Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1911-11-02
SUGGESTIONS FOR SECURING A
GOOD STAND OF ALFALFA ON
IRRIGATED LAND.
Land Preparation.

Land preparation.
| The first requisite of any piece or
irrigated land is good leyeling. This
operation should be done before piow'
| ing the field. Plow or disk the high
spots and fresno them into the hol-
lows, enough so at least. that the wa
ter will readily pass over every loot
OF the ground. New land should not
be seeded to any perennial crop Tor
irrigation until after grain or for
age crop has been grown. If this pre-
caution is taken all the high spo's
and irregular places can be noted
at the first irrigation, and after the
crop has been harvested, these can
be removed and the necessary I'LL ;nss
and cuts made to insure easy irriga-
| ton. The even distribution OF wa
! ter not only insures a larger and
more uniform crop but it also reduc-
es the time and labor and greatly
checks soil washing.
The Seed-Bed.
Alfalfa seed being very small re-
quires firm seed-bed. The finer the
seed-bed the closer the seed can De
planted to the surface, thereby IN
surfing quicker termination and first
growth. The treatment accorded soils
should OF course vary with the type
Of soil under consideration. Sandy
soils in this western country as
rule are wind-blown soils and conse-
quently are hard to handle. These
should be left in the stubble through
the winter and in the spring when
irrigation water is available III nee
essary,) disked, firmed with an acme
harrow, seeded and prepared for IT.
rigation and kept moist mot VET
until a good cover has been secured.
Sandy clay and sandy-clay-lo soils
may be plowed in the fall and left
open to the elements during the
winter. Freezing and thawing aid
materially in good seed bed prepar-
alton. In the spring when the soil
is moist the land should be double
disked and farmed with an acme har-
row and if enough moisture remains
in the surface to terminate the
seed readily, the planting should
be done as soon after the acme har-
rowing as possible. In case OF
lack of sufficient moisture the soil
should be carefully irrigated and
the narrowing with the acme harrow
repeated as before. A clay soil
should not be handled when wet as
a good seed-bed cannot be secured.
Seeding.
II is always best to plant home
grown seed as it is already acclimat-
ed to your locality. Insist on pure,
clean bright seed. Twelve pounds OF
seed to the acre is ample for an ex-
cellent stand if a proper seed-bed has
been prepared, provided of course all
the seeds terminate. A termination
test can be run while the land Is be-
ing prepared and the rate of seed
ing determined accordingly. A firm
close seed-bed will terminate
higher percentage of good alfalfa seed
than will an open, loose seed-bed.
And coordinate with this an open
loose seed-bed will require more
seed to secure the same stand. ,
Time to Seed.
In the southern part OF the state |
spring seeding has proved by far the |
better and least expensive, more es- |
pecially SO where irrigation water is |
paid for by the acre foot. There is |
naturally less evaporation during the |
spring months, the soil contains more
moisture, rains occur frequently ana |
the soil does not bake as hard. More |
care should be taken in summer seed |
ing as evaporation is higher and the
seed naturally being planted shallow
is more subject to the greater heat
and increased evaporation. Summer
seeding should be irrigated oftener,
than spring seeding to keep the soil
from baking until the ground has
become shaded.
The Experiment Station at Cald-
well has not succeeded in getting
creditable stand of alfalfa from fall
seeding. There is not sufficient
growth made to carry the plants
the winter and in the spring
the ground is usually baked and
very hard and the young plants are
smothered before they can make suf-