Show ALFALFA ON DRY LAND 4 prep prepare are soil one year before the seed Is sown deep plowing la Is important and it Is essential that moisture should be conserved to greatest extent practicable hy PROP THOMAS SHAW SHANN alfalfa may lo be grown in nine tenths of tile tho land in tho northwestern 11 ter n stat Cs providing tho the land Is ia properly pro pared the right kind of seed Is sown and the seed is properly put into the ground and the plants suitably sult ably cared for or tho the preparation of the soll boll should begin ono one year before the seed la is sown when the plants are sown on oil dry land tho the object sought Is first to clean the land and second to conserve tile ho sell boll as far its as this may be Poe possible sible these objects may bo be secured by carefully summer fal allowing the land when it does not blow or by growing a clean cultivated crop on it and by growing a corn crop where the soil does not blow before plowing tho the land for the summer fallow or the cultivated crop not less than a dozen good loads of 0 farm yard vard manure should be applied to the band land which ought to bo be plowed deeply deally Y is 0 on n light sandy land it Is essential that the land shall bo be kept clean and that tile the moisture shall be conserved in it to the grea greatest greate teat jt extent practicable whether the land Is summer fal lowed or a cultivated crop Is grown it should not bo be again plowed befort before sowing the seed in the early spring however it ought to bo be disked but noi deeply and then harrowed tho the har bar row may bo be used further at intervals before the seed Is sown bown this maintains a dust mulch and destroys weeds that may sprout the seed sown should bo be northern grown crown turkestan Turk estan grimm and what 1 I 1 la 8 called northern montana are all good northern montana to Is another bamo me for northern grown all ol of these are good when they can be ob bained true to name and all are sut suf hardy the seed should be sown with the drill and without a nurse crop it should be burled buried from ono one to two inches when thus sown it comes up evenly when sown broadcast it to ie not burled buried evenly and it dry weather follows the stand will be uneven it if the drill will not sow the seed alone it may be mixed with something as dry soll free from grit or wheat bran where the rainfall la Is not moro more than 16 15 inches in a year six pounds of good seed beel on well prepared land is enough wh ero the rainfall Is not more than 18 to 19 inches it may be better to sow seven or eight pounds it if the I 1 plants are too many for the moisture in the land the roots will not go down sufficiently i and the yield of hay will be correspondingly reduced the plants may be harrowed if 11 necessary when from five to six inches high it weeds are present or of ir the tops topa ot of tho plants should lose color the mower should bo be run avex ovex the ground with the cutt erbar set so high as aa not to clip the crowns of the plants what Is thus mown should be left on the land to mulch the same before the arrival of winter the plants will bo be high enough from the subsequent growth to hold the snow that falls alls for winter protection when the plants are one year old they may be disked lightly with profit to tho the crop every year subsequently the crop should be disked dished more or lose less severely in the early spring and under some borne conditions after each cutting the disking loosens and aerates the soil and allows the moisture to penetrate more deeply the harrow should follow the disk it Is probable that seed will b be grown by sowing the alfalfa in rows from 30 to 42 inches distant and cultivating as tor for corn when thus sown two or two and a halt half pounds of seed per acre should be ample |