SEEDING AND CUTTING. 207 
Rain may come, certainly, but often in only sufficient 
amount to bring the seed up, or merely to germinate 
it, and underneath there is dust. Thus the seed- 
lings perish before they can get their rootlets at- 
tached to the subsoil. So wait till there is moist 
soil enough not merely to bring up the seeds but 
to let their rootlets feed and penetrate on down. 
Inoculation an Aid—When sowing alfalfa either 
in July or August one must remember that the time 
until fall and killing frosts is short, so do all that he 
can to hurry it forward. Thus it is well if the land 
has never had alfalfa on it before, nor ever been 
manured with manure made from feeding alfalfa 
hay, toe inoculate the soil. Inoculation hastens 
growth in young alfalfa immensely. Soil from a 
successful alfalfa field, or soil from a patch of mel- 
ilotus or sweet clover, or soil from where burr 
clover grew is usually successful in inoculating al- 
falfa. The various cultures of beneficent bacteria 
have not worked well in field practice, we regret to 
say. So take earth from some other field and inoc- 
ulate the place you expect to put your new sown 
alfalfa in. There are various ways of distributing 
this inoculation. If the soil has been thoroughly 
well limed, or is naturally well stored with carbon- 
ate of lime, and if it has had some manure, inocula- 
tion will ‘‘take’’ in it and go through the field very 
rapidly, once give it a start. 
Seeding.—Sow it in any manner most convenient, 
either through a wheelbarrow seeder or through a 
drill, taking great care not to drill it in too deep. 
