248 DRY-FARMING 
insufficient supply of moisture for the thickly planted 
crop. The alfalfa field does not attain its maturity 
until after the second year, and a crop which looks. 
just right the second year will probably be much too 
thick the third and fourth years. From four to six 
pounds of seed per acre are usually ample. Another 
main cause of failure is the common idea that: the 
lucern field needs little or no cultivation, when, in 
fact, the alfalfa field should receive as careful soil 
treatment as the wheat field. Heavy, thorough 
disking in spring or fall, or both, is advisable, for it 
leaves the topsoil in a condition to prevent evapora- 
tion and admit air. In Asiatic and North African 
countries, lucern is frequently cultivated between 
rows throughout the hot season. This has been tried 
by Brand in this country and with very good results. 
Since the crop should always be sown with a drill, it 
is comparatively easy to regulate the distance between 
the rows so that cultivating implements may be used. 
If thinseeding and thorough soil stirring are practiced, 
lucern usually grows well, and with such treatment 
should become one of the great dry-farm crops. The 
yield of hay is not large, but sufficient to leave a com- 
fortable margin of profit. Many farmers find it more 
profitable to grow dry-farm lucern for seed. In good 
years from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars may 
be taken from an acre of lucern seed. However, at 
the present, the principles of lucern seed production 
are not well established, and the seed crop is uncertain. 
