SEEDING AND CUTTING. 213 



not SO apt to lodge if the soil is rich. Beardless spring 

 barley is particularly appropriate here. It ripens 

 very early and does not often lodge. It is almost 

 impossible to make the soil too rich for spring bar- 

 ley. It is advisable to plow the land for these spring 

 crops and to plow it deep. It is well always to sow 

 a small amount of alfalfa seed with the barley. 

 If it is the custom to sow 20 pounds of alfalfa seed 

 in the fall it will be much better to sow 5 pounds of 

 this in the spring at time of seeding the barley. This 

 will help the inoculation very much indeed and the 

 15 pounds sown in the fall will give a better stand 

 than would the whole 20 pounds sown at that time. 



The same rules laid down for sowing after pota- 

 toes and wheat apply with equal force for sowing 

 after spring barley and should be studied. 



The one trouble with all this scheme is that it pre- 

 supposes a very fertile soil and quite a little rain- 

 fall in late July and August. Given these things 

 one ought to succeed admirably following this plan. 



Alfalfa After Oats. — ^What has been said of seed- 

 ing after barley applies fairly well to oats. The 

 field should be well plowed in spring. Five pounds 

 of alfalfa seed should be sowed to each acre to pro- 

 mote inoculation. If no alfalfa has ever grown 

 on the land and inoculation is doubted, soil should 

 also be spread or sown and promptly harrowed un- 

 der. Then the oats if cut off for hay will leave a 

 far better seedbed than if allowed to ripen. Eipen- 

 ing oats draw tremendously on the soil moisture. It 

 is a great help to mow them off for hay when coming 



