GROWING ALFALFA SEED. 457 



be an average of from 4 to 10 plants' to the running foot. It has 

 been too often the case that the stand in the row has been too 

 thick for the best development of the individual plants. In such 

 instances cross-harrowing after a majority of the plants have 

 become well established will be found to be very effective in thin- 

 ning out the stand. 



Seeding in Check Rows to Permit Gross-Cultivation. — Limited 

 experiments with seeding in check rows indicate that with heavy 

 seed-producing plants of satisfactory character very good yields 

 of seed may be secured with hills 30 inches apart in the row. 

 This distance permits of cross-cultivation, but is rather narrow 

 for most cultivating machinery. The plants being thus isolated on 

 all sides, the production of a maximum seed crop is possible. 

 No practical means have yet been devised for seeding alfalfa in 

 check rows on a large scale. It is probable that an ordinary 

 check-row corn planter can be adapted to this work. It would 

 be necessary to babbitt up the holes in the plate and then rim 

 them out to drop 10 to 20 seeds in a place. The surviving plants 

 can later on be thinned to the best plant in the hill. It is possi- 

 ble that alfalfa seeded in rows with a wheat drill could be 

 thinned out to practically uniform distances by cross-cultivation 

 with an ordinary corn plow run at right angles to the rows. The 

 plants, with the exception of a few midway between the two sets 

 of shovels, would thus be destroyed. 



Time of Seeding.— 'Ea.rly spring seeding will usually yield the 

 best results, as more favorable moisture conditions for the 

 germination and growth of the young plants are present at this 

 time. However, if the soil can be brought into proper condition of 

 tilth and moisture content, seeding can take place during the late 

 summer if the danger of winterkilling is not too great. In a 

 climate of moderate severity if a 6-inch growth is made during 

 the fall the plants will probably go through the winter safely, 

 and will start out the following spring in much better condition 

 to compete with the weeds than will spring-seeded plants. In 

 semi-arid regions it is usually Impracticable, however, to seed 

 alfalfa in late summer or early fall owing to the lack of moisture 

 necessary to insure prompt germination. 



In the Dakotas and Montana, June seeding will probably give 

 the best results. If seeding is deferred until early summer and 

 the soil is harrowed or otherwise treated to keep it in proper 

 tilth, most of the weed seeds near the surface will germinate. 

 The last cultivation given the land before the alfalfa is sown 

 kills this young growth, thus greatly reducing the trouble with 

 weeds during the first season. 



Treatment of the Stand the First Season. — The well-settled 



