ALFALFA 97 



the seed is placed and covered in the earth the soil 

 should be rather firm, but not too hard or compact ; 

 such a condition as may be secured by cultivating 

 the surface of well-settled fall plowing, or by disk- 

 ing and harrowing unplowed corn land in the spring. 



Preparation of the Seed Bed. The proper seed bed 

 for fall seeding may often be prepared by summer 

 plowing immediately after harvesting wheat or early 

 spring grain and harrowing or disking at intervals 

 until seeding time. It is often advisable to disk 

 clean stubble land in preference to plowing, starting 

 the disking as soon after harvest as possible. Millet 

 or cowpeas cut for hay make good crops with which 

 to precede the fall sowing of alfalfa. On foul land 

 or in a dry climate it is well to fallow the land, 

 practicing frequent cultivation during the summer 

 previous to seeding in the fall. Such preparation 

 will clear the land of weeds, store and conserve soil 

 moisture and cause the accumulation of some avail- 

 able plant food for the tender young plants. 



Another method of seeding, adapted to weedy 

 land or to land which is deficient in available plant 

 food, is to start the preparation of the seed bed 

 early in the spring, when the land may be either 

 plowed or cultivated with the disk-harrow. The 

 cultivation with the common harrow, disk or Acme 

 harrow should be continued at intervals of a week 

 or ten days, in order to destroy the weeds, con- 

 serve the moisture and develop available plant food. 

 Late in the spring, seed the alfalfa, choosing a time 

 to sow, when possible, soon after a good rain, so 

 that the soil may be in good condition to germinate 

 the alfalfa seed. Alfalfa seeded by this method 

 should sprout very quickly and the weeds should 

 not be troublesome, since the weed seeds in the 



