ALFALFA 



only in the fall. An August seeding may make 

 such growth in a warm and late autumn that 

 flowering will occur, and lateral buds start, but 

 the growth should not be clipped unless there 

 remains time to secure a new growth large enough 

 to afford winter protection. This is likewise true 

 of a late growth in an old alfalfa field. 



Owners of soils that are not well adapted to the 

 alfalfa plant will find top-dressing with manure 

 helpful to alfalfa fields when made in the fall. 

 The severity of winters in a moist climate is re- 

 sponsible for some failures. If the soil is not 

 porous, heaving will occur. A dressing of manure, 

 given late in the fall, and preferably during the 

 first hard freeze, will prevent alternate thawings 

 and freezings in some degree. The manure should 

 have been made from feed containing no seeds of 

 annual grasses or other weed pests. 



Rolling in the spring does not serve to settle 

 heaved alfalfa plants. The tap-roots are long, 

 and when they have been lifted by action of 

 frost, they cannot be driven back into place. 



It is believed that the permanence of an alfalfa 

 seeding may be increased by the use of mineral 

 fertilizers in the early spring. In the case of one 

 alfalfa field of fifteen years' standing in the east, 



[69] 



