140 AGRICULTURE 



Starting alfalfa. If proper methods are used it should 

 be no harder to start alfalfa than clover. First of all, the 

 seed must be most carefully selected, and should be tested 

 before sowing. This can easily be done by means of a 

 home-made tester, as in the case of clover. 



Particularly should the seed be free from all noxious 

 weeds or other impurities. For weeds are among the worst 

 enemies of alfalfa. In some parts of the country the alfalfa 

 crop is completely killed out of certain fields in a few years 

 by the increase of weeds. 



The seed bed should be more carefully prepared than 

 for almost any other farm crop. After plowing it must 

 be harrowed so thoroughly as to pack it well and leave a 

 fine mulch on top. If the seed bed can be prepared some 

 time ahead of the sowing so as to give an opportunity for 

 several harrowings so much the better. The seeding may 

 be done either broadcast or with a drill. It has been found 

 best in most parts of the country not to sow alfalfa with a 

 nurse crop, since the nurse crop deprives the young alfalfa 

 plants of moisture, nourishment and light. It is of great 

 advantage to manure the field before seeding to alfalfa. 



Inoculating the soil. It is usually best to inoculate 

 the soil before sowing alfalfa. This means to put into the 

 soil some of the bacteria which inhabit the root nodules. 

 Almost any soil suitable for alfalfa has some of these bac- 

 teria to begin with, so that alfalfa may often be started 

 without inoculation. But where the supply of bacteria is 

 very small, and where the soil is poor it will pay to inocu- 

 late. This may easily be accomplished by gathering the sur- 

 face soil from a field on which alfalfa has been raised, and 

 scattering it at the rate of one hundred to five hundred 

 pounds to the acre over the field to be sown. 



Similar results can be had by gathering soil in which 

 sweet clover so commonly found along the roadsides has 



