ALFALFA 99 



By fall seeding the land usually returns a fair 

 yield of hay the first season after sowing, whereas 

 with spring seeding the alfalfa is not likely to make 

 sufficient growth to produce a profitable crop of 

 hay the first season, and should the alfalfa make 

 sufficient growth, the weeds will usually be so 

 abundant as to greatly reduce the value of the first 

 season's cuttings for hay. On weedy land fall seed- 

 ing has the advantage of spring seeding, in that 

 the weeds are not troublesome in the fall and the 

 fall-seeded alfalfa starts ahead of weeds in the 

 spring, giving a comparatively clean growth of hay 

 the first year after seeding. 



Methods of Seeding. — A large amount of alfalfa 

 has been seeded with the ordinary grain drill. At 

 present the greatest objection to this method is that 

 it requires too much seed. To sow in this way 

 requires 20 to 30 pounds of seed an acre. The feed 

 on the ordinary grain drill cannot be set up close 

 enough to sow less pure seed than the amount 

 named, and diluting with bran or other material is 

 often unsatisfactory, causing an uneven distribu- 

 tion of seed. A better plan to sow with the grain 

 drill is to have a grass-seeder attachment to the 

 drill, which will allow close adjustment and with 

 spouts emptying into the grain tubes, so that the 

 seed may be dropped in the drill furrows and evenly 

 covered. In some soils and in some seasons there 

 is little doubt but that the method of seeding with 

 the drill may give more favorable results than 

 broadcasting. As a rule, however, alfalfa may be 

 successfully started by sowing broadcast in a well- 

 prepared seed bed, care being taken to seed at the 

 right time and when the soil is in favorable con- 

 dition for sprouting the seed. Alfalfa is success- 



