beneath. Attend to this in August. Late fall clipping or cutting 

 or pasturing is very dangerous to a new stand of alfalfa. It brings 

 on winterkilling, because the alfalfa may not recover rapidly enough 

 to make the necessary eight inches of growth before winter sets in. 



Manuring New Seedings Dangerous 



Ten tons of rotted manure applied as a topdressing to a plowed 

 field and disked in will do much to insure a good stand of alfalfa. 

 Ten tons of manure, especially if strawy, applied on new alfalfa 

 seeding the first fall may smother out the plants and actually ruin 

 the field. The idea of applying manure on the first year's growth 



Fig. 44. Second Crop. Two Tons Per Acre. 



Alfalfa is easy to grow where seeded right on a reasonably fertile soil, 

 well inoculated and abundant in lime. 



for winter protection is entirely erroneous, unless a very light appli- 

 cation of fine, well-decomposed manure is used. After alfalfa has 

 passed its first year it is not nearly so sensitive, and light applica- 

 tions, preferably in the fall, of from six to eight tons of well-rotted 

 manure will increase the yields greatly. 



Use Good Clean Seed 



In all the discussion it has been taken for granted that lime and 

 inoculation have been provided for. No method will succeed un- 

 less the soil conditions are right. Clean seed of good germination 

 should be used. It is generally broadcasted and harrowed in. Dril- 

 ling in alfalfa seed in rows four to six inches apart is very satisfactory, 

 especially on sandy soils, but there is a grave danger of getting the 

 seed too deep for germination. Half an inch is sufficient depth on 

 heavy land and it should not be drilled in more than two inches in 

 the light sands of the humid states. Under semiarid conditions, 

 when the soil is very loose and dry on the surface, alfalfa is sometimes 

 seeded three inches deep. Like corn and clover, alfalfa should be 

 sown just deep enough to come in contact with sufficient soil mois- 

 ture to sprout the seed and to get the young plants well established 

 in the soil no deeper. 



51 



