316 DRY LAND FARMING 



Where the moisture is ample, the seed is frequently, 

 though not in all instances, sown with a nurse crop. But 

 in dry areas this should be done very seldom, if, indeed, 

 at all. Where the plants are too numerous for the mois- 

 ture supply, the root growth will not be so deep and 

 strong as under other conditions, and the yields will be 

 reduced in proportion. When growing this crop it is 

 greatly important that the plants shall make a vigorous 

 growth the first season. 



In some instances alfalfa will not grow well when 

 the first attempts are made to grow it, even on soils that 

 have the requisite physical and chemical conditions for 

 growing the crop. The cause is found in the absence of 

 the requisite bacteria in the soil for the successful growth 

 of alfalfa. Where these are not present in the soil alfalfa 

 cannot be grown with complete success. The absence of 

 the bacteria in a season of normal rainfall may be known : 

 (1) by the lack of growth in the plants, especially in the 

 latter part of the summer; (2) by the pale color of the 

 leaves, and (3) by the lack of production in the plants, 

 even though they should survive the rigors of the winter. 



When it is apparent that the bacteria are lacking 

 in the soil, the part of wisdom is to introduce them. 

 This may be done: (1) by securing the culture known as 

 nitragin and soaking the seed in it before sowing; (2) 

 by securing, say, 200 pounds of earth, preferably from an 

 old alfalfa field, and scattering it over each acre of land 

 on which alfalfa is to be sown before or after the sowing 

 of the seed; (3) by the liberal application of farmyard 

 manure at the outset on land that is to be sown to alfalfa. 

 The first method is not always reliable, as the germs 

 may have lost vitality before they are used. The second 

 method is reliable, and the same may be said of the 

 third, but the reasons therefor are not as yet well un- 

 derstood. Happily such inoculation is not usually needed 

 when alfalfa is sown on western soils. 



