CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



land. In the absence of manure, 100 pounds of 

 nitrate of soda and 50 pounds of muriate of potash 

 should be added to the mixture. If the materials 

 are wet, a drier must be used. The fertilizer 

 should be drilled into the ground prior to the 

 seeding. 



A Clean Seed-bed. Much failure with alfalfa 

 is due to summer grasses and other weeds. The 

 moisture in our eastern states favors plant-life, 

 and most soils are thoroughly stocked with the 

 seeds of a large number of weeds. The value of 

 blue-grass and timothy would be comparatively 

 small if they were not capable of monopolizing 

 the ground when well started and given fertility. 

 Alfalfa plants are less capable of crowding out 

 other plants, and especially in their first season. 

 Their habit of growth is unlike that of grass. 

 Rational treatment of alfalfa demands that the 

 surface soil be made fairly clean of weed seed, 

 and this applies with peculiar force to annual 

 grasses, like fox-tail. If attention were paid to 

 this point, failures would be far less numerous. 



Old grass land should not be seeded until a 

 cultivated crop has followed the plowing. The 

 land should be in good tilth, and capable of pro- 

 ducing a good crop of any sort. Alfalfa is not a 



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