SUMMABY OF ALFALFA SOWING. 515 



alfalfa; for this field for the last four years has been the 

 talk and admiration of the county and its fame has spread 

 over the state. The last two very dry years fully proved 

 that the crown covering method is the only method by 

 which alfalfa culture can be carried to complete success in 

 the northwest; for this part of my large alfalfa field has 

 produced well in spite of the extreme drouth. 



"To make my method clear, I will explain the workings 

 of nature in this field. After the seed had germinated in 

 these cracks, the little plants grew rapidly, forming their 

 crowns at the bottom of the cracks. The action of the air 

 and later rains gradually dissolved the dried mud into a 

 fine mulch and gradually covered up the crowns; later wash 

 from the surrounding hills added more cover to it until now 

 the most of the plants are covered up to the depth of 6" to 

 8". 



"After I was fully convinced, in my own mind, that the 

 superior growth of this part of the field was due to the 

 buried crown, I began experiments on lands not so situated 

 as to receive any soil deposits carried by water from ad- 

 joining highlands. On this kind of land, certain methods had 

 to be resorted to in order to obtain the same results. Here 

 the land was thoroughly disked, setting the disc so it would 

 leave trenches. The seed was sown in these trenches and no 

 harrowing done. All was left for the rains to cover the seed 

 and gradually level the land. Good results were obtained 

 only in spots, owing to the different texture of the soil over 

 the field as the disc would not make even trenches. In some 

 places the trenches were not deep enough, and the crowns 

 did not receive suflBcient covering; but in every case where 

 the trenches were deep enough — say a depth of at least 4" — 

 the alfalfa sown last August has gone through the winter 

 without any apparent harm from the winter's severe weather. 



"In another test, where one-year-old plants were set out 

 by hand in trenches and covered up to a depth of 4" (the 

 covering being done gradually), the results are extremely 

 promising. The sprouts present at this time indicate a growth 

 for the coming season of as many as 1*50 stems from one 

 crown. While my method of the buried crown has not, as yet, 

 fully emerged from the experimental stage, it hag carried 319 

 to the following very well based ccnclusions; 



