| Show oats grown with alfalfa advised serves as good nurse crop protects during winter halts erosion dy by a ii Ami amistani stant in soil eadi rl anent fields un i of 0 iiii ben aco damage from dust storms which proved so devastating to young alfalfa seeding a in some sections can bo be practically eliminated if oats Is sown as a nurse crop with tile the new alfalfa seeding this fall largely as a result of the poor stands of forage caused by the drouth and the provisions of the lie AA AAA t programs it is anticipated that an exceptionally tio nally large acreage of alfalfa will be seeded during the next nest few weeks an appreciable amount of these will be on sandy or I 1 light bt windblown soils SOIL which are subject to wind erosion capable of ruining made during the latter part of the summer tests at the oquawka soil expert ment field maintained in henderson Ue county by the university of illinois college of agriculture show that this damage may be largely done away with by the use of oats as a combination nurse and coer crop for fall seeded alfalfa on sandy land observations made at the oquawka held field disclosed no damage to alfalfa seeded last fall surrounded by good oats growth gro however a few feet awny away where no oats had bad grown the alfalfa was either badly damaged or entirely killed by the windblown wind blown blow n sand in a largent unprotected area on the field sand had drifted several inches deep completely burying a strip of bluegrass in addition to presenting the movement of the soil by high winds oats sown as a nurse crop with alealia alfalfa this fall supplies at least three other advantages grasshoppers prefer the oats to the young alfalfa plants and thus are not so likely to feed upon the legume oats Is less of a competitive companion for the alfalfa than weeds would be and oats aids in protecting the alfalfa against the winter cold |
