54 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



damp and cloudy, the alfalfa may not grow fast, but 

 weeds will Therefore, June may see him mowing to 

 retard a rampant growth of weeds instead of gathering 

 a profitable cutting of prime hay. It is not improbable 

 that he may be doing the same in July or in September, 

 thus losing a whole season. Again, the spring prepara- 

 tion comes when the farmer needs to be working his 

 corn and potato land ; hence he is likely to sHght or neg- 

 lect the careful preparation of the alfalfa ground and so 

 do a poor job, with, in such cases, the usual result of a 

 "poor stand." Then too, the frequent rains interfere 

 with regular disking and harrowing and the weeds may 

 obtain a start the farmer cannot check. In most cases 

 fall sowing means three cuttings the following year. In 

 many instances spring sowing means no crop the first 

 season, although better farming will gain a September 

 crop, while the best farming, with no weeds, may give 

 two if not three crops; not heavy ones, perhaps, but of 

 no inconsiderable value. 



Commenting on spring sowing in the more northern 

 states, Henry Wallace, editor of Wallaces' Farmer, says : 



"Our own experience in growing alfalfa both in Ne- 

 braska and Iowa has taught us that it is a waste of time 

 and labor to sow in the spring. If sown in the spring 

 without a nurse crop, it will have to be mowed twice, prob- 

 ably three times, to keep down the weeds, and even then 

 it will not be in as good condition as if a crop of early 

 corn or even oats was taken off, and the ground put in 

 fine condition and seeded in August 



"In 1904 we sowed in the spring 250 acres of alfalfa 

 on our Nebraska farm, and some twenty or thirty acres 



