Show RAISE DEEP ROOTED PLANTS properly interspersed in a rotation T they hey do much good alfalfa crops need needs much water properly interspersed in a rotation deep rooted plants will do a lot of work for us that we cannot do our selves however willing for we can not reach the same depths with any tillage machine neither can we in stall millions of little pumps to bring back soluble fertility to the surface even where seasons are adverse to curing alfalfa it can be used tor for hog pasture and work tor for us day and night throughout a long growing season says a writer in the denver weekly post in the irrigated districts hogs are a considerable trouble during the busy summer season but they do harvest a good deal of their own food the alfalfa must be dipped it Is true but we me save the harvesting A hard and fast rule as to when to plow up alfalfa every two or three years will often result tn in its destruct tion at the time it will do its best ser vice especially on farms where it has had an abundance of water and the roots have not yet penetrated the hardpan investigation with a shovel down tour four or five feet or less will reveal but little penetration and that only a little of the alfalfa s ability to draw fertility from the subsoil has been exerted our natural inclination Is to help a plant along all we can and alfalfa responds so readily to copious watering that frequent ap are sometimes made with good results so far as the immediate crop is concerned but which develop on inertia in root growth and cause the altalo to teed feed largely in the upper soil strata and this la Is especially the case when no cultivation Is given the crop and water passes rapidly over the surface soaking it slightly out nut never penetrating the subsoil this result Is of cou so commoner on clays and impervious soils than on sand or sandy loams for in these the water sinks easily and the roots descend in search of it it thorough cultivation will allow the water to des descend celd and be stored tor for future use on heavy soils and encourage deep rooting there Is a strong tendency from the start with alfalfa to thin out because the seed sown gown produces a great number of plants than can find room As they swell out and reach maturity frequent will keep the stand thicker and result in a finer hay so that tor for a year or two it will be of superior quality it is about the third year that the stronger plants have usually asserted their dominance and taken what seems an undue amount of room but they will still fill the space and it if cut somewhat earlier t than ban a thicker growth will not be coarse or woody and end the bulk of hay will not be serious ly reduced we now have our choice either to break up the field or run it in alfalfa tor for a longer period for the good it does as a and a nitrogen storer which will be the best plan depends on a great variety of circum stances which alone should govern not lot borne me preconceived plan without regard to the benefits the alfalfa may or may not so far have exerted on the subsoil to anything like its full capacity tor for betterment althe it the water supply Is somewhat limited we have a crop which Is eminently adapted to help itself and make a profit where a EL shallower rooted one will fall fail and meanwhile it exerts itself to go after the water and deepens our soil tor for ons ensuing crops if on the other hand the alfalfa has already gone down ten or twelve feet it may have accomplished about all it Is capable of doing in the time land can be devoted to this cro crop P one of the few plants that can be sown with much success in alfalfa to thicken it up is winter rye which does well very much increasing the bulk of the first cutting and being palatable cured and stacked with the alfalfa chicory seems to be able to take taa hold so tar far as I 1 have been able to test it but it needs a longer trial before rec commendation ommen dation aven ven where alfalfa is to be broken up in the spring some crop to fill up and give a more sod like texture to the breaking which will withstand tramping is highly desir able |