136 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



ALFALFA 

 MIXTURES 



IRRIGATION 

 OF ALFALFA 

 HAY 



On many farms of the West sowing some 

 grass with alfalfa is giving excellent results. 

 Four grasses are used for this -purpose, and we 

 recommend a fifth. The four commonly used 

 are timothy, brome grass, orchard grass, or 

 meadow fescue. In places, no doubt, the slender 

 wheat grass will give as good or better results 

 than any of the foregoing. The method is to sow 

 the ordinary amount of alfalfa seed and then 

 put on from ten to twenty pounds of the grass 

 selected, and harrow it in. These grasses which 

 grow tall enough will head just above the alfalfa, 

 and it is claimed fields produce as large crops of 

 both alfalfa and the grass used as would be 

 grown if each were planted alone. Such alfalfa 

 and grass mixtures make excellent stock feed, 

 especially for fattening, as the grasses widen the 

 ration. Mixtures of this kind are not recom- 

 mended for dry farming. Grass sod in alfalfa 

 shortens the life of the alfalfa plants and pre- 

 vents thorough harrow cultivation. 



Irrigate the ground before planting. Do 

 not irrigate the seed up if it is possible to avoid 

 it. Do not irrigate alfalfa when too young, un- 

 less you know it is burning. Many practice irri- 

 gating old fields early in the spring before the 

 alfalfa starts, but this is probably not the best 

 practice. Fall or winter irrigation is better. 

 Alfalfa may be winter killed if irrigated so late 

 that the water freezes around the crowns of the 



