soy beans, cowpeas and so on in proper rotation with other crops. 

 They minimize the fertilizer burden which is inevitably levied upon 

 depleted soils. They keep up soil fertility, which is the basis of 

 rural prosperity. 



Inoculation not Expensive 



Inoculation means simply the introduction into the soil of the 

 right bacteria for alfalfa. Most soils are filled with the proper 

 bacteria for clover and it is only in a few places that inoculation is 

 necessary for that crop. But where alfalfa is a new crop the alfalfa 



Fig. 25. Spreading Inoculation Soil by Hand. 



Where the dirt is spread by hand the distribution is more uniform 



and 500 pounds an acre is sufficient. If spread with a 



shovel a load per acre should be used. 



germs are not present in sufficient numbers properly to assist the 

 crop in its growth and development. Clover germs will not develop 

 on alfalfa rcots. Consequently we must inoculate with alfalfa bac- 

 teria. This is not a difficult or costly process. 



Sweet Clover Assists 



Along the roadsides of many sections a formerly much-despised 

 weed but now a valued farm crop grows wild and luxuriant. It is 

 the sweet-clover plant first cousin of alfalfa. It, too, has bacteria 

 and nodules on the roots, and they are identically the same germs 

 that are so necessary for alfalfa. A load or ton of the surface eight 

 inches of dirt taken from roadsides where sweet clover is growing, 

 spread over each acre of the field just before seeding the alfalfa, and 

 then harrowed in, will accomplish the proper inoculation. Soil trans- 

 ferred from a successful alfalfa field is likewise satisfactory. 



Inoculating Alfalfa Seed 



The Alfalfa Order, Madison, Wis., will supply at cost price of 

 about 25 cents an acre, inoculation cultures in bottles, to farmers, 

 with complete directions for applying these bacterial growths to the 

 alfalfa seed prior to sowing. The cultures are carefully prepared by 



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