saving of seed would pay for all the 

 labor of preparing the seedbed and the resultant 

 thrift of the alfalfa would be very fine to see. This 

 machine will drill in 4 pounds of seed to the acre, and 

 to a required depth. 



Alfalfa with Red Clover for Inoculation. When- 

 ever it is suspected that alfalfa may be adapted to 

 a soil and red clover is to be sown there in the reg- 



