154 CLOVERS 



some of these grasses will soon crowd the alfalfa 

 plants, to their injury, even though the usual amount 

 of seed should be sown. The amount of the grasses 

 sown with the alfalfa will, of course, vary. It will 

 seldom be necessary in any instance to sow more 

 than 6 or 7 pounds per acre, and under many con- 

 ditions not more than 5 pounds. When alfalfa is 

 sown with timothy and clover in temporary mead- 

 ows or pastures, it is seldom necessary to sow more 

 than 3 to 5 pounds per acre, and the same is true 

 of it when sown in a permanent pasture. The crop 

 is so little grown for hay in mixtures, that it is 

 scarcely necessary to dwell upon the nature of these, 

 or the respective amounts of seed to sow in making 

 them. 



When alfalfa is sown with the grain, there will 

 be a saving of seed to the extent of at least 20 per 

 cent., as compared with broadcast sowing. This 

 arises from the more general sprouting of all the 

 seeds, since they are planted at a more uniform 

 depth, and from the subsequent loss of a smaller per- 

 centage of the plants through drought, and it may 

 be other causes. But when sowing broadcast, it will 

 in many instances prove more satisfactory to add 

 20 per cent, to the amounts mentioned above, as suit- 

 able for being sown without admixture with other 

 grasses and clovers, rather than to deduct 20 per 

 cent, from these amounts when sowing the seed with 

 the drill. 



Cultivating. Under some conditions, it is. in a 

 sense, necessary to sow alfalfa in rows, and to give 

 it cultivation during the first season and sometimes 



