146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



accumulated experience of the men here in New England who 

 have already succeeded is enough to stimulate us to put our 

 shoulders to the wheel, study our farms, study the type of our 

 soils and their requirements, and prepare them for the intro- 

 duction of alfalfa into our farm-crop system. 



Any well-drained soil, where the water table is 4 feet below 

 the surface, can be made to grow alfalfa by proper preparation. 

 It will grow upon rough, rocky land, even on soils where the 

 rock is within 2 or 3 feet of the surface, — provided it is 

 cracked and admits of good drainage, — and will send roots 

 down into the very crevices of the rock. Many lands that are 

 not naturally well drained can be made so by the use of tile. 



The preparation of the seed bed is of most importance. It 

 should be deep, firm and fine. Our custom is to prepare it 

 after taking off a crop of any early maturing vegetables, grains 

 or even hay, — crops that are harvested about July 1. We 

 then disk the land until the stubble or sod is thoroughly cut 

 up and the soil pulverized. The soil mulch is made for three 

 reasons: first, to prevent evaporation of the soil moisture; sec- 

 ond, to hold any rains that fall; third, to germinate grain or 

 weed seeds. We continue to disk and roll until the seed bed 

 is well prepared, or, as soon as the soil is moist enough to 

 plow, it is plowed, rolled and harrowed. By disking previous 

 to plowing the soil capillarity is immediately restored. In 

 some sections in the North alfalfa has been seeded in the 

 spring with a nurse crop of oats, barley, wheat or rye, and 

 good results have been obtained. 



The most important essential in alfalfa growing in the east is 

 lime in abundance. All our soils, with few exceptions, are 

 acid, and the bacteria that thrive on the alfalfa plant cannot 

 grow; therefore we must put on quantities of lime, whether it 

 be hydrated, burned or ground limestone. If ground limestone 

 can be purchased at a price of a little over one-half what it 

 costs to purchase hydrated or burned lime I should prefer its use. 

 I would spread on the field at least 4 tons of ground limestone 

 per acre, using a lime spreader for this work. It had better be 

 put on immediately after plowing so that the subsequent disking 

 and harrowing will thoroughly incorporate it in the soil. 



The next step is the proper fertilization of the soil. Stable 



