228 IRRIGATION" FARMING. 



to dispense with the necessity for irrigating the plants 

 while small. By soaking the earth from thirty-six to 

 forty-eight hours before seeding, however, the plants 

 will make vigorous growth until they are ten to twelve 

 inches high, after which they may be irrigated with 

 safety. After the plants are up and show well, the first 

 trouble will be the growth of the weeds, which may, if 

 left alone, almost entirely smother the alfalfa. As soon 

 as the weeds seem to be getting the start of the alfalfa, 

 run the mower over the ground, cutting the whole 

 growth down and leaving it just where it fell for a 

 mulch, and if nothing happens the alfalfa will show up 

 first and will make its next growth very quickly, and 

 cover the ground to the exclusion of all else. The writer 

 has received more complaints from friends and subscrib- 

 ers in the East regarding the weed nuisance than from 

 all other difficulties combined, and as a general caution 

 we would advise the use of the mowing machine with 

 the sickle-bar set rather high, whenever the weeds seem 

 to be getting the better of the young alfalfa. This will 

 improve the alfalfa by making it more stocky, and stool- 

 ing out is an advantage at this time. It will also insure 

 more certainly against winterkilling, and will be found 

 advantageous from every point of view. 



After alfalfa has become established, a single copi- 

 ous irrigation after each cutting will ordinarily be found 

 sufficient. Irrigation before cutting is undesirable, be- 

 cause it leaves the earth so soft as to interfere with the 

 movement of machinery and loads. It also makes the 

 stalks more sappy, and while they will retain the 1 

 better there is more difficulty to be experienced in the 

 curing at harvest time; and taken all in all, we much 

 prefer to irrigate after each cutting. Here in Colorado 

 we cut alfalfa three times and often four times in ;i 

 son, hence the stand gets as many irrigations. Some 

 people irrigate very early in springtime, before the 



