Show CULTURE OF ALFALFA careful leveling and smoothing of land necessary either irrigation or sufficient chent length of time and attention given to conservation of moisture should be practiced sowing alfalfa in the sod or on sod land seldom results favorably altai ta IS seed has become scarce and ex pensive and should never be wasted or thrown away in a poor seed bed new now land should be cultivated in boing soing some other crop at least one year before it la Is seeded to alfalfa the seed bed should be moist and well packed on this account it is advisable to plow in the tall fall where irrigation Is practiced too much care cannot be given the careful leveling and smoothing of land which Is to be seeded to alfalfa is nee stalk of good alfalfa astary the crop Is to remain on the soil for from tn two 0 to ten or more years and avoiding future expense of dim cult irrigating will pay many times over it is well to levelle level leve lAhe he ground care fully and then try it by giving a flood irrigation before the seed is planted it if there are holes or bumps which are difficult to irrigate go on again with a scraper raper land grader or home homemade made leveler either irrigation or sufficient length of time and attention given to conservation of moisture should al ways be practiced before planting al caifa seed writes B C buffum in the denver field and farm it is imbor tant tat that there be enough moisture in the soil to germinate the seed and give the plants their first few weeks ot of growth until they are eight or ten inches high before another irrigation becomes necessary where the seasons are short alfalfa should be sown as early in the spring as the ground can be put in proper condition and heavy freezing weather Is past the young plants are not se so piously injured by a few degrees of frost at lower altitudes where the season is longer alfalfa may be sown any time up to the middle of august As far as nort northern herh warning we ha have ve succeeded in securing a good stand of alfalfa when it was planted as late as as the last of august in seeding for al falfa hay use a drill with press wheel attachments do not sow broadcast unless only an acre or so Is planted and ind a drill cannot be obtained plant the seed shallow from one half inch to two inches deep the amount of seed to ue will depend is upon po c circumstances if the seed bed Is in p perfect condition moist loose on the surface firm below and warm from eight to twelve pounds of good seed to the acre will produce a sum chent stand usually the seed bed Is not in good condition and twenty pounds of seed is recommended the more seed the finer the hay other things being equal some growers especially in the eastern states efant as much as thirty or forty pounds of seed my method is to sow ten or twelve pounds the first year and it if a heavy stand is not secured go over the second season in the opposite dl stalk of poor alfalfa and drill in ten pounds more of seed this re seeding should be done the first or second year as after the old plants are well established the young ones are shaded or crowd ed out and never mal e good thrifty growth seed at right angles to the he direction of the wind tander irrl irnia g tion it is best to seed with ee tion of the land slope unless the land if Is so steep the soil will wash |