CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



clover fields, but the injury is less because the 

 clover stands only two years. The dodder seed 

 germinates in the soil, and the plant attaches itself 

 to the alfalfa, losing its connection with the soil 

 and forming a mass of very fine vines that reach 

 out to other alfalfa plants. In this way it spreads, 

 feeding on the sap of the host plants and killing 

 them. 



When the infestation is in only a few spots in 

 the field, the remedy is to cover with straw, soak 

 with kerosene oil, and burn. All the infestation 

 at the edges of these spots must be destroyed. 



When the dodder is too widely distributed 

 throughout the field to permit of this treatment, 

 the only course is to plow the field at once, and to 

 grow cultivated crops for two or three years. It is 

 believed that no variety of dodder produces 

 seed freely in the eastern states, and that the hay 

 made from the first crop of alfalfa or red clover 

 will not contain any seed of this pernicious 

 plant. 



The Seeding. When alfalfa has become es- 

 tablished on eastern farms, the difficulties in 

 making new seedings will be smaller. The ex- 

 perience of growers will save from mistakes in 

 selection of soils and preparation of the ground, 



