52 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



Another man, v^^hose profit in raising alfalfa has been 

 marked, reports that his soil is very waxy and hard to 

 deal with. He has met this trouble by listing his ground 

 in the fall and leaving it thus open for hard freezing 

 throughout the winter. He then disks and cross-disks 

 in the spring, putting the soil in fine tilth, and sowing 

 millet as a preparatory crop. He has occasionally sowed 

 alfalfa in the spring, following the fall listing and later 

 freezing of his ground. 



AUli CROPS DEaiAND CONDITIONS. 



Alfalfa, like corn and cotton, demands certain condi- 

 tions of the soil and certain constituents in that soil. 

 Every crop demands its certain foods. All crops except 

 alfalfa and the other legumes obtain practically all their 

 food, including nitrogen, from the soil. The latter crops 

 use nitrogen but get it from the air. Alfalfa takes nitro- 

 gen from the soil only during the first few months of its 

 growth, and thereafter not only takes its own necessary 

 supply from the air, but a large surplus which it stores in 

 the soil, available for whatever crop may follow. Other 

 crops take much nitrogen from the soil, but contribute 

 nothing to its enrichment. 



SPRING OR WAUh S0\\T:NG— WHICH? 



This has been a much argued question with experi- 

 menters. Possibly it will be found to be of minor impor- 

 tance in itself, depending more upon other conditions 

 than the season. From the northern tier of states many 

 reports favor spring sowing, yet from each come letters 

 in favor of fall sowing. Several experiment stations in 

 the South are in favor of spring sowing, yet report sat- 



