CULTIVATION OF ALFALFA. 



567 



The first tooth is set against a garden line drawn tight across the field, 

 the marker is dragged backwards by the workman, each tooth marking 

 a line ; thus the G teeth mark G lines, if the line is set each time ; but it 

 is best to place the end tooth of the marker in a line already made, so 

 that in this way only 5 lines are marked at once, but it is quicker to do 

 this than move the line. The lines being marked out, the seed is sown 

 by hand or by seed-drill, at the rate of 8 to 12 pounds per acre. After 

 sowing — and this rule applies to all seeds, if sown by hand — the seed 

 must be trodden in by walking on the lines, so as to press the seed 

 down into the drills. After treading in, the ground must be leveled by 

 raking with a wooden or steel rake along the lines lengthways, not 

 across. That done, it would be advantageous to use a roller over the 

 land, so as to smooth the surface and further tiim the seed, but this is 

 not indispensable. When seeds are drilled in by machine the wheel 

 presses down the soil on the seed, so that tieading in with the feet is 

 not necessary. After the seeds germinate so as to show the rows, which 

 will be in from two to four weeks, according to the weather, the ground 

 must be hoed between, and this is best done by some light wheel hoe, if 

 by hand, such as the "Universal." On light sandy soil, such as in 

 Florida, a man could with ease run over two to three acres per day. 

 The labor entailed in this method of sowing alfalfa in drills is some 

 what greater than when sown broadcast in the usual way of grasses 

 and clover, but there is no question that it is by far the best and most 

 profitable plan, for it must be remembered that the plant is a hardy 

 perennial, and is good for a crop for eight to ten years. Moreover, the 

 sowing in drills admits of the crop being easily fertilized, if it is found 

 necessary to do so; as all that is necessary is to sow bone-dust, super- 

 phosphates, or other concentrated fertilizer between the rows, and then 

 stir it into the soil by the use of the wheel-hoe. In the ground of Mr. 

 Bronson, of Saint Augustine, Fla., he found that the seed sown in the 

 middle of October gave him a crop fit to cut in three mouths after sow- 

 ing, and three heavy crops after, during the same year; and I have 

 little doubt that in that climate and soil, so congenial to its growth, that 

 six heavy green crops could be cut annually, after the plant is fairly 

 established, if a moderate amouut of fertilizer was used, say 300 pounds 

 of superphosphate or bone dust to the acre. Mr. William Crozier, of 

 North port, Long Island, one of the best known farmers and stock- 

 breeders in the vicinity of New York, says that he has long considered 

 alfalfa one of the best forage crops. lie uses it always to feed his milch 

 cows and breeding ewes, particularly in preparing them for exhibition 

 at fairs, where he is known to be a most successful competitor, and 

 always takes along sufficient alfalfa hay to feed them on while there. 

 Mr. Crozier's system of culture is broadcast, and he uses some fifteen 

 or sixteen pounds of seed to the acre, but his land is unusually clean 

 and in a high state of cultivation, which enables him to adopt the broad- 

 cast plan; buton the average land it will be found that the plan of sow- 

 ing in drills would be the best. 



Mr. Crozier's crop the second year averaged eighteen tons, green, to 

 the acre, and about six tons when dried as hay. For his section — the 

 latitude of New York — he finds the best date of sowing is first week in 

 May, and a good cutting can be had iu September. The next season a 

 full crop is obtained when it is cut, if green, three or four times. If to 

 be used for hay, it is cut in the condition of ordinary red clover, in blos- 

 som ; it then makes after that two green crops if cut; sometimes the 

 last one instead of being cut is fed on the ground by sheep or cattle. 



Mr. R. M. Sargent, Macon, Ga., writing to us, under date March G, 



