140 CLOVERS 



fertilized before laying them down to alfalfa. Such 

 fertilization usually calls for both humus and readily 

 available plant food, and these are most cheaply sup- 

 plied by growing certain green crops and plowing 

 them under, or by applying farmyard manure. 

 These may be supplemented when necessary by com- 

 mercial fertilizers. Some precede alfalfa on such 

 soils by growing cow peas or soy beans, followed by 

 crimson clover, both crops being plowed in, and 

 shortly before sowing the alfalfa they apply more or 

 less of phosphoric acid and potash, which is usu- 

 ally incorporated in the surface soil by the harrow. 

 On some soils, as in some parts of Florida, two suc- 

 cessive crops of cow peas -should be plowed under 

 before sowing alfalfa. When farmyard manure can 

 be used in fertilizing those leechy soils it is well 

 when it can be applied on the surface in a somewhat 

 decomposed form and also kept near the surface dur- 

 ing the subsequent cultivation given when preparing 

 the seed-bed. In the North it is best applied in the 

 autumn or winter, and in the South in the summer. 

 But on loam soils with a reasonably retentive subsoil, 

 the better way to apply farmyard manure is to make 

 a heavy application of the same to the crop preceding 

 the alfalfa. It has thus become incorporated with 

 the soil, and many weed seeds in it will have 

 sprouted before sowing the alfalfa. The results 

 from applying manure on soil somewhat stiff and 

 not highly productive have been noticeably marked. 

 This may have been owing in part to the mechani- 

 cal influence of the manure on the land. The rela- 

 tion between the free application of farmyard 



