SUMMARY OF ALFALFA SOWING. 515 
alfalfa; for this field for the last four years has been the 
talk and admiration of the county and its fame has spread 
over the state. The last two very dry years fully proved 
that the crown covering method is the only method by 
which alfalfa culture can be carried to complete success in 
the northwest; for this part of my large alfalfa field has 
produced well in spite of the extreme’ drouth. 
“To make my method clear, I will explain the workings 
of nature in this field. After the seed had germinated in 
these cracks, the little plants grew rapidly, forming their 
crowns at the bottom of the cracks. The action of the air 
and later rains gradually dissolved the dried mud into a 
fine mulch and gradually covered up the crowns; later wash 
from the surrounding hills added more cover to it until now 
the most of the plants are covered up to the depth of 6” to 
8”. 
“After I was fully convinced, in my own mind, that the 
superior growth of this part of the field was due to the 
buried crown, I began experiments on lands not so situated 
as to receive any soil deposits carried by water from ad- 
joining highlands. On this kind of land, certain methods had 
to be resorted to in order to obtain the same results. Here 
the land was thoroughly disked, setting the disc so it would 
leave trenches. The seed was sown in these trenches and no 
harrowing done. All was left for the rains to cover the seed 
and gradually level the land. Good results were obtained 
only in spots, owing to the different texture of the soil over 
the field as the disc would not make even trenches. In some 
places the trenches were not deep enough, and the crowns 
did not receive sufficient covering; but in every case where 
the trenches were deep enough—say a depth of at least 4”— 
the alfalfa sown last August has gone through the winter 
without any apparent harm from the winter’s severe weather. 
“In another test, where one-year-old plants were set out 
by hand in trenches and covered up to a depth of 4” (the 
covering being done gradually), the results are extremely 
promising. The sprouts present at this time indicate a growth 
for the coming season of as many as 150 stems from one 
crown. While my method of the buried crown has not, as yet, 
fully emerged from the experimental stage, it has carried me 
to the following very well based ccnclusions: 
