I9O THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



to cause the seed to feed evenly. In this case the seed is 

 covered from i inch to 1.5 inches deep. One-half the seed is 

 sometimes sown one way and then the other half crossways. 

 Seed may also be sown broadcast and land harrowed with 

 smoothing harrow. (C. A. 299) 



The New Jersey Station sowed 30 pounds of seed broadcast 

 and 15 pounds of seed with drill, and obtained practically the 

 same yield of hay the following year 6.5 and 6.7 tons an acre 

 respectively. 1 



216. Nurse Crop. The sowing of a grain crop with the 

 alfalfa is probably seldom of any advantage to the alfalfa, and 

 may be a disadvantage when the moisture or plant food is likely 

 to be deficient. Experience has shown that barley is a much 

 better crop to sow with alfalfa than is oats. Barley exhausts 

 the soil less of water and is harvested earlier than oats. Where 

 oats is sown with alfalfa it should be sown at the rate of a 

 bushel to the acre, and must be harvested when coming into 

 bloom for hay. Permitting oats to stand until ripe almost al- 

 ways results in failure of the alfalfa, at least in humid climates. 

 When sowing oats with alfalfa, the time of seeding should be 

 chosen to suit the alfalfa and not to suit the oats. Alfalfa is 

 seldom sown in the spring on wheat that was sown the previous 

 fall, as is the general custom with clover. 



Alfalfa is seldom sown with any grass or clover, although 

 grasses are sometimes recommended where alfalfa is to be 

 pastured, since it reduces the danger of bloating. For this 

 purpose, brome grass probably gives the best results in sub- 

 humid sections. The Nebraska Station found that when used 

 for pasture brome grass nearly succeeded in crowding out the 

 alfalfa at the end of three years, when sown in equal amounts, 

 but when used for meadow the alfalfa held its own. 2 Idaho 

 Station reports good results for meadows with mixtures of 



Jersey Sta. Rpt. 1890, pp. 156-8. 

 Nebraska Sta. Bui. No. 84 (1904). 



