420 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
have it cut off. We plow alfalfa sod deep. Why? 
Because the roots cut off easier down eight inches 
or more. It is true that they will grow again, that 
is, the upper part will grow, and your field in the 
spring may look almost as though it had not been 
plowed. Do not let that fact trouble you. When cul- 
tivation begins the alfalfa will soon disappear. This 
is assuming that the field is to go to corn or potatoes 
or some other cultivated crop. If sown to oats it is 
likely that the alfalfa would grow up in them pretty 
thick and maybe trouble in the harvest. But oats 
lodge in an alfalfa sod anyway, so they do not count. 
One finds that the soil itself is loose and easily 
made friable after alfalfa has grown upon it, so he 
can plow it deeper than ever he did before and find 
soil all the way down. 
Setting the Plow—Now about setting the plow. 
We use a rolling coulter and a pair of wheels on the 
beam. One can buy trucks to fit a walking plow, or 
he can have wheels adapted to the use by his black- 
smith. It is probably cheaper to buy the trucks. 
As we needed them on Woodland Farm before any 
manufacturer had started making them we made our 
own. The wheels hold the beam steady, exactly at 
the right depth. It is an old device that has been in 
use for centuries in Hurope, but has not been imi- 
tated in America simply because we have run after 
cheapness too much, and because we have not done 
much good plowing as yet. With these wheel trucks 
a small boy can plow alfalfa sod almost as well as a 
