Show DRY FARM ALFALFA secret of art Is accumulation of sufficient moisture of soil at time of plowing mat tors tore nothing but at time of planting it matters everything time to plant by ab B R PARSONS parker cr col the art of raising alfalfa without irrigation Is to accumulate sufficient suin clent moisture in the subsoil and then get the roots down into it two to throe three feet of moisture will carry the alfalfa a whole year and insure a stand whether it rains or not by plowing in the fall ton ten inches deep we can usually conserve this thid amount of moisture by springtime but for those who plow only six or seven inches deep it is better to fallow the land a whole year dry year plowing in ili the fall as I 1 explained in a previous paper Is not detrimental provided the ground Is riot not planted until spring the of the soil at time of clewing matters nothing ao thing but at time of planting it matters everything the best time to plant Is usually about the of april late planting is dangerous for all small seeds which chich have to be planted near the surface for in hot weather the top inch or dr two dies out very quickly and if the seeds sprout and the next rain is too long in coming the whole stand may die out before the rootlets rootless root lets can reach the wet dirt down below it can be seeded broadcast by hand or dr drilled but the solid wheel drill Is not as good for the purpose as the split wheel which I 1 am glad to see sec they are commencing to manufacture for all purposes the split wheel leaves an unpacked streak in seed row fori the young sprouts to como come through and obviates the necessity of df forcing their way through a crust which is a great advantage when the rains are few and far between in 1908 we had two feet four inches of moist soil to start with we planted april 15 a soft snow may alay 4 brought it up a light rain may alay 15 helped it along then it turned dry and lid did not rain again until july 29 a total of ten weeks drought the alfalfa grow grew about six inches high and we had a fing fine stand we cut weeds and all in august leaving it on the ground alfalfa can be planted in rows and cultivated as often as necessary but when planted in the ordinary way it san can be cultivated four times in the season which is as orten oaten as the gen oral run of farmers will cultivate anything the first year it ican can bo be lightly harrowed in the fall or it if not very large it can be left alone for it if it lives until august it will hold its own anyway the next spring it can bo be harrowed before sprouting and after each cutting after the second year the disk may be used cutting deep or shallow according to the size of the plants farmers sometimes complain that after a year or two their alfalfa dies out there are two reasons for this one Is shallow soil with a poor subsoil I 1 tho the other is not conserving enough moisture at the start to allow the roots to penetrate deeply enough into the subsoil to become thoroughly established tho the idea is this after a crop is started it uses up about all the mols moisture turo as it comes and there is very little loft left over if there la in no ro re serve of moisture accumulated before planting the subsoil never becomes saturated and the roots can never got get into it it Is the same with any crop the normal length of the roots of small grain for instance Is somewhere about four feet but if a man who never conserves moisture plows only six air inches his subsoil Is bound to bo be dry the roots do not go into it and he Is trying to grow a four foot root in a i six inch abaco |