Getting a Good Stand of Alfalfa 



The Use of Nurse Crops and Other Methods of Establishing a 



Good Stand 



there is a will there is a way, but there are so many 

 d ways of getting alfalfa started that it is hard to say which 

 is the best. What may be a good method for one farm would 

 not apply entirely to another, but almost any method will succeed 

 when there is the determination to grow alfalfa and the willingness 

 to follow details. 



The great importance of lime, inoculation and a fiim seed bed has 

 been previously discussed. It remains now to consider the most 

 economical plans for establishing a good stand of alfalfa. In the 

 West the proposition seems to be pretty well solved. Sow from 

 three to fifteen pounds of seed on a firm but well-prepared seed bed, 

 with or without a nurse crop in the spring or summer, and a thick 

 growth is generally obtained, unless the drought is too severe or the 

 insect pests are too abundant. 



For the Central and Eastern states the establishment of a field 

 of alfalfa is somewhat more of a problem. At least there is a "new- 

 ness" about it that has not yet wcrn off, and every now and then 

 somebody advocates a brand-new, "never-known-before" method 

 of starting alfalfa. 



Grain Instead of Weeds for a Nurse Crop 



The most universally followed way of growing alfalfa on heavier 

 soils of the humid regions is to seed with grain in the early spring 

 the year following a cultivated crop, such as corn or potatoes. The 

 term "nurse" crop is very deceiving. From it we infer that the al- 

 falfa is protected and nursed along by the grain crop. The fact is 

 that a nurse crop robs the tender alfalfa plants of moisture, plant 

 food and sunlight, and checks their development, very severely 

 on sandy soils. 



But suppose we plant the alfalfa alone in the early spring what 

 will happen? Weeds, and lots of them, come forth They will be 

 far more detrimental than a grain crop, and far less profitable. The 

 great advantage of the nurse crop on the heavier types of soil is 

 that it controls the common weeds of the farm and produces a 

 profitable crop of grain while the alfalfa is becoming established. 

 And it is a decidedly convenient, economical and a reasonably cer- 

 tain method of seeding any hay crop on fertile clay or loam soil. 



In the spring the grain and alfalfa are sown at the same time with 

 one operation, using a grain drill or seeder having a grass-seed attach- 

 ment. Winter wheat and winter rye are generally seeded so late 

 in the fall that if the alfalfa is sown at the same time it will invari- 

 ably winterkill. 



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