210 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



Preparation for Crop. — ^When alfalfa is to follow 

 wheat the land may be well limed in the fall before 

 the wheat is sown, if it is in need of lime. As early 

 as possible the wheat shocks should be taken off 

 and immediately the plow started in the stubble. 

 Now is a dangerous time, since one may so easily 

 lose his moisture and get instead of a seedbed a 

 mass of sunbaked clods that no harrowing will re- 

 duce to fineness. To avoid this each half day what 

 land is plowed should be fitted by use of harrow and 

 drag, or perhaps use of roller, followed at once by 

 harrow. It is not sufficient to fit each evening what 

 has been plowed during the day, but each half day's 

 work must be completed within that half day. This 

 is also much the easier way. An hour spent upon 

 freshly turned land will do more than a half day 

 after the furrows have dried out into hard clods. 



Be not content, either, with a half preparation of 

 the land. Do a good job of it. Use drag, disk and 

 smoothing harrow. Make the earth fine. Seal up 

 in it all the moisture it holds. It is work well spent. 

 Since it must be done in any event it is wise and 

 economical to do it immediately it is plowed, when 

 an hour's work is worth a half day's later on. In 

 order to do this best it may be well to let the man 

 who does the plowing work till about 9 :30 in the 

 morning, then, unhitching from the plow, hitch to 

 the plank drag and go over what he has plowed with 

 that. Unhitching from it, hitch to the disk harrow, 

 and after disking then go over it ^with the slant-tooth 

 smoothing harrow, which finishes it prett7 well and 



