142 ALFALFA 



itself upon the soil for many years without the necessity 

 of reseeding. 



Through this power of the plant to send down such a 

 vast number of roots the soil even though previously com- 

 pact becomes porous and friable, so that in later years when 



Fig- 77- Alfalfa should not be grown in a poorly drained field. 



plowed and fitted for other crops its physical condition is 

 much improved. This great mass of root growth which 

 decays when the field is plowed up adds materially to the 

 humus content and the richness of the soil, and thus enables 

 the farmer to have a field high in fertility in which he can 

 grow large crops of corn or other grains. 



Location and Preparation of the Seed Bed. -- The alfalfa 

 field should be located on high, well-drained land. In 

 humid regions it is useless to sow alfalfa seed on river or 

 creek bottoms that overflow their banks annually, or to 

 sow it on marsh lands where the water level is only two or 

 three feet below the surface. It is also well not to select a 



