The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-06-22
sEEDING OF ALFALFA.

mol Always secure 0uH1C1Gnl
Moisture to Insure termination
in August-Does Better With
Nurse Crop.
In central Nebraska and west,
the farmer is in a manner COM
pelled to sow his alfalfa in the
spring, for the reason that he can
not always secure sufficient mois-
ture to insure gemination In Au-
gust seeding. He must therefore
sow in April, May or June, when
conditions are such as to insure a
full stand, says Wallace Farmer.
As half stand of alfalfa is practi-
eally no stand.
In the humid section we do not
recommend spring seeding at all.
Although some men have been sue
Ecessful with it, it is altogether bet
ter to seed in August when, with
proper care, the farmer IN the
humid section can be reasonably
certain of a supply of moisture
sufficient to terminate his alfalfa
seed. Where farmers in the hu-
mid section still insist on sowing
their alfalfa in the spring, how
ever, we venture to make some
suggestions:
There are but two ways of SOW
ing alfalfa in the spring, either
with a nurse crop or without. We
would not care to SOW alfalfa
without a nurse crop until we had
In some way sprouted and killed
the annual weeds which come up
and grow with such luxuriance in
the spring.
If We were intending to sow al
in the spring we would be-
gin treatment as early as possible,
as if we were preparing for corn.
would disk as soon as the
ground was in working condition.
would pillow after disking, and
harrow after blowing, and harrow
whenever we saw the weeds start
ing until in May. We would then
seed to alfalfa, giving it the full
use of the land.
If weeds grew, we would not
bother with them, but allow them
to grow with the alfalfa, and then
,nt the crop when it was begin
to throw out buds from the
crown. This will get rid of the
annual weeds. There are a class
Of weeds, however, that come up1
later, and these will give you
trouble. 1t is the custom of a
good many farmers, when weeds
begin to spring up and threaten
to Smother the alfalfa, to clip
them back. The trouble with
this is that this clipping does not !
help the alfalfa. but hurts it, for |
the reason that alfalfa is not &C.
customed to being cut until it
throws out buds from the crown
OR the root, near the ground. The
weeds keep growing right along,
even if cut back; and In
our experience We have found
that, this method of clipping al
falfa before it is ready to throw
out buds is a positive disadvant
age.
If a nurse crop is used, we
would select the earliest winter
wheat, if the stand is not too
thick, or, better still, winter rye.
By sowing alfalfa on winter
wheat when it is two or three
inches high, and then narrowing
it as you would clover, you will
kill a vast number of the annual
weeds that grow in the spring.
You will also have conserved
moisture by breaking up the
crust and as your wheat will, in
the latitude of central Iowa, be
off about the first week in July,
the alfalfa will scarcely have
made sufficient growth to be cut
when the wheat is moved. The
wheat itself will tend to prevent
weed growth. Rye would usu-
ally be better than wheat, be-
cause It does not usually lodge,
and can therefore be cut high,
thus avoiding cutting back the
alfalfa before it is time.
If neither of these areN avail
abb, we would use. early oats or.
barley, seeding not more than a
bushel and a half to the acre.
We would prepare the ground
thoroughly, continuing the pre-
paration 9 week or two longer
to get rid Of the weeds, and then
seed.
We do not advise this practice
Of spring sowing; bput it if is adj
opted, then we think the condi-