The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-29

German millet can be sown broadcast even as late as JulN
 On land not too rocky and of suit able topography 1t may even be worth while to devise plans for roughly block ing out cotton by horse power.
 scrape run across the rows has been
 used, and 1t would seem that an fn-
 genious man might do this still more
 rapidly by rigging up double-foot
 stock with scrapes, or by using three narrow scrapes on patent, one-norse cultivator or on the bottom of frame or sled at least six feet long and run across the rows J. F. D.
 Discing Alfalfa.
 Our experience in discing alfalfa on the station farm during the past two years may be of interest to some read CTS.
 Walking today over the field that was very thoroughly disced few days after the first cutting of alfalfa hay
 was removed. I was again impressed with the advantages of this form of til- lage. To appreciate the situation. read CTS should bear in mind that the soil on which this alfalfa Is growing is'not naturally adapted to alfalfa and that only by inoculatipn, the use of either stable manure or lime, and constant warfare against weeds, can the alfalfa
 
 patch, some plots of which have been devoted to the growth of this crop for more than four years. weeds and crab- grass have naturally taken strong
 hold. This makes heroic treatment | necessary. A discing is usually given in February or March before growth has proceeded very far. and it is our
 intention to use the disc harrow after each cutting of -alfalfa, where the plants are at least twelve months old. I said that the discing Is thorough. To one not making a careful examina- | tion and Judging only by the amount of upturned soil it might seem that VIC were aiming to exterminate the crop itself. The harrow lapped halfway on It's own track, giving the equivalent of two dicsings, and to a spot especially weedy still more work was sometimes given. At first we set the discs as straight as we could. the aim being l rather to thicken the stand by splitting the crowns than to effect the almost complete destruction of the weeds. We found that the dull discs that we werc
 using were not doing much of this, and gave the discs a little more angle with | the line of draft, with consequent in- crease in the amount of soil turned up and greater injury to the weedss The young growth of weeds formed an al- most complete carpet at the time of discing and now, a few weeks later, the sod of weeds is nearly all destroyed. The alfalfa has apparently suffered no | injury, except possibly some slight | thinning of the stand where young plants of later sowings stood. It IS quite certain that when dry weather l succeeds the present showery condl- tions that cultivation through discing already given will prove a distinct ad- | vantage to the crop by reason of the better retention of moisture in the cul- | tivated soil.
 It should be added that the imple- ment used was a cut-away disc. l should be glad to hear through these | columns whether those who may have used the solid disc in a similar opera | tion have found it to cut many of the | old alfalfa plants.
 From the above 1t should not be con- cluded that we are able to keep weeds and especially crabgrass out of our al- | falfa growing on sandy soil It often happens that the pressure of other
 farm work causes us to omit the disc | ing after the second cutting or that | the ground Is then go hard that but | Title uprooting of the weeds Is possi- | ble In that case and I am almost ready to say in any case, there IS
 usually more crabgrass than alfalfa l hay in the last cutting. This mixture l makes a good feed, but is far inferior | to pure alfalfa, and the presence Of the growing crabgrass weakens the al | falfa plants and shortens the life of | the meadow.
 It is important that after using the disc harrow some smoothing and level | ing implement be run over the field. We generally employ the spike-tooth harrow, but have used the Hallock weeder. On our soil where small stones are abundant. the use of roller | following the smoothing narrow,
 washes the stones into the loosened soil. thus making 1t possible for the
 next moving to be close to the ground
 rnd at the same time decreasing the
 "e"' "A~ J. F. D.