454 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
used co cut a furrow 2% inches deep through the sod, a stirring 
plow following immediately in the furrow left by the breaking 
plow and leaving a furrow about 8 inches deep. On the next 
round the breaking plow puts the strip of sod in the bottom of the 
deep preceding furrow, where it is completely covered by the new 
soil turned up by the stirring plow. The harrow is kept at work 
to smooth and firm the ground as fast as it is turned, and the 
alfalfa is seeded with the grain drill while the soil is still moist. 
Prevention of the Drifting of Soil—If the ground is so sandy 
as to be in danger of drifting or blowing during high winds, it is 
the best practice to seed alternate rows of oats or barley anv lo 
make these rows run at right angles to the direction of the pre- 
vailing winds. The first cultivation of the alfalfa plants will 
destroy this grain nurse crop, which should in no event be left 
long enough to injure the young alfalfa plants. 
Another method of avoiding the danger of blowing out or 
drifting in a sandy soil is to sow the alfalfa with a walking 
garden drill between corn or sorghum rows after the last cul- 
tivation. This method has been tried with success under irriga- 
tion on the experiment farm conducted by the Office of Western 
Agricultural Extension near Fallon, Nev. In attempting to use. 
the method under dry-farming conditions careful attention must 
be given to the supply of moisture available for both plants, and 
as it has not yet been put into actual practice in the semi-arid 
sections it should first be tested on a small scale. 
A third method has been suggested by Dr. H. L. Shantz, of 
the Office of Alkali and Drought Resistant Plant Breeding In- 
vestigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, which may prove useful 
when sod land is used. This method consists of leaving narrow 
strips of virgin sod at suitable intervals through the fields at 
. right angles to the prevailing direction of the most destructive 
winds. 
A method applicable especially to old fields which show a ten- 
dency to blow during high winds has been suggested by N. 
Schmitz, of the Office of Forage Crop Investigations, Bureau of 
Plant Industry. This method calls for the seeding of the al- 
falfa in shallow listed furrows running at right angles to the 
direction of the prevailing heavy winds. It is necessary that 
these furrows be shallow, or heavy rains which sometimes occur 
may bury the seedling plants. If the planting does not take place 
at the time of listing or if the planting attachment to the lister 
can not be adapted to this work, a corn drill or check-row planter 
may be used by making the necessary alterations in the plates. 
This method of listing may also prove efficient in catching the 
