Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1900-04-28
w A-KEENEY, KAN, APRIL %. 1900.

be grown on freshly plowed land. If.
on the first day of May. one has a
clean piece of corn stubble which he
is anxious to seed at once, he could in
all probability secure better stand
by thoroughly disking and cross-disk-
ing the ground, and, after smoothing
with harrow. seeding without plow-
ing.
'The better way to prepare clean
land for spring seeding is by fall or
| winter plOwing. The ground should
be diSked a number of times at vary
ing intervals before seeding to keep
it covered with the benefcent dusk
blanket. Ground prepared in this
way, after receiving the Immediate
narrowing always necessary, should
be seeded early in April in the north
half of Kansas.
TIME OF SEEDING.
"Alfalfa has been successfully Sown
in Kansas in ey cry month from March
to September. Where the ground is
not weedY spring seeding has been
practiced with success. Fhe cold
sive, sometimes cause the young
plants to rot off, as would be the case
with the adult plant when submerged
for two or three days. If the land
has been given an opportunity to gar
ner up a bountiful supply of moisture,
early fall seeding will often be sue
cessful in eastern Kansas. This seed
ing should be done in the latter half
of August or not later than the 10th
of September.
QUANTITY OF SEED NEEDED.
''The quantity of seed to SOW on an
acre is a question of considerable i'm
portance. The majority of successful
growers advise twenty to thirty
pounds. II the seed were universally
good and the ground always well pre-
pared, this would be grossly extrava-
CANT. Prof. Headden has made some
interesting observations upon the
stand of alfalfa in number of mead
ows. y field of alfalfa six months old
was found to contain 653, 400 plants
per acre; another field of ten years
old was found to contain 526, 793
plants to the acre; another contained
139. 1892 plants to the acre. All of
these three fields yielded the same
quantity of hay per acre--a little over
four tons. Another field IL years old
was found to contain only 7O,283
plants per acre, and yet this field
yielded over three tons of hay per
acre. The stands in these different
fields were respectively fifteen,
twelve, three and less than two
plants per square foot. A pound of
alfalfa seed contains 100000 seeds. If
ty pounds per acre would give $780,
600 plants, or eIghty-eight per square
foot. After nlne-tenths of the young
plants have perished from crowding
or accidents we would still have an
ample stand. From these facts one
can readily find the reasons for differ
ence of opinion among good farmers
as to the quantity of seed to sow. As
low as eight to ten pounds per acre
have frequently been used with sue
cess.
CARE OF THE CROP.
"Alfalfa may be seeded broadcast
or in drills. The seed should be COW
cred about one inch in depth, unless
the surface be very dry, when a some
what greater depth is admissible. At
ter the alfalfa has been sown lin the
spring, it will be necessary to run a
moving machine over the ground two
or three times during the summer to
keep down the weeds. Foxtail and
crab grass are great enemies to young
alfalfa If good stand of the young
plants can be gotten through the sec
Ond year, no subsequent crop of these
weedy grasses can hurt the alfalfa.
Foxtail and crab grass are ANIMALS,
while alfalfa is perennial that can
crowd the weeds to death 1 have
heard farmers complain that the fox
tail was running their alfalfa. 1 think
all cases of this kind were caused by
overpasturing the alfalfa, or by some
other injury When my alfalfa has
obtained firm foothold upon the
ground, / will let anv farmer who