SOIL AND SEEDING 5 1 



not doing well ''here," is the sowing of a few pounds of 

 alfalfa seed on the field two or three years before it is 

 intended to sow for a permanent crop. Mr. Joseph E. 

 Wing, of central western Ohio, a widely known farmer, 

 stockman, and writer on matters agricultural, uses alfalfa 

 in a regular rotation, and two years before he is ready 

 to sow it on a given field as a main crop, sows clover and 

 timothy along with two or three pounds of alfalfa seed, 

 for a pasture crop. Thus the bacteria are introduced, 

 and when the pasture is plowed for the full sowing of 

 alfalfa, the disking and harrowing that follow distribute 

 the bacteria throughout the soil, and the probabilities of 

 a good stand are greatly enhanced. He sometimes sows 

 two or three pounds of alfalfa seed to the acre with a 

 wheat crop two years before he is to sow the field entirely 

 to alfalfa. Another, in a state where the experiment 

 station director still declares alfalfa-raising to be doubt- 

 ful, writes that he has not had a failure in a decade, and 

 his plan is to precede alfalfa with winter wheat, sowing 

 a little alfalfa seed with the wheat, probably three pounds 

 to the acre, and the next fall after giving the land a thor- 

 ough preparation he sows fifteen pounds of alfalfa seed 

 to the acre. Another reports pleasing results in two dif- 

 ferent fields by sowing in the spring five pounds of alfalfa 

 seed with clover; in two years the alfalfa stood thick on 

 the ground, having crowded out the clover. If these 

 plans introduce the bacteria into the soil, it may be won- 

 dered why it would not be equally helpful to sow two or 

 three pounds of alfalfa seed per acre with the oats or 

 millet in the spring, preparatory to the thorough seeding 

 to alfalfa in the fall. 



