DISKING AND HARROWING 



Prof. J. G. Haney, of the Kansas Agricultural 

 College, writing of the use of the disk and harrow on 

 alfalfa, says: " It is demonstrated beyond a doubt that 

 alfalfa must have some cultivation to secure its best- 

 development. Statements of what it is possible to do 

 for this plant with the disk or other harrow can scarcely 

 be credited without demonstration. But cultivation 

 with these will make alfalfa succeed in many places 

 where it is now pronounced a failure, and will increase 

 the yields and permanency. 



"After the first season's growth the alfalfa has 

 rooted so deeply that it will withstand a surprising 

 amount of surface disturbance. A thorough harrow- 

 ing with a sharp harrow the spring after seeding, and 

 after each cutting, especially if the surface soil is dry 

 and crusted, will do a surprising amount of good. 

 The harrow will not only destroy much grass and 

 many weeds, but it loosens the surface, makes an 

 earth mulch, and enables the new buds, which produce 

 the new stems and usually come from below the sur- 

 face, to push out more rapidly and with greater vigor. 



' ' After the Alfalfa is two or three years old the 

 disk-harrow can be used, and the alfalfa should be 

 disked at least each spring just as it starts. Disk 

 both waj's with the disks set nearly straight and 

 weighted, and then harrow down smooth. The disk 

 destroys all surface-rooted plants, but does not injure 



