SOIL AND SEEDING 47 



KEEP DOWN THE WEEDS 



It is always timely to emphasize the very great impor- 

 tance of keeping down weeds in the cornfield where 

 alfalfa is to be sowed the next spring. If corn is husked 

 from the fields, the stalks should not be pastured except 

 when the ground is fully frozen. Later they should be 

 thoroughly broken, raked and burned, to leave the land 

 in the best condition for spring work. If the corn is cut 

 and fodder hauled off, the stubs should be broken in cold 

 weather by a pole or other drag, and raked and burned 

 as recommended for the stalks. This adapts the ground 

 for disking and harrowing early in March. Then every 

 ten days the field should be disked or harrowed to con- 

 serve moisture, to start weeds and then kill them, and to 

 bring the ground into the desirable tilth. Ordinarily, in 

 the central states, sowing may be done early in April, 

 while in the South this may be done by the middle of 

 March, and in Wisconsin and Canada by the last of April 

 or early May, although the dates are variable. Many 

 report seeding in Kansas the middle of May, obtaining a 

 clipping in July and a hay crop in September. Others 

 report sowing in March and cutting a hay crop in June. 

 Some Wisconsin reports say that the first of June is early 

 enough, while others in that state and in Minnesota pre- 

 fer to sow two or three weeks earlier, and still others in 

 Wisconsin sow in April. The important things to keep 

 in mind are to have the soil right and the weeds disposed 

 of, and to sow when the weather and moisture and condi- 

 tions are right. Alfalfa is a child of the sun; permanent 

 shade from any source is its enemy, and when young it is 

 not a good fighter against adversaries of any sort. More 



