ALFALFA 185 



mally wet season, the renewing process is simple 

 indeed. It consists in disking those parts so thor- 

 oughly as to destroy all vegetation that may have 

 become rooted on them, and sowing seed in the 

 usual way without a nurse crop. But should the 

 low places be such as to hold an excess of water at 

 any time of the year under normal conditions for 

 days in succession, even though it should not rise 

 to the surface, the attempts to make alfalfa grow 

 successfully on these will prove abortive. 



When weeds and grasses crowd the crop, the 

 plan of disking the fields to destroy these is be- 

 coming quite common, especially in the West. The 

 work is usually done in the early spring. In doing 

 it, disk harrows are driven over the field, usually 

 two ways, the second disking being done at right 

 angles to the first. The disks are set at that angle 

 which will do the least injury to the plants, and that 

 will at the same time do the work effectively. This 

 can only be determined by actual test in each in- 

 stance. Some of the crowns of the plants will be 

 split open by the disk, which some authorities claim 

 is an advantage in that it tends to an increase in 

 the number of the stems produced, an opinion which is 

 by no means held in common at the present time, 

 and yet there are localities where it has certainly 

 proved advantageous. Occasionally, a plant will be 

 cut off. There can be no doubt, however, that such 

 disking, when necessary, does tend to clean the land 

 and also to strengthen growth in the alfalfa crop, on 

 the principle that cultivation which does not seri- 

 ously disturb growing plants is always helpful to 



