258 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



conserve moisture. If late plowing is necessary the ground 

 should be well rolled to compact it below and bring the loose soil 

 in close contact with the bottom of the furrow. Where manure 

 is to be used it is best applied with a spreader at the rate of ten 

 to fifteen tons per acre and plowed under early. Cowpeas is an 

 excellent crop to precede alfalfa, as they leave the ground in 

 good physical condition and in fine shape for fall seeding. Where 

 alfalfa follows this crop the manure should be plowed under be- 

 fore the peas as that will give it a chance to be more thoroughly 

 worked into the soil than if applied just before seeding the al- 

 falfa. An early maturing variety of cowpeas such as the New 

 Era, if sown early, will mature and be ready to cut for hay by 

 the middle of August. After the peas are removed, a good seed- 

 bed can be prepared by thoroughly disking and harrowing the 

 ground, which will give better results than plowing so late. 



Harvesting. 



One of the difiiculties of handling alfalfa in Missouri is 

 found in curing the hay, especially the first crop when the weath- 

 er is not suited to hay making. A cutting of a ton or a ton and 

 a half per acre cures very slowly when the stems are so full of 

 water and the weather moist. In the dry climate of the west, the 

 hay cures so quickly that it goes into the stack almost as green 

 as when first cut, but with the moist atmosphere and frequent 

 rains of Missouri it is practically impossible to harvest every 

 crop without getting some of it badly bleached. The first crop is 

 sometimes made into silage or pastured off with hogs. The best 

 methods of curing alfalfa in this state depend largely upon the 

 weather but it rarely happens that it can be properly cured in the 

 swath. When allowed to lie in the swath the hay burns readily 

 and the leaves drop ofi^ so much in raking that much of the feed- 

 ing value is lost. It is usually better, therefore, to rake into 

 light windrows when only partially cured and allow it to finish 

 curing in the windrow or in small shocks. Hay caps are fre- 

 quently used for covering the shocks and protecting them from 



