66 FOR BETTER CROPS 



but it is an inexpensive process, and in five cases out of six it 

 will actually pay. This subject is fully discussed later on. 



Having- determined that our soil is sweet, well drained, and 

 sufficiently supplied with humus, the only questions that remain 

 are : The preparation of a good seed-bed; Sowing- at the proper 

 time of year; and, The use of good seed. For the seed-bed, it is 

 essential that the ground be carefully fitted. It must be plowed, 

 unless it is old ground, such as corn stubble, which may be 

 thoroughly disked instead of plowing. It is better to firm the 

 subsoil a little, so that only the surface is really loose. This, 

 because if the entire soil is very loose, the seed may be planted 

 too deep, and also because the alfalfa seems to prefer the sub- 

 surface being a trifle firmed. 



Time of Seeding — On Woodland Farm, for many years it 

 has been our custom to sow alfalfa at oat-seeding time, about 

 the first week in April, using beardless spring barley as a nurse 

 crop. The barley is usually cut for hay the last of June, and 

 after this we sometimes secure a good cutting of alfalfa hay the 

 first season, although we do not count on this, and are not dis- 

 appointed if we do not obtain it. We sow about three to five 

 pecks barley to the acre — on real rich ground not more than one 

 bushel — and eighteen to twenty pounds of alfalfa seed at the 

 same time, usually using a disk drill and throwing the alfalfa 

 seed in front of the drill, unless the ground is very loose, in 

 which case we throw the seed farther back to prevent its being 

 covered too deeply. The alfalfa seed should be covered about an 

 inch. The advantages of this system are that the rains usually 

 come about the right time for the young alfalfa, which makes a 

 strong growth throughout the entire season, generally giving us 

 with the barley enough hay the first year to pay the expenses of 

 planting, and goes into winter into vigorous shape with about 

 ten inches or a foot of stalk standing, enough to hold the snow 

 throughout the winter and induce a fine, vigorous start in the 

 spring. We find barley to be the best nurse crop obtainable. 

 It takes the place of the weeds that would otherwise come, 

 gives us some very excellent feed, and with us, does the alfalfa 

 good and no injury. Oats are not so good, because they shade 

 the ground more and are much more inclined to lodge. We find 

 that the barley hay with the small amount of alfalfa we obtain 

 with it makes a forage second only to the pure alfalfa itself. We 

 cut this when the barley is in the milk or dough stage. It is 

 not always necessary to cut the barley for hay, as it ripens its 

 grain about July 12th in this latitude, and it is rarely that 

 alfalfa is suffering much by that time. Many of our neighbors 

 cut their barley for grain, and still secure admirable stands of 

 alfalfa. Where no nurse crop is used, it is seldom safe to plant 

 alfalfa before the 20th of June, because the weeds will almost 



