SOWING ALFALFA 217 
barley. This is not the heaviest-yielding barley, 
but it is the best nurse-crop yet found for alfalfa, 
because it usually does not lodge, does not stool 
very much, nor shade the land too much, and it 
comes off early in the season. The purpose of 
using a nurse-crop is to discourage the growth 
of fox-tail and other annual grasses until the 
alfalfa can get a start. It is very unsafe to sow 
alfalfa alone early in spring, because of the dan- 
ger of its being choked with grasses. One can 
get a much more satisfactory stand with the 
barley than when sown alone. A bushel to the 
acre will be enough barley, although more may 
be used. It is best to sow with a drill, sowing 
the alfalfa seed at the rate of about fifteen to 
twenty pounds per acre in front of the drill. The 
land should have been first deeply plowed, and 
early enough in the season, if possible, to let it 
settle together, then worked to a good seed-bed 
just before sowing. ‘The time of sowing should 
be as early as the danger of hard -freezing is 
past, say the middle of April for the 40th par- 
allel, earlier to the south, and later to the north. 
Oats as a nurse-crop are not nearly so safe as 
barley, yet they may be used.' No more than a 
bushel of seed should be sown to the acre. The 
oats must be eut for hay just when coming in 
bloom. If cutting ‘is postponed until grain is 
formed, half or more of the alfalfa will be killed. 
