196 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
It is not so necessary to get a perfect seedbed in 
spring sowing as it is when sowing in the fall. There 
is much more moisture in the spring and heavy 
rains will probably come to compact the seedbed, 
yet drouths are to be looked for at any time, so 
one should do his part well in any case. 
Example of Spring Sowing—Take Woodland 
Farm, where always of recent years seeding has 
been done early in April. This farm is about on the 
40th parallel, in the latitude of Columbus, O., Phila- 
delphia and Springfield, Il. Spring seeding is done 
here because of the climate and soil. Singularly 
enough at this point on the curve of the earth there 
seems more fighting of the elements than either 
north or south of us. At Wooster, O., some 80 
miles north of us, snow and frozen ground prevail 
during a much longer time in winter than with us. 
Thus at Wooster they find fall seeding of alfalfa a 
better thing than spring seeding, while we have had 
very poor success indeed with fall seeding, which 
usually lifts out of the ground during the repeated 
freezes and thaws of winter. 
Disk, Harrow and Drag—tlLand destined for al- 
falfa is almost always planted to corn the year be- 
fore and given very clean and careful cultivation. 
For the corn crop as much manure as was available 
was applied. The land is plowed in the fall or win- 
ter if there is time and the soil is found fit. The 
plows are set to run as deep as practicable. In this 
practice we are reforming steadily year by vear, 
deepening our soil as fast as we well can. As soon 
