The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits / Its Uses as a Forage and Fertilizer

In this double title we have a case of the widest variations and the most positive and rigid uniformity. Alfalfa may be grown in almost every possible kind of soil and under almost all soil conditions (save two), but omitting these the seeding, including the tilth of the ground, is based, so far as any future success is concerned, on perfect cultivation. The dictum, “Alfalfa must have a dry, warm, sandy loam, very rich” has become obsolete, as already pointed out.

There are just two soil conditions that seem absolutely against the growth of alfalfa. The first is a soil constantly wet. The common remark, “Alfalfa will not stand ‘wet feet’,” seems to be the expression of a law. It does not do well where the water is nearer to the surface than six feet, or where in winter water will stand on the ground for over forty-eight hours. This invariably smothers the plants; in fact it usually kills any crop. If water flows over the field for some such time, due to a freshet, the alfalfa is often found uninjured if too much soil has not been deposited on and around the plants. Even in such instances fields have been saved by a disking once or twice, but it is wholly unwise to sow on a field subject to overflow, or one where water rises to the surface in winter or spring; likewise on a field so flat that water will not run off in time of a heavy rain or promptly drain out through the sub-surface. The time is rapidly coming everywhere when the intelligent farmer will not try to raise any crop on such a field, undrained. The alfalfa roots will find their way to moisture if given the right surface conditions. There are profitable alfalfa meadows in parts of Kansas where it is eighty feet to water, but there has not yet been found one that is prosperous where water comes close to the surface, or where it stands on the ground in winter.

The other kind of soil where alfalfa refuses to grow is that in which there is too much acidity. This is often the case where corn and wheat have been raised for many years, thus robbing the soil of much lime; a condition that may be remedied by an application of lime to the land just before sowing the alfalfa, harrowing it in beforehand or, if the seed is to be broadcasted, the lime may be applied just before sowing, when once harrowing will suffice for both, or it may be sown with a drill—500 to 1000 pounds per acre.

A simple test for acidity is to make a deep cut in the ground with a knife, pressing the earth slightly apart; then push a piece of litmus paper into the opening and press the earth together. Leave the paper there for a few hours. If upon examination the litmus paper has a pink appearance it is proof of acidity, and this, as already said, may best be remedied with lime.

SOIL PREPARATION

With the only two negative points considered, the more important conditions upon which success will depend may be discussed. One chief essential is the advance preparation. Many of the most successful growers begin their preparations two or three years before they sow the seed. There must be, by rights, the most perfect physical condition of the soil. It should have been plowed deep for at least two years, and in most fields in the central and northern states a two- or three-inch subsoiling along with a seven- or eight-inch plowing will be very helpful.

If corn is to precede a spring sowing, the ground should have a liberal dressing of stable manure plowed under for humus, to encourage earthworms and to introduce the particular bacteria so essential to alfalfa’s welfare or at least furnish favorable conditions for bacteria, and the harrow should follow the plow each day. The soil’s condition should be like that for a garden. Care should be taken never to work with the ground when too wet, as such working almost inevitably results in clods and baked soil. The corn should be cultivated often, and a liberal sowing of cowpeas just before the last cultivation, which should be shallow, has been found quite helpful. This crop will repress and take the place of weeds, furnish a rich food for fattening pigs or lambs after the corn is cut, add fertility to the soil, and also introduce bacteria similar to the bacteria for the alfalfa. The cowpea, being a legume, prepares the way for alfalfa, its near relative.

KEEP DOWN THE WEEDS

It is always timely to emphasize the very great importance of keeping down weeds in the cornfield where alfalfa is to be sowed the next spring. If corn is husked from the fields, the stalks should not be pastured except when the ground is fully frozen. Later they should be thoroughly broken, raked and burned, to leave the land in the best condition for spring work. If the corn is cut and fodder hauled off, the stubs should be broken in cold weather by a pole or other drag, and raked and burned as recommended for the stalks. This adapts the ground for disking and harrowing early in March. Then every ten days the field should be disked or harrowed to conserve moisture, to start weeds and then kill them, and to bring the ground into the desirable tilth. Ordinarily, in the central states, sowing may be done early in April, while in the South this may be done by the middle of March, and in Wisconsin and Canada by the last of April or early May, although the dates are variable. Many report seeding in Kansas the middle of May, obtaining a clipping in July and a hay crop in September. Others report sowing in March and cutting a hay crop in June. Some Wisconsin reports say that the first of June is early enough, while others in that state and in Minnesota prefer to sow two or three weeks earlier, and still others in Wisconsin sow in April. The important things to keep in mind are to have the soil right and the weeds disposed of, and to sow when the weather and moisture and conditions are right. Alfalfa is a child of the sun; permanent shade from any source is its enemy, and when young it is not a good fighter against adversaries of any sort. More failures are due to weeds than to any other one cause, and unfortunately all the weeds do not grow on the land of the farmer who is shiftless or neglectful. The latter is so benevolent as to permit his weeds to scatter their seeds to the fields of his neighbors.

If a spring sowing is to be made on wheat ground, the land will be helped by a liberal dressing of manure immediately after the harvest, and by plowing and harrowing at once; then sowing about the last of August to rye or wheat for fall and winter pasturage, and to prevent the soil from leaching or washing. In the spring the land should be disked and harrowed for alfalfa, keeping in mind the point emphasized in the preceding paragraph. Instead of the rye or wheat, cowpeas may be sowed after the wheat harvest; thus both fertility and bacteria will be added to the soil, and the farmer have a valuable pasture crop for pigs or lambs. If the season is extremely favorable, a hay crop may be cut in early October.

If potatoes are to precede a spring sowing of alfalfa, more than usual care should be taken to keep the field clean of weeds. Some farmers do well by sowing millet with the last cultivation of potatoes, leaving the potatoes in the ground until after the millet is harvested, and when the crop is dug the land is free from weeds. Then it may be harrowed or disked and seeded to rye for winter pasture. Some plow the potato ground in the fall and sow to wheat or rye. Certainly if weeds are present the ground should be plowed as soon as the potatoes are dug. The idea is to secure a fine seed bed and have the ground free from weeds, the great curse of the American farm. All things considered there is probably no crop which leaves the soil in finer physical condition for alfalfa-sowing than millet, and none that is more unsatisfactory for a like purpose than sorghum or Kafir corn that was planted in hills or rows.

A clover sod for a spring sowing should be plowed in September or October, disked or harrowed, and not infrequently a light sowing of rye for winter pasture is feasible. In early spring use disk and tooth harrows on the land. It is excellent if a liberal application of rotted stable manure is plowed under with the clover sod. Usually it is better to follow clover with a corn or potato crop before seeding to alfalfa.

FALL SOWING

Fall sowing presents fewer difficulties than spring sowing. Corn is not the preceding crop and hence the weed problem is not so formidable. Usually a fall sowing follows millet or oats, cowpeas or potatoes. Almost any crop except the sorghums may be grown to precede alfalfa for a fall sowing; these should not be as they consume too much moisture. If possible, put on a dressing of stable manure the preceding winter; plow deep in the spring and work to a fine tilth for the summer crop. South of the latitude of 40 degrees cowpeas is one of the best preparatory crops. They are legumes, and the bacteria that live on their roots are similar to those upon the alfalfa roots; they are also nitrogen-gatherers, taking nitrogen from the air as does the alfalfa, and thus they prepare the soil for alfalfa. Besides, cowpeas are a valuable forage, the hay being worth almost as much, pound for pound, as that of alfalfa. When cut off they leave the ground ready for disking and other preparation. Millet is also excellent for this purpose, leaving the soil unusually friable. Potatoes make a satisfactory preparatory crop, but the danger from them too often is neglect to keep the weeds down. As soon as the land is free, it should be disked and harrowed, and this repeated about every ten days until the time for sowing.

RECENT PLOWING NOT DESIRABLE

It is seen that plowing for alfalfa just preceding the seeding is not recommended. Plowing leaves the sub-surface too loose, thus depriving the roots of a sufficiently firm footing and making a full sowing more liable to harm from freezing and thawing, and the spring sowing to harm from a dry summer. The necessity of the most perfect surface conditions cannot be to often emphasized, and this too includes considerable compactness rather than a too light or ashy condition. There must be no clods, no stiff and stubborn humps.

If alfalfa is to follow clover, and to be seeded in the fall, the sod should be broken early after the clover is harvested and each day’s plowing harrowed that day; then the field disked and cross-disked and harrowed again. After that it should be disked, lapping half, every ten or fifteen days until time for seeding. Alfalfa may follow timothy if the sod is not too old and stubborn, and it may be treated the same as clover sod.

INTRODUCE BACTERIA BY PREPARATORY SOWING

Another form of preparation followed by many successful growers, men who do not complain about alfalfa not doing well “here,” is the sowing of a few pounds of alfalfa seed on the field two or three years before it is intended to sow for a permanent crop. Mr. Joseph E. Wing, of central western Ohio, a widely known farmer, stockman, and writer on matters agricultural, uses alfalfa in a regular rotation, and two years before he is ready to sow it on a given field as a main crop, sows clover and timothy along with two or three pounds of alfalfa seed, for a pasture crop. Thus the bacteria are introduced, and when the pasture is plowed for the full sowing of alfalfa, the disking and harrowing that follow distribute the bacteria throughout the soil, and the probabilities of a good stand are greatly enhanced. He sometimes sows two or three pounds of alfalfa seed to the acre with a wheat crop two years before he is to sow the field entirely to alfalfa. Another, in a state where the experiment station director still declares alfalfa-raising to be doubtful, writes that he has not had a failure in a decade, and his plan is to precede alfalfa with winter wheat, sowing a little alfalfa seed with the wheat, probably three pounds to the acre, and the next fall after giving the land a thorough preparation he sows fifteen pounds of alfalfa seed to the acre. Another reports pleasing results in two different fields by sowing in the spring five pounds of alfalfa seed with clover; in two years the alfalfa stood thick on the ground, having crowded out the clover. If these plans introduce the bacteria into the soil, it may be wondered why it would not be equally helpful to sow two or three pounds of alfalfa seed per acre with the oats or millet in the spring, preparatory to the thorough seeding to alfalfa in the fall.

Another man, whose 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.

ALL CROPS DEMAND CONDITIONS

Alfalfa, like corn and cotton, demands certain conditions 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 nitrogen 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 FALL SOWING—WHICH?

This has been a much argued question with experimenters. Possibly it will be found to be of minor importance 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 satisfactory results from fall seeding. It seems pretty well established, however, that fall sowing is safer in the central latitude states, say including Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Utah, and states within the same parallels.

In other states prevailing opinions favor spring sowing. Nevertheless, when all conditions are understood, fall sowing seems likely to become the established practice throughout the United States. This is in line with the system for the more staple crops and common rotation; it gives opportunity to bring the ground into better condition; the preparation and sowing come at the most convenient season, and one of relatively greater leisure; there is less interruption by unfavorable weather; the soil, responding more readily to surface cultivation, permits the work to be done with less danger of surface water retarding normal root development, and the annual weeds being dead they cannot interfere with the first growth of the alfalfa. Sown in the fall, with time to secure some growth for winter protection, alfalfa will be ready to respond to the first call of spring, and for the mower early in June. Moreover, if it fails from freezing or other cause, little crop-time is lost. The farmer has but to disk and harrow in April or early May, and sow half as much seed as he sowed in the fall, and he will have prospect of a cutting in eighty or ninety days, at an expenditure of but few pounds of seed and a little labor.

DISADVANTAGES OF SPRING SOWING

Ordinarily, if a farmer sows in the spring, he has his old enemy, the weeds, to contend with. If the season be 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 preparation comes when the farmer needs to be working his corn and potato land; hence he is likely to slight or neglect 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 Nebraska 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, probably 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 of it was washed in ridges by a very heavy rain immediately after. We reseeded the vacant spaces in the fall and later could see no difference between the fall sowing and the spring sowing. We did the same thing on one of our Iowa farms, sowing in the spring and mowing three times. Another piece was sowed in August. The August sowing was much better than the spring sowing. It should be said, however, that the land was richer and the difference was therefore not all due to the time of sowing. So long as Kansas farmers continued to sow their alfalfa in the spring they had but partial success, owing to the fact that Crab grass and other grasses will come up in the early fall and smother out the spring sowing. By using some other crop the first part of the season, then putting the land in fine condition in the month of August or even by September 1st, an alfalfa crop can be started which will have a strong enough growth to smother out the weeds the next spring.

“We don’t know that we would insist on this so strongly for northern Iowa and Minnesota, but certainly from the latitude of the Northwestern railroad in Iowa, south, and corresponding latitude in other states, we would abandon spring sowing and sow alfalfa on well prepared ground in August. We would not, however, plow the ground for this fall sowing, but put the soil in first-class condition for a spring crop, then use a disk and harrow for the fall preparation.”

SEEDING BY DRILL OR BROADCAST?

Here too, there is a variety of opinions, all based on experience. Those who object most to drills may have used poor implements, with feeding gears not well regulated, or possibly they have not known how to use the drills. Many who object to the broadcast method have had little training or skill in it. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that given soil in fine tilth, and a good drill rightly adjusted, there will be a more even, and hence a more economical distribution and a better and more uniform covering of the seed. It is also claimed that drilling secures a more uniform distribution of soil moisture. The general opinion is that by sowing with a drill, properly regulated, one can safely use five pounds less of seed per acre. Some alfalfa raisers use a wheelbarrow seeder; others use a kind of swing seeder strapped to the sower’s body; still others, who have had training in the old-fashioned method of broadcasting, declare it the best, but the experiment stations of practically all the states, and most up-to-date farmers, favor the use of the press drill. There are now on the market different types of alfalfa seeders which can be attached or are already attached to the ordinary grain drill, and that will distribute the seed in any desired quantities per acre with broadcast effect or leave it in drill rows as may be preferred. At the Kansas Experiment Station success has followed broadcasting, and cross-drilling gave no particular advantage.

HOW MUCH SEED TO THE ACRE?

Reports of seed sown, varying from six to sixty pounds to the acre, indicate much ignorance of the nature of the alfalfa plant; or a great recklessness and extravagance. Twenty pounds to the acre, if all seeds germinated, would mean 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 plants, whereas a stand of 500,000 is ample. Most of the experiment stations favor twenty to thirty pounds to the acre, although several experts at these stations insist that fifteen pounds of clean, germinable seed to the acre is as much as should be sowed. Even if these all grew it would give nearly 44 plants to the foot square of land, or four to five times as many as would thrive after two years old. Of course the quantity may depend upon a variety of circumstances, such as the vitality of the seed, condition of the surface soil, condition of the subsoil as to moisture, the method of sowing, weather conditions at the time of sowing or immediately after, also the natural fertility of the soil and the bacterial life present, or at least the conditions for propagating or sustaining bacterial life. With land prepared by sowing a few pounds of seed six months or a year preceding, with a heavy application of stable manure plowed under six months before, perfect soil preparation, normal moisture, and clean seed, testing ninety per cent germinable, there should be no need for more than ten pounds to the acre. Disking that the field should have later will split the crowns and many new stalks will be sent up; so that in a few years a square foot of surface will not accommodate more than six to ten robust, vigorous plants, and having these the ideal stand has pretty nearly been attained. One plant has been known to send out as many as 360 branches from its single main root, resembling in form a spreading bush. A successful farmer in Geary county, Kansas, who has been raising alfalfa for twenty years, seldom sows more than six pounds of seed to the acre and never more than ten. A prominent Ohio farmer usually sows but ten, and never over twelve or fifteen pounds to the acre, although he has always introduced alfalfa bacteria into the soil one or two years before ready to give it a full seeding. Of strictly good seed, well cleaned, twelve pounds would likely be too much rather than too little, other conditions being right.

WITH OR WITHOUT A NURSE CROP?

The practice of sowing a nurse crop with alfalfa was inaugurated when the nature of the plant was not as well understood as now. It was also somewhat on the theory too that “a half-loaf is better than no bread.” It began when there was a good deal of doubt about “getting a stand,” and the farmer thought no doubt that a crop of oats or barley would pay for the plowing even if the alfalfa failed. While the practice is continued by many, the prevalent later method is to provide no nurse crop. Few who have abandoned the nurse crop have returned to it. The alfalfa plant does not need protection from the sun, nor is it bettered by dividing any of the soil moisture or fertility with those of another crop. On the other hand, if alfalfa is sowed in the spring, it is important that it obtain an early start in order that its roots can quickly work their way down into the moisture of the subsoil, against the dry days of July and August. When a nurse crop of any vigor is removed the alfalfa plants are likely to be found weak, spindling and with little root growth; the nurse crop also has taken up some of the soil nitrogen needed by the young alfalfa; or if the nurse crop is heavy and has lodged, there will be left bare spots, where the alfalfa has been smothered out.

Cutting the nurse crop is likely to be attended with no little damage to the tender alfalfa plants by trampling their crowns into the ground, or by breaking them off. Practically all the experiment stations favor sowing alone. With few exceptions the second and third years have brought heavier yields where no nurse crop was used. The theory that the nurse crop will prevent the weeds choking the alfalfa is apparently, as a rule, not well founded. In the first place alfalfa should not be sown on foul land, and in the second place proper disking and harrowing, at near intervals for four or six weeks before sowing, will disturb or kill far more weeds than can any nurse crop. Besides, the oats or barley sown as a nurse will when cut leave weeds in good growth, or dormant and ready to spring up as fast or faster than the alfalfa. No nurse crop is ever used with fall sowing. When ground has been thoroughly prepared for the preceding crop, and then properly cared for, and made ready for the alfalfa by the preliminary weed destruction, it will be found advisable to sow alfalfa alone, even in the spring.

INOCULATING THE SOIL

It has been found where alfalfa shows thrifty vigor, is making a good stand, and is at least two years old, that on the roots are little nodules or wart-like protuberances. On fields where the alfalfa is unthrifty or failing to make a good stand, examination will probably fail to discover any of these nodules. Scientists tell us that these nodules are the homes of bacteria, microscopic vegetable organisms obtaining their sustenance from the nitrogen of the air and the starch of the plant; that they collect much more nitrogen than they need, the over-supply being taken up by the alfalfa, which, after these nodules are formed and occupied, takes no more nitrogen from the soil, but annually stores about its roots more from the air, thus adding to the nitrogen supply in the soil instead of taking from it as do all other farm crops except the legumes. Each legume—clover, alfalfa, cowpeas, etc.—has a distinct species of bacteria, or at least bacteria with a distinct development, excepting, as has been found, that Sweet clover (Melilotus alba) and Bur clover (Medicago denticulata) develop the same species as does alfalfa.

BUYING INFECTED SOIL

Several methods of preparing land for alfalfa by introducing its peculiar bacteria have been suggested, and practiced to some extent. Many farmers and experimenters have used with success infected soil upon their lands; soil from established alfalfa fields, or that from along the roads or creeks where the Sweet clover or Bur clover has been growing. This soil is spread upon the field or sown with alfalfa just before the seeding. If the drill is to be used the inoculated soil is spread on and harrowed in. If the seed is to be broadcasted, the infected soil may be harrowed in with the seed. It is better, however, to harrow this infected soil in thoroughly before seeding. Experiment stations recommend an application of two hundred pounds of such soil to every acre, but good results have been secured from half that quantity. This will depend very much upon the nature of the soil, and the subsoil especially. Many fields seem to have these bacteria waiting for the coming of alfalfa. Land that has been well manured and contains abundant humus, and land that is light and friable will usually respond to the bacterial life attached to the alfalfa seed. Most farmers who have established fields will sell soil to their neighbors, which should be from the top six or eight inches, and include roots, stubble and earth. Both Sweet clover and Bur clover are found in almost every neighborhood in the northern states, while the latter is very general in the South.

Some alfalfa raisers make a business of selling and shipping inoculated soil. Probably any experiment station will ship small quantities to farmers within its state, at about the cost of digging, sacking and delivering at the railroad station. Therefore, if a farmer desires to use it, little labor or expense is attached to doing so. There is reason, however, to doubt the need of this method in any of the western or central western states where the suggestions mentioned in the first part of the chapter are closely followed. No doubt there are advantages in using it in most states east of the Mississippi river, in order to hasten the development of the bacteria and to make a good stand more certain. Preparation one or two years in advance as already described, by a light sowing of alfalfa seed for introducing its peculiar bacteria, is less expensive, and requires less labor and carries no risk of introducing the seeds of other clovers or weeds. Most farms have enough weed seeds already.

DANGERS OF INOCULATION BY SOIL TRANSFER

Touching upon the dangers possibly resulting from inoculation by soil transfer a bulletin from the United States Department of Agriculture has this to suggest:

“Satisfactory inoculations have been obtained by transferring soil from old fields on which the legume has been grown, but experience has shown that there are dangers incident to such methods of soil transfer which it is wise to avoid.

“The source of supply of such soil should be definitely known, and in no case should soil be used from fields which have previously borne any crop affected with a fungous disease, a bacterial disease, or with nematodes. Where a rotation of crops is practiced, it is often difficult to make sure of this factor, so that the method of soil transfer is, under average circumstances, open to suspicion, if not to positive objection. Numerous animal and plant parasites live in the soil for years, and are already established in so many localities that it is manifestly unwise to ship soil indiscriminately from one portion of the country to another.

“The bacterial diseases of the tomato, potato, and egg plant, and the club-root, brown rot, and wilt disease of the cabbage, all more or less widely distributed, are readily transmitted in the soil; while in the South and West there are the wilt diseases of cotton, melons, sweet potatoes, cowpeas, and flax, and various nematoid and root-rot diseases which might easily become a serious menace over areas much larger than they now occupy if deliberately spread by the careless use of soil for inoculation purposes. There are several insects and fungous diseases of clover to be avoided, and various diseases of beans and peas. There is also a disease of alfalfa, the ‘leaf spot,’ which is causing damage in some regions. These are only a few of many diseases liable to be transmitted in soils. The farmer should therefore be on his guard. The danger from such sources is by no means imaginary. The Department of Agriculture has had specific cases of such accidental distribution reported, and if the business of selling soil for inoculation is made to flourish by farmers purchasing without question ‘alfalfa soil,’ ‘cowpea soil,’ etc., there is every reason to believe that experience will demonstrate the folly of such haphazard methods.

“Of scarcely less importance is the danger of disseminating noxious weeds and insect pests through this plan of inoculation by means of soils. Even though weeds may not have been serious in the field, the great number of dormant seeds, requiring but a slight change in surroundings to produce germination, is always a menace. The enormous damage to crops caused by introduced insects and weeds should convey a warning and lead to caution. It is not the part of good judgment to view the risk as a slight one.”

OTHER METHODS OF INOCULATION

There are two or three better ways of inoculating land than by using a neighbor’s soil. Some alfalfa raisers recommend the sowing of alfalfa meal with the seed. Another plan which appears reasonable and practicable is for the farmer who wishes to introduce alfalfa to buy alfalfa hay the year before and feed it to his live stock; then haul the manure to the fields and plow it under for the crop to precede alfalfa. It is claimed by those who have done this that a satisfactory stand is well-nigh certain, other conditions being met. It can be said, however, that some high authorities on this crop, men who have experimented on many different kinds of soil and who have succeeded under varying conditions, declare that neither soil nor seed inoculation is necessary. It is altogether probable that if a field has been well farmed for a few years previous to the alfalfa-sowing, with unusually good cultivation the preceding year, a heavy application of stable manure plowed under at least five months before, then given the proper preparation and seeding, using seed raised in about the same latitude and under similar conditions in which the new crop must grow, and with seed testing ninety per cent germinable, there should be little anxiety about the need of inoculation. Of course old, worn-out land may require more fertilizers, restoring to the soil not only necessary nitrogen that has been exhausted by other crops, but also the potash and phosphorus. In eastern states it has been found advantageous also to apply a very light top-dressing of stable manure just before sowing the seed. If lime is deficient, that must be applied. An examination of any particular soil will usually be made without charge by the state chemists, and the farmer may thus approximately ascertain just what the soil will need for alfalfa, corn, or any other crop he may desire to raise.

KEEP ON TRYING

It is important to say to the eastern farmers, especially, that there is little difference between successful alfalfa-growing and the successful growing of other crops. Poor farming never brings big crops, nor will poor land produce as big yields as the more fertile. Failure to restore to the soil the necessary elements of which it has been robbed means the same in New York, Kansas, Virginia, or anywhere else. Every farm plant, to prosper, must find in the soil, readily available, the elements needed for its development. If a farmer finds the soil lacking in elements needed for certain crops, he should either apply the deficiency or not attempt their raising. This is true of corn or wheat, cotton, or tobacco, no less than alfalfa.

Alfalfa needs especially nitrogen, potash and phosphorus. The average virgin soil in the United States contains enough of these to last several hundred years. If there had been at all times an intelligent rotation of crops, these chemical elements would be found in just as large proportions in the soil that has been farmed a hundred years as in the soil never cultivated. Hence, if after trying alfalfa a man meets with failure, he should not stop, and say, “Alfalfa won’t grow ‘here’,” but try it again immediately. If he discovers a seeming failure in March or April, he should disk and harrow and as early as possible sow about ten pounds of seed to the acre; in many instances he will have to clip his alfalfa in about six or eight weeks and can mow a crop of hay in September, or possibly two hay crops in the season. There have been various cases reported where three hay crops were secured the first season after such cultivation, when the fields had been pronounced a failure in March. Alfalfa may be sown on such ground as late as the first of June if the weeds have been thoroughly subdued. Or, if it has been sown in the spring and the weeds seem to be overtopping it in July, mow close to the ground, rake into windrows and burn. Then disk and harrow thoroughly and sow again. In all probability there will be something of a crop to mow early in September, with a considerable autumn growth to follow. If it is not desired to sow alfalfa in midsummer, disk this ground and sow to rye or oats for pasture; then late in August disk and put in readiness for September sowing. The failure may have been because the soil had not enough bacteria, or favorable environment for the bacteria. Some of the seed sowed at first undoubtedly germinated and some bacteria were developed; enough certainly to prepare the soil for the second sowing. It is unwise after such a failure to go to another field or to wait for another year. It is wiser to meet the conditions at once, and vigorously persevere.

In reference to the application of lime, mentioned on a preceding page, it should be noted that the later experiments seem to indicate that it is better to apply smaller quantities at shorter intervals than larger quantities at longer intervals; also that air-slacked lime is less caustic than the quicklime, and not so liable, when recently applied, to harm the young plants which may come in contact with it, hence more of the former may be used and with greater safety. Ordinarily quicklime is considered the most beneficial.