100 FORAGE CROPS. 



clovers and timothy, the following combination is 

 a good one, viz. : 



Per acre 



Alfalfa 4 Ibs 



Medium clover ". 2 Ibs 



Mammoth " 2 Ibs 



Alsike i lb 



Timothy 3 Ibs 



Total 12 Ibs 



Cultivation. When alfalfa is sown in rows and 

 cultivated the first season, as is sometimes practiced 

 in the south and elsewhere, the cultivation may be 

 given with the hand hoe or horse cultivator, or with 

 both, according to the distance between the rows 

 and to the necessity for hand labor. When the 

 plants have reached the hight of three or four inches, 

 and the ground has become encrusted on the sur- 

 face, a light harrow judiciously passed over the crop 

 will help it materially. When sown without a nurse 

 crop and the land becomes weedy, as it does in nearly 

 all instances, the mower should be run over the 

 alfalfa once, or more frequently, during the first sea- 

 son, as occasion may require. And the vegetation 

 thus cut off should be allowed to fall as a mulch for 

 the crop, unless there should be special reasons for 

 removing it. 



If grown dependent upon irrigation, the water 

 should be applied the first year as needed, but not 

 less than two or three times. After the first year 

 the water should be applied in the spring and after 

 each cutting, but not when the alfalfa is going into 

 the winter. Irrigating waters should never be 

 allowed to stand on alfalfa for a longer period than 

 forty-eight hours at a time. 



Pasturing. Alfalfa may be made to furnish 

 excellent pasture for horses, cattle, sheep and swine, 



