132 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



then it will usually mean that the grasses will tend to crowd out the 

 alfalfa in greater degree than would be the case had manure been 

 withheld. It seems wise, therefore, except upon soils which are 

 exceptionally low in fertility at the start, to depend mainly upon 

 fertilizers alone. 



Seed. 



Great care should be taken to secure the very best seed, and that 

 grown as far to the north as possible should be preferred to southern 

 grown seed. Buyers should be on their guard against seed mixed 

 with dodder. One or two cases have been brought to the attention 

 of the writer in which the experiments have been absolutely ruined 

 because of the presence of the seed of this parasite mixed with the 

 alfalfa seed sown. The seed of dodder is very minute, and the pur- 

 chaser, if in doubt as to the freedom of any lot of seed offered from 

 this parasite, should send it to the experiment station for examina- 

 tion. There are a number of varieties of alfalfa on tz'ial in this coun- 

 try, but the experiment work carried on at Amherst has not thus far 

 indicated a wide difference in the value of the different kinds offered 

 by seedsmen. 



The quantity of seed which usually seems to give most satisfactory 

 results is about 30 pounds per acre. 



Time and Method of Seeding. 



It is believed that the best results with alfalfa will usually be ob- 

 tained by sowing it alone about July 20 to August 5. Care should be 

 taken to put the seed into the ground when the moisture conditions 

 are such that it will germinate promptly. It is highly important that 

 it should come up quickly in order to get started ahead of weeds. 

 During the past two seasons, alfalfa sown about August 5 in Amherst 

 has attained a height in excess of a foot previous to the coming of 

 cold weather, and the alfalfa which has been sown at this season has 

 made a thicker and more even stand, freer from weeds and grasses, 

 than any which we have obtained by sowing at any other season. 



Good results are sometimes obtained by sowing the seed early in 

 spring, with oats or barley thinly sown as a nurse crop. Alfalfa, like 

 the grasses and clover sown at that season, often starts well, but is 

 often injured by the hot, dry weather likely to prevail when the nurse 

 crop is cut. 



In some of our early experiments in Amherst, alfalfa was sown in 

 close drills, but this method has now been given up in favor of broad- 

 cast sowing, after the most thorough possible preparation of the soil 

 to insure freedom from weeds. In the case of alfalfa sown late in 

 July or early in August, it has been the practice in Amherst to allow 

 all growth made during the autumn to remain uncut for winter pro- 

 tection. 



