' Getting Started With Alfalfa 



The Time, the Place and Amount to Sow for Best Results 



fO MUCH is written about growing alfalfa that we must use 

 the proverbial grain of salt more or less liberally in applying 

 what we read to our local farm practices. One thing sure is 

 that we farmers east of the Mississippi and north of Mason and 

 Dixon's line must keep our ears closed to much of the advice that 

 hails from the Far Southwest. 



Such information as five pounds of seed being sufficient for one 

 acre may apply to a semiarid country, like many of the alfalfa- 

 growing sections of the West, but not to those humid areas where 

 the annual precipitation is round thirty inches. Likewise with late 

 fall seeding, which is probably most advantageous where mild fall 

 and winter climatic conditions obtain, but not where winter temper- 

 atures begin in November. (See Fig. 33.) 



Beware of Southwestern Advice 



"But," our Western friends argue, "is it not true that five pounds 

 of alfalfa seed distributed over one acre will give you twenty-five 

 seeds for each square foot of surface? If twenty of those produce 

 alfalfa plants you will have a good thick stand. Why use twenty 

 pounds of seed to the acre?" 



What they say is all very true, but there are some "ifs" to be con- 

 sidered that distinguish between theory and practice in the humid 

 states. If we had a perfect seed bed a soil abundantly supplied 

 with lime and organic matter, well drained, thoroughly inoculated 

 and weed-free; if the alfalfa seeds germinated 100 per cent and if 

 they were distributed uniformly and all covered just deep enough 

 not too deep or too shallow for germination; if we had neither 

 drought nor excessive rain, then, to be sure, three to five pounds an 

 acre would be a great sufficiency. 



Fifteen to Twenty Pounds of Seed Best for Beginners 



But herewith are the actual facts and figures from a co-operative 

 experimental test made by 180 Wisconsin farmers, who for a period 

 of three years compared ten and twenty pound rates of seeding. 

 Eighty-one per cent of these practical farmers reported that blue 

 grass and weeds gave much more trouble with the ten-pound rate 

 and that the twenty-pound seeding gave a larger yield of finer- 

 stemmed alfalfa and consequently a hay of much better quality. 



In answer to the question "Which is the best rate of seeding on 

 weed-free, not acid, inoculated, and carefully prepared soil?" re- 

 plies were received as follows: 



47 per cent declared for 20 pounds an acre. 

 36 per cent declared for 15 pounds an acre. 

 1 7 per cent declared for 10 pounds an acre. 



Even under excellent soil conditions the farmers' verdict is in 

 favor of the fifteen and twenty pound rates. But when alfalfa was 

 seeded for the first time under average farm conditions, with the 



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