288 FIELD CROP PEOBUCTION 



The rate of seeding will depend upon the qualii^y of 

 seed and upon the condition of the seed bed. In an experi- 

 ment on the rate of seeding conducted at the Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station, seed was sown at various rates, ranging 

 from 5 to 25 pounds per acre. The 10 and 15 pound rates 

 gave the best results, there being very little difference 

 between them. If the seed is of good vitality and the 

 seed bed is in good condition, 15 pounds of seed per acre 

 is considered enough. 



292. Cultivation. — The problem of keeping a stand, 

 to many farmers, especially to those east of the Missis- 

 sippi River, has been a bigger problem than that of getting 

 one. Weeds seem to be the greatest factor with which 

 the grower has to contend in keeping a stand. Many 

 farmers say they have solved the weed problem by prac- 

 ticing a system of cultivation. Some farmers cultivate 

 each spring with a spring tooth or disk harrow, just before 

 the young shoots start to grow ; others not only cultivate 

 in the spring but after each cutting throughout the season. 

 This practice kills the weeds and at the same time loosens 

 up the soil, incorporating any vegetable matter that may 

 have accumulated from fallen leaves or from other sources. 

 It has been demonstrated that alfalfa will not be injured 

 by severe cultivation, after it is once well established. 

 In one experiment, a plot was cultivated five times with a 

 spring tooth harrow early in the spring, and the alfalfa 

 showed no bad effects from the cultivation, while most 

 of the weeds in the field were killed. Cultivation, however, 

 is to be recommended only for fields in which the alfalfa 

 plants have become well established, usually after they 

 are two years old. Sometimes weeds are troublesome in 

 fields during the first year, in which case the fields should 

 be run over with the mower, clipping off the plants and 



