Spring Sowing on Fall Seeded Grains 



To avoid this danger the alfalfa should be sown separately on 

 these fall-seeded grains with a wheelbarrow seeder or other suitable 

 machine early the next spring before the frost is out of the ground, 

 and preferably on top of the last f snow. When a loam or clay soil 

 thaws out it becomes honeycombed with cracks and small crevices, 

 which later close up and cover the seed. 



This is Nature's way, and it is far more effective on heavy clay or 

 loam soils than harrowing or any other mechanical means of covering 

 seeds sown after the soil has thawed. Alfalfa, like clover seed, is 

 not injured by being seeded on snow or frozen ground, and germi- 

 nation is immediate with the on-come of warm weather. Light, 

 sandy soils should be seeded after thawing and a vigorous harrowing 

 of the fall sown rye or wheat is necessary to cover the alfalfa seeds. 



Sow Nurse Crop Thin 



There are good and bad nurse crops. The poorest are those which 

 ripen latest and remain growing on the field longest. But every 

 nurse crop is bad fcr alfalfa when sown too thickly Three bushels 

 of train to the acre will spell failure for an alfalfa seeding, when one 



Fig. 42. A Thin Nurse Crop for Thick Alfalfa. 



Good stand seeded with one Poor, stand seeded with three 



. bu. barley an acre. bu. of oats an acre. 



bushel wculd have insured success. The newly sprouted alfalfa 

 must have a fair chance for growth. One bushel of grain to the 

 acre is just enough to produce a fairly good grain yield; at the same 

 time it does not crowd the alfalfa plants, but gives them an oppor- 

 tunity to get their roots well established for protection against 

 drought, which may follow the grain harvest. 



Good and Bad Nurse Crops 



Barley is one of the best of nurse crops. It ripens early. Winter 

 rye and winter wheat are also good. These grains mature from one 

 to three weeks earlier than oats and spring wheat and they are much 

 better for seeding with alfalfa. Because of late ripening it is best, 

 but not always necessary, that oats be cut for hay just after heading 

 out, unless early strains, such as the Kherson and Sixty Day, are 

 used. 



The principal objection to all nurse crops is that they dry out the 

 soil especially, the late-ripening kinds and check the develop- 



47 



