GROWING ALFALFA SEED. 439 



and best quality of seed may be secured by stacking or thrashing 

 the crop as soon after cutting as it is in fit condition. 



Care should be taken not to stack or thrash when the straw is 

 too green or tough and the seed not fully dry. It requires even 

 more time to cure properly the seed crop of alfalfa than it does to 

 cure the hay crop; the stems are largely stripped of leaves and 

 cure slowly and pack closely in the stack. If stacked green, the 

 alfalfa is sure to heat and thus injure or destroy the vitality of 

 the seed. Also if thrashed green or damp much seed will be lost, 

 since it will not hull properly, and if damp seed is stored in bulk 

 it may heat and spoil. To cure the alfalfa fit to stack, from three 

 to seven days of favorable weather are required, and a longer 

 period if it is thrashed from the field. When bound and shocked 

 the crop should have a couple of weeks of drying weather to cure 

 before stacking or thrashing. It is safest to put into narrow 

 stacks, and it is also a good plan to mix with layers of dry straw, 

 especially if the alfalfa is bound and there is any indication that 

 the straw is damp or green in the middle of the bundles. The 

 straw improves the ventilation of the stack and absorbs the ex- 

 cessive moisture. The practice of using straw in this way, how- 

 ever, is seldom practicable — better stack only when fully cured. 



To prevent loss of seed in stacking or thrashing, racks are 

 sometimes covered with canvas and canvas is spread under the 

 machine or along the stack in order to catch the shattered seed 

 and the bolls which break off; also care must be taken to handle 

 the alfalfa carefully in pitching and loading. Large growers of 

 alfalfa often stack the seed crop in the field with the sweep-rake 

 and hay-stacker. Those who practice this method usually cut with 

 the mower and leave in bunches or windrows, drying the alfalfa 

 quickly and stacking as soon as possible. This is a rough way to 

 handle the crop and occasions more or less loss of the seed, but 

 where a large area is handled it may be move profitable to handle 

 the crop in this way than by a slower method and run the risk 

 of damage from wet weather. When the alfalfa is left in gavels 

 or "bundles, as thrown off by the harvester, it should be taken up 

 with a barley fork. There will be less shattering of seed, how- 

 ever, if the alfalfa is in small compact bunches, not too heavy to 

 be lifted in one forkful. 



When the alfalfa is stacked, unless thrashed within two or 

 three days after stacking, it should be allowed to pass through 

 the sweat before being thrashed, which requires several weeks or 

 months. The best plan is to cover the stacks well to prevent dam- 

 age by rain, and thrash late in the fall when the weather is dry 

 and cool. In order to secure seed for fall sowing it is often desir- 



