SOIL AND SEEDING 



6i 



every acre, but good results have been secured from 

 half that quantity. This will depend very much upon 

 the nature of the soil, and the subsoil especially. Many 

 fields seem to have these bacteria waiting for the coming 

 of alfalfa. Land that has been well manured and con- 

 tains abundant humus, and land that is light and friable 

 will usually respond to the bacterial life attached to the 

 alfalfa seed. Most farmers who have established fields 

 will sell soil to their neighbors, which should be from 

 the top six or eight inches, and include roots, stubble and 

 earth. Both Sweet clover and Bur clover are found in 

 almost every neighborhood in the northern states, while 

 the latter is very general in the South. 



Some alfalfa raisers make a business of selling and 

 shipping inoculated soil. Probably any experiment sta- 

 tion will ship small quantities to farmers within its state, 

 at about the cost of digging, sacking and delivering at 

 the railroad station. Therefore, if a farmer desires to 

 use it, little labor or expense is attached to doing so. 

 There is reason, however, to doubt the need of this 

 method in any of the western or central western states 

 where the suggestions mentioned in the first part of the 

 chapter are closely followed. No doubt there are advan- 

 tages in using it in most states east of the Mississippi 

 river, in order to hasten the development of the bacteria 

 and to make a good stand more certain. Preparation 

 one or two years in advance as already described, by a 

 light sowing of alfalfa seed for introducing its peculiar 

 bacteria, is less expensive, and requires less labor and car- 

 ries no risk of introducing the seeds of other clovers or 

 weeds, Most farms have enough weed seeds already. 



