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Show SEEDING OF ALFALFA Must Be Done in the Spring in the Humid Sections. Parmer Cannot Always Secure Sufficient Suffi-cient Moisture to Insure Germination Germina-tion In August Does Better With Nurse Crop. In central Nebraska and west, the farmer Is In a manner compelled to sow his alfalfa In the spring, for the reason that he cannot always secure sufllclent moisture to insure germination germina-tion In August seeding. He must therefore sow in April, May or June, when conditions are such as to insure a full stand, says Wallace's Farmer. A half stand of alfalfa Is practically no stand. In the humid section we do not recommend rec-ommend spring seeding at all. Although Al-though some men have been successful with It, It Is altogether better to seed in August when, with proper care, the farmer In the humid section can be reasonably certain of a supply of moisture mois-ture sufficient to germinate his alfalfa seed. Where farmers In the humid section still Insist on sowing their alfalfa al-falfa in the spring, however, we venture ven-ture to make some suggestions: There are but two ways of sowing alfalfa In the spring, either with a nurse crop or without We would not care to sow alfalfa without a nurse crop until we had In some way sprouted sprout-ed and killed the annual weeds which come up and grow with such luxuriance luxuri-ance in the spring. If we were Intending to sow alfalfa in the spring we would begin treatment treat-ment as early as possible, as If we were preparing for corn. We would disk as soon as the ground was in working condition. We would plow after disking, and harrow after plowing, and harrow whenever we saw the weeds starting until in May. We would then seed to alfalfa, giving it the full use of the land. If weeds grew, we would not bother with them, but allow them to grow with the alfalfa, and then cut the crop when It was beginning to throw out buds from the crown. This will get rid of the annual weeds. There are a class of weeds, however, -that come up later, and these will give you trouble. It Is the custom of a good many farmers, farm-ers, when weeds begin to spring up and threaten to smother the alfalfa, to clip them back. The trouble with this is that this clipping does not help the alfalfa but hurts it, for the reason that alfalfa Is not accustomed to being cut until it throws out buds from the crown, or the root, near the ground. The weeds keep growing right along, however, even If cutback; and In our experience we have found that this method of clipping alfalfa before it is ready to throw out buds is a positive disadvantage. If a nurse crop is used, we would select the -earliest; winter wheat. If the stand Is not too thick, or, better still, winter rye. By sowing alfalfa on winter wheat when It is two or three inches high, and then harrowing it as you would clover, you will kill a vast number of the annual weeds that grow in the spring. You will also have conserved moisture by breaking up the crust; and as your wheat will, In the latitude of central Iowa, be off about the first week In July, the alfalfa will scarcely have made sufficient growth to be cut when the wheat is mowed. The wheat itself will tend to prevent weed growth. Rye would usually usu-ally be better than wheat, because It does not usually lodge, and can there-, fore be cut high, thus avoiding cutting back the alfalfa before it Is time. |