GRASS AND HAY 43 



into the winter with 8 or 10 inches of growth. In this condition 

 they will be best able to withstand the winter and will be in excel- 

 lent shape to renew their growth the following spring. The first 

 cutting of hay should be secured in the late spring. 



If, on the other hand, the seed has been sown in the late fall 

 or in the spring, but little more than a clipping can be secured in the 

 late spring or summer. This clipping should be made preferably 

 when the basal shoots start and should be made 3 or 4 inches high, 

 as the plants will be slow in recovering if cut too low. It may be 

 necessary to cut at some other time than the ideal time indicated, 

 as, for instance, when the weeds threaten to choke out the young 

 plants, when the blossoms appear, or when the plants begin to turn 

 yellow. Except in the latter case the clippings are usually left on 

 the ground as a mulch. If the plants have turned yellow owing to 

 some disease, the clippings should be raked up and removed. A top- 

 dressing of nitrate of soda will sometimes invigorate the diseased 

 plants. The same statements govern subsequent cuttings the first 

 summer, except that the growth is usually too heavy to be left on the 

 field. 



Treatment the Second Season. Ordinarily no treatment is re- 

 quired the second season, except to cut the hay when the plants are 

 about one-tenth in bloom, or, better, when the new crown or basal 

 shoots are starting. It is important to get the hay off the field as 

 soon as possible, in order to allow the new growth to commence uni- 

 formly over the field. If the windrows or cocks are allowed to re- 

 main too long on the ground, the alfalfa plants will be smothered 

 out and then bare spaces will form the centers from which weeds 

 will spread. 



No pasturing should be allowed during the first or second sea- 

 sons, as the crowns have not become sufficiently well developed to 

 withstand the effect of trampling. About three-fourths to a full 

 crop may be expected the next season after late summer seeding in 

 the humid regions. Nearly a full crop is usual the second season 

 after spring seeding if the weeds of the first summer have not seri- 

 ously injured the stand. 



Treatment During Subsequent Seasons. As long as an alfalfa 

 field shows a perfect stand, with no tendency to run to weeds, it is 

 not customary to give the field any special treatment. If the weeds 

 begin to prove troublesome, it is advisable to disk the alfalfa after 

 cutting. This process loosens up the soil and aerates it, which is de- 

 cidedly advantageous to the alfalfa. The taproots of the alfalfa 

 plants are not usually injured by this practice if the disks are set 

 nearly straight, while the weeds are to a great extent destroyed. A 

 spike-toothed harrow may follow the disk to level the ground. 



In the East an implement known as an alfalfa renovator is 

 meeting with success. It is a modification of a disk harrow with 

 spike teeth on the disks. It is adapted to loosening up the ground 

 and destroying the weeds without serious injury to the alfalfa, 

 Many growers who have a large acreage of alfalfa disk their fields 



