PLOWING ALFALFA SOD. 



A well set alfalfa sod is a hard thing to plow. It 

 takes power and time to break it. And yet, for a 

 given amount of energy applied in plowing one will 

 get much greater returns in an alfalfa sod than he 

 will with any other soTt of plowing, so he need not 

 feel aggrieved at the resistance of the alfalfa roots. 



The longer the alfalfa has stood the larger and 

 tougher the roots are. Alfalfa only a year or two 

 old plows not much unlike red clover sod. It is the 

 old field that gives one a tussle. To attempt to 

 plow that with a dull plow, a poor team and broken 

 harness is to waste one's energy. 



The Right Way. On the other hand, rightly gone 

 at alfalfa sod is a delight to plow. One needs a 

 good team, three heavy horses, a first-class plow 

 (preferably a walking plow, not a sulky or rid- 

 ing plow, which rarely is successful in alfalfa sod).. 

 He wants two good shares and then to keep one of 

 them in the blacksmith's shop most of the time, 

 being sharpened; a sober, intelligent man holding 

 the plow, with a file in his boot leg, then plowing 

 alfalfa sod is as easy a job as one would care for, 

 only it is rather slow work. We plow in the fall 

 usually or early winter. The field that is to be 

 plowed is mowed late. It is as well to save that last 

 growth, and it will weaken the roots somewhat to 



(419) 



