204 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA, 



and the letting it ripen will usually damage tlie 

 alfalfa stand about 25 to 50 per cent. I have re- 

 peatedly asked a lady for a half-cup of tea and 

 never in my life found but one who could- give it ! 

 All the rest would fill the cup full. So if the reader 

 is one of the few men who can resolve to cut his 

 nurse crop for hay at the proper time, he should, 

 if he lives in a similar climate to ours, use a nurse 

 crop. Otherwise he should sow alfalfa alone. 



Fall Seeding of Alfalfa. — There seems . a large 

 area where fall seeding is more successful than 

 spring seeding. Where fall seeding succeeds it is 

 the cheaper way. The use of the land is not lost for 

 any appreciable time, and often one gets a full crop 

 of some sort of grain before seeding his alfalfa. 

 Northern Ohio seems adapted to fall or rather mid- 

 summer seeding of alfalfa ; also New York, in parts 

 at least, a good deal of Pennsylvania and much of 

 Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. In 

 Missouri some practice one way, some another ; Kan- 

 sas and Nebraska seem to get good results from fall, 

 or better, mid-summer seeding. In Iowa summer 

 seeding is advised. 



The reason why alfalfa usually thrives when sown 

 in mid-summer or early fall is that then there is 

 less crowding by weeds and especially by annual 

 grass. Furthermore, alfalfa is a heat-loving plant 

 and it pushes rapidly forward if the seedbed is good 

 and it gets started in late July or August. It is 

 very essential that the seedbed be good, and no 

 pains should be spared to make it so. 



