The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1911-07-29
Preparing Soil and Sowing Alfalfa.

preparing Doll anu SOWING AiIditd.
IHon. F. d. Coleman, Secretary OF Agriculture.
In Home and Farm.]
While the value of alfalfa on any
farm makes it's sowing worth Il long,
painstakiug preparation. few farm
ers plan for its sowing farm advance.
Rightly, the preparation should be-
gin two or three weeks before the
tine of seeding, In thewa Of manur-
ing, and growing crops especially
suited to improving the conditions
of the soil, as cuwpeas, for instance,
just preceding. Ii the land il SO foul
with weeds that it cannot he cleaned
by cultivation, it should be fallowed
for a season. II desirable to snbsoiI,
this should he done several months,
possibly year. before seeding, and
may he followed either by faIlow or
cultivated crop. Sufficient time
should intervene between the subsoil-
ing and the seeding to allow the soil
tn settle and store a bountiful sup
ply of moisture. II deficient in humus
IL liberal coating Of burnyard manure
plowed under at the time OF subsoil-
ing will contribute wonderfully to
the SOILS physical condition and pro-
mote quick, strong growth.
In selecting field for alfalfa. it
does not matter so much about the
lay of the land, 50 long as it is well
drained and the soil not sour, al
though it naturally gives better re-
turns in soils that are rich and in fine
filth. A simple method by which the
scidity Of the soil may be tested is
to make IA deep cut in the moist
ground, say with "a knife, inserting
in the opening piece OF litmus pa
per, and, pressing the earth togeth-
er, leave the paper for an hour or
more. BY that timeif the paper has
turned pink or reddish. there is acid.
This may be corrected by applying
so to 1000 pounds of lime per acre
previous To or at the time Of sowing.
While there is considerable differ
ence of opinion as to whether spring
or fall sowing is best, the season
should not, perhaps in most locali-
ties, determine that so much lis the
presence of favorable conditions.
In Kansas, for instance, alfalfa has
been successfully suwn in every month
in the year from March to September,
and there are advocates of both fall
and spring sowing. but spring SOW
ing is more generally favored in the
extreme Northern States.
Fall sowing has number of ad-
,ntages thatrecommend it. First,
no time is lost in the producing rec
ord, for sown in the fall ulfalfa will
give two or three cuttings in the fol-
lowing year, while with the spring
sowing it 10 often struggle for ex-
istence for the first year, owing to
the gr0wth of weeds a nd the dry sum-
mer weather liable to be encounter
ed. The fall sowing begins its growth
early in the spring and hence stands
good chance to outgrow the weeds.
Another feature is that the small,
delicate alfalfa plant in the early
stages of growth obtains its nourish-
nent from the surface soil, and hence
the clenner the ground the more plant
food there is available and the thrift
Ter the growth. 1t is principally for
this reason, too, that alfalfa should
not be sown with nurse crop.
Outside of the more Northern
States where the winters are severe,
it would seem, therefore, that fall
sowing would be more or less gener-
ally advisable. Those without ex-
perience in alfalfa, aud intending To
SOW in thecorning fall, would do well
to begin preparing the seed-bed at
once, for sowing on loose, freshly
plowed land presages almost certain
failure. Until this became known
many of the best farmers did not
succeed withsalfalia, sls they plowed
deeply as Tor corn and sowed at once,
while perhaps their more shiftless
neighbore obtained creditable stands