110 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



Hurry-up Pasture. 



Wliat can I plant this fall which would produce pasturage for a small 

 amount of stock this zvintcr, and until I can get the land under irrigation 

 and seeded to alfalfa? 



For quick fall and winter growth nothing is better probably than 

 oats and vetches sown together as soon as you get rain enough to 

 plow, but it would be a question whether it is worth while to work for 

 that, because you ought to get your land ready for February sowing 

 of alfalfa and that will keep the land busy after the rain gets it into 

 working condition. 



Johnson Grass. 



/ am informed that Johnson grass makes Une hay. I have not sown 

 the seed yet, hut would like to know if the hay is good and if it will grow 

 on dry land. I have the seed on hand, but do not want to sow it if it is 

 not good. 



Johnson grass is poor, coarse stufif. The plant is most valuable 

 for grazing when young. Johnson grass will not grow on really dry 

 land, but it will take the best moist land it can find and hold on to it. 

 It is sensitive to frost and is not a winter grower except in the absence 

 of frost. 



Improving Heavy Land for Alfalfa. 



ily land is very heavy, red loam, and crusts over very hard in dry 

 seasons. I would like to know if it would be best to use barnyard compost 

 over the surface as a mulch, or would it be best to use plain strazv for 

 that purpose? 



A very heavy soil can be brought into better surface condition for 

 alfalfa by plowing in stable manure as soon as possible after the fall 

 rains, in order that the manure may have opportunity to become 

 disintegrated and mixed with the soil by the time for alfalfa sowing, 

 which is from February to April — whenever the heavy frosts of the 

 locality are over. For a small piece, you might get a better stand by 

 using a light mulch of disintegrated coarse manure or even straw, 

 scattering it after the sowing, but for a large acreage this would involve 

 too much labor. It is not desirable to work in much manure or other 

 coarse stuff at the time of sowing the seed, but you can make a light 

 surface application after the plant has made a start. 



Cultivating Alfalfa. 



When is the best time to cultivate alfalfa, and how often during the 

 season is it advantageous to do so? Which is the best implement to use? 



Cultivated alfalfa is a term applied to alfalfa sown in rows and 

 allowed to grow in narrow bands with cultivated land between, and 

 the irrigation is then done in a furrow in the narrow cultivated strip. 

 This will give thriftier growth and perhaps more hay to the acre than 

 flooded, broad-casted alfalfa, but it will cost so much more that the acre- 

 profit would probably be less. This is an intensive culture of alfalfa 



