CULTURE OF ALFALFA OR LUCERNE. 189 



five inches before the season of growth stops. Draw out 

 lines on the prepared land twenty inches apart, (if for 

 horse culture, but if for hand culture, fourteen inches,) 

 and two or three inches deep. These lines are best made 

 by what market gardeners call a " marker," which is 

 made by nailing six tooth-shaped pickets six or eight 

 inches long, at the required distance apart, to a three by 

 four inch joist, to which a handle is attached, which 

 makes the marker or drag. The first tooth is set against 

 a garden line drawn tight across the field; the marker is 

 dragged backward by the workman, each tooth marking 

 a line. Thus the six teeth mark six lines, if the line is 

 set each time; but it is best to place the end tooth of the 

 marker in a line already made, so that in this way only 

 five lines are marked at once; but it is quicker to do this 

 than move the line. 



The lines being marked out, the seed is sown by hand 

 or by seed-drill, at the rate of eight to twelve pounds per 

 acre. (The price ranges from thirty to fifty cents per 

 pound.) After sowing, (and this rule applies to all seeds, 

 if sown by hand,) the seed must b.e trodden in by walking on 

 the lines, so as to press the seed down into the drills. After 

 treading in, the ground must be leveled by raking with a 

 wooden or steel rake along the lines lengthways, not 

 across. That done, it would be advantageous to use a 

 roller over the land, so as to smooth the surface and 

 further firm the seed; but this is not indispensable. 

 When seeds are drilled in by a machine, the wheel 

 presses down the soil on vhe seeds, so that treading in 

 with the feet is not necessary. 



After the seeds germinate so as to show the rows, 

 which will be in from two to four weeks, according to 

 the weather, the ground must be hoed between, and this 

 is best done by some light wheel hoe, if by hand, such as 



