334 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



meut the conditions tend to a greater degree of uni- 

 formity, so that the driUing in of grain is strongly 

 advocated. The only reason for broadcasting is per- 

 haps that it can be done more speedily and expedi- 

 tiously. After the grain is drilled in do not harrow 

 until after the alfalfa seed is sown. 



Irrigating. — The critical time with alfalfa is the 

 first six weeks of its growth. Flooding during this 

 period is quite certain to give the plants a backset from 

 which they seldom fully recover before the second, and 

 sometimes not before the third 3^ear, and it is not often 

 in the arid states that rain falls with sufficient fre- 

 quency to dispense with the necessity for irrigating the 

 plants while small. By soaking the earth from thirty- 

 six to forty-eight hours before seeding, however, the 

 plants will make vigorous growth until they are ten to 

 twelve inches high, after which they may be irrigated 

 with safety. After the plants are up and show well, 

 the first trouble will be the grow^th of the weeds, 

 which may, if left alone, almost entirely smother the 

 alfalfa. As soon as the weeds seem to be getting the 

 start of the alfalfa, run the mower over the ground, 

 cutting the whole growth dowai and leaving it just 

 where it fell for a mulch, and if nothing happens the 

 alfalfa will show up first and will make its next growth 

 very quickly, and cover the ground to the exclusion of 

 all else. The writer has received more complaints from 

 friends and subscribers in the east regarding the weed 

 nuisance than from all other difficulties combined, and 

 as a general caution we would advise the use of the 

 mowing-machine, with the sickle-bar set rather high, 

 whenever the weeds seem to be getting the better of the 



