SEEDING AND CUTTING. 221 



ular rotation, alfalfa should be mixed with the clover 

 seed. If 10 per cent of alfalfa seed is used it will be 

 enough to give a good sprinkling of alfalfa plants 

 and later a thorough inoculation of the land. How 

 this inoculation comes we do not know. Certain it 

 is that when alfalfa is sown on suitable soil, dry and 

 with lime enough, it becomes inoculated in a year 

 or two by natural means. Thus two things are ac- 

 complished: One gets a good general idea of the 

 suitability of the soil to alfalfa and he gets it in- 

 oculated so that when a little later he sows alfalfa 

 alone it assuredly grows strong from the start. 



Furthermore, the mixture of red clover and 

 alfalfa is a good mixture anyway. It makes more 

 hay and more pasture than red clover pure. It en- 

 riches the soil more efficiently. Alfalfa is nearly as 

 easily established as red clover. If sown with oats 

 or if the wheat is harrowed to let the seed be covered 

 it is certain to make a pretty good stand mixed in 

 this way. 



Red Clover with Alfalfa. — On the other hand, 

 some men practice sowing red clover with alfalfa. 

 They claim that with the addition of about 20 per 

 cent of red clover seed to the alfalfa they get a heav- 

 ier yield of hay the first year following the seeding 

 and the next year pure alfalfa results which outyields 

 adjoining fields or plots that have had no' red clover 

 in them. That is, the decay of the red clover roots, 

 they assert, enriches the soil for the alfalfa. This 

 is said of some soils in Pennsylvania. In my own 

 experience this is not a very good practice, since 



