204 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
and the letting it ripen will usually damage the 
alfalfa stand about 25 to 50 per cent. J have re- 
peatedly asked a lady for a half-cup of tea and 
never in my life found but one who could. give it! 
All the rest would fill the cup full. So if the reader 
is one of the few men who can resolve to cut his 
nurse crop for hay at the proper time, he should, 
if he lives in a similar climate to ours, use a nurse 
crop. Otherwise he should sow alfalfa alone. 
Fall Seeding of Alfalfa—There seems a large 
area where fall seeding igs more successful than 
spring seeding. Where fall seeding succeeds it is 
the cheaper way. The use of the land is not lost for 
any appreciable time, and often one gets a full crop 
of some sort of grain before seeding his alfalfa. 
Northern Ohio seems adapted to fall or rather mid- 
summer seeding of alfalfa; also New York, in parts 
at least, a good deal of Pennsylvania and much of 
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. In 
Missouri some practice one way, some another; Kan- 
sas and Nebraska seem to get good results from fall, 
or better, mid-summer seeding. In Iowa summer 
seeding is advised. 
The reason why alfalfa usually thrives when sown 
in mid-summer or early fall is that then there is 
less crowding by weeds and especially by annual 
grass. Furthermore, alfalfa is a heat-loving plant 
and it pushes rapidly forward if the seedbed is good 
and it gets started in late July or August. It is 
very essential that the seedbed be good, and no 
pains should be spared to make it so. 
