Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-11-09
FLOWING FOR ALFALFA.
better Results From Doins II In the taii
Than In the spring.


Than In the spring.
The question is shall the land be
plowed in the fall or spring for spring
sowing: From practical experience
fall sowing is preferable. Let INC
plowed ground lie over winter anu
pack, and then harrow II well IN tle
spring, and when severe freezing is
past sow the seed with "A drill; broad
casting sxill do also. The point In Ia'
-vor OF the drill Is that hve or SIX
pounds OF seed can b. saved to in acre
from the fact that II Is put III al
more uniform depth. When broadcast
ed II will probably. not all be harrow
ed down and some will be narrowed IN
too deep. That lying on the surface
the birds will take while that when
Is buried too derp VIII never come up,
We had patch OF twelve or fourteen
acr.S. spring piowed. We hired
man TO drill the seed In, but lie was
not careful enough To set the drili az
the right depth. and the seed was prob
ably sowed two inches deep and very
little OF IL came up. ....
would say where spring plowini y
done roll the ground, make IL nice anu
mellow. and whether the seed j. sowcd
with II drIll or broadcast. about hnh
nm inch Is ample. In our dry land farm.
ing ! believe II n good plan to plow IN
the fall. because the ground VIII bc
more compact and Is better able 10 re-
tain the moisture. Another point. is u
best TO SOW alfalfa In the fallt We
hnvs tried this TO n considerable cS-
tent and have c.iInc to the conclusion
that IL IL better TO sow In the fall thnn
In the spring. provided there arr favor
able weather conditions. II IL difficult.
however. TO get tho weather rl-men's
Ia our favor for fail sowing. II we
can get good stand early In the fall.
II is much better than sowing In the
spring. We had u three or four-acTc
patch that WINS piowcd In the spring.
About the first of September II was
sowcd and th. raln happened To come.
The seeds sproui,-l and came M. anil
'hat stand was away ahead In the
spring.
Twice after that we sowcd In the fall.
hut the rain did not come until the Int.
ter part Of October. and then the frost
came. anu the natural cunscIu"ncc fol.
lowed. Anything that fr,S.gc- cSpan,bs
little: fr-zing seems to raiSc the top
soil from the rest ani breaks til. roots
on. so tim, when plant has a good
start the roots viii not break on 50
easily. but when weak II nips them on.
4 good plan where there Is Irrigation Il
TO water the crop early In the fall 80
that II will get good start. In Aug
ust. 1897. after n crop Of fall wheat
had been harvested we plowcd twenty
ncrc- and after narrowing aud proper.
~ smoothing the land we drilled In
fifteen pounds Of s.--i mn acre and I'm.
mc'iin'cly irrigated the tract. The seed
sprouic'i. came up. nnd the plants Were
three inches high before the frost came
In the spring Of ISIS We plowcd fifteen
| ncrcs adjoining. prepared the seed bed.
drilled In fifteen pounds OF seed an
! acre as n nurse crop.
We raised twelv. bushels Of wheat
nm acre. and the alfalfa stand was NIL
right. hut did not make near iii. pro.
srcss TINT the adjoining fail.sowet
! twenty acres did. This twcniy-acrc
patch produced ten bushels Of wheat
nn acre. ns well Ms the sowc,i land nd.
Joining because II Ind bccn planted to
wheat the year before. and by plowlng
after harvest and watering the land
caused the shellcd wheat to volunteer.
\ nrrs. crop viii do with irrigation.
We have also tried II without irriga,.
Ing. We sowcd barley on n dry land
patch OF ten acres, and on the adjoln.
Ing ten Icrcs we didn't SOW amy bar.
ley. The result was That tho barley
killed the alfalfa. hui In the match with.
ont barley and with snnfiowcrs seven
ie't hIgh there was good stand Of al.
iniin. though there were thousands Of
Snniiowcrs. From that II would seem
ihnt II does not pay TO sow n nurse
crop with dry.lnnd alfaifn.-Iuhn II.
hoimGrrn, In Field and Farm.