52 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



time we planted the seed, then we sowed it. We had trouble 

 with weeds. We kept running the haying machine over it and 

 that was the only thing that saved it ; the frost killed the weeds. 



The next season was dry ; we ploughed the ground in July, 

 we sowed the alfalfa as soon as we could work up the ground 

 after the rain and I do not think there was a weed on the place. 

 We happened to hit it right and it was very clean this year. 



Member : Do you think the weeds do more harm than a 

 thin nurse crop? 



Mr. Dickerson : I would think so, because the young alfalfa 

 plant is very tender and a few weeds do it a great deal of dam- 

 age; and then aother reason why the soil needs to be very thor- 

 oughly prepared if you expect to successfully grow alfalfa on 

 account of the young plant being so tender it needs a fine bed, but 

 when it has a firm hold there seems to be little danger of killing 

 it. It will stand a lot of disking. We set the disks so they 

 cover up a lot of the plant. We cannot set it deep enough after 

 two years so it will cut those roots out. It is surprising the way 

 alfalfa grows after such treatment. 



Member: Is it harder to grow alfalfa than red clover? 



Mr. Dickerson: No, it is not. 



Member: When do you cut the alfalfa? 



Mr. Dickerson: We go about it this way, we cut the al- 

 falfa as soon as the young shoot begins to appear, when the 

 young plants are about one- fourth in blossom; soon after that 

 the leaves begin to drop off. I have noticed that soon after 

 it began to blossom it was not long before one-half of the 

 leaves were on the ground. 



Mr. Mason: How do you think the ensilage keeps in the 

 cement silo? 



