ALFALFA 185 



been growing. Care must be taken in gathering and scat- 

 tering the soil not to allow it to be exposed to sunlight, as 

 this will kill the bacteria. It is better therefore to secure 

 the soil and spread it over the new field on cloudy days 

 or in the late evening. The alfalfa seed should be sown 

 immediately and harrowed in so that the bacteria may be 

 covered, and be thus secure from the sunlight. 



Time for seeding. Late summer has been found the 

 best time for seeding alfalfa in the East and the South, while 

 in the West spring seeding is the rule. Spring seeding has 

 also been found to work better in Minnesota, Wisconsin 

 and the Dakotas. No general rule as to the time of seed- 

 ing can, however, be given. Much will depend on the cli- 

 mate, length of season and amount of rainfall or irrigation 

 water available. The chief thing necessary is to seed as 

 long as possible before the time of year that will be hardest 

 on the plants. In the North this requires spring or early 

 summer seeding in order that the plants may get sufficient 

 growth before freezing to withstand the winter. Alfalfa 

 plants less than six inches high do not ordinarily live well 

 through the hard northern winters. 



In some regions there is trouble in getting the plants 

 started before drought comes on to check their growth. 

 Throughout the corn belt late summer seeding should us- 

 ually be practised. Alfalfa sown during August and the 

 first week of September will have the best chance through- 

 out this region. 



6. Harvesting the Crop 



Time for cutting. Alfalfa makes the best hay if cut 

 while in early bloom. A better means of determining the 

 time for cutting is, however, to watch the start of the new 

 shoots from the base of the plant. These shoots make the 

 growth for the succeeding crop. When they are from one 



