ALSIKE CLOVER 2O3 



land for alsike clover on ordinary soils is the same 

 as for medium red clover. (See page 74.) Usu- 

 ally, that degree of fineness in the pulverization 

 which best prepares the soil for the nurse crop with 

 which alsike clover is sown, will also best prepare it 

 for the alsike. But there may be some instances, as 

 in strong clays, when a fine pulverization that would 

 suffice for the needs of the nurse crop would be ad- 

 vantageous to the alsike. This finer pulverization 

 can only be secured by the judicious use of the roller 

 and the harrow. In loose-lying soils, more espe- 

 cially in areas where the precipitation in winter 

 comes in the form of snow, and, therefore, does 

 not wash the land as it does when it falls as rain, 

 if the land on which alsike is to be sown is plowed 

 in the fall, and only harrowed in the spring, or cul- 

 tivated and harrowed when preparing it, the mois- 

 ture will be better conserved than if it were plowed 

 in the spring. When thus managed, strong clays 

 in the area under consideration will usually have a 

 much finer pulverization than can be obtained from 

 spring plowing. When the preceding crop has been 

 given clean culti\'ation, to plow land subsequently 

 before sowing to alsike would bring up many weed 

 seeds to the surface, where they would at once begin 

 to grow. On slough lands, where water saturation 

 is present during a portion of the year, even to the 

 extent of appearing for a short interval over more 

 or less of the surface, the seed may be sown without 

 any previous preparation of the land, and in some 

 instances successfully. In other instances it will fail 

 should the following summer prove adverse. The 



