The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1913-07-17

feed the root below the ground. A
grower should watch out for this or
the stand will be ruined.
At least every two years it is a.
good idea to allow the third or fourth
growth to go to seed, as it strength
ems the plant and will help to reset
a great many poor stands, esp cially
during August. Alfalfa should 20
INTO winter with good growth as
1T protects the crowns and will enable
you to get a much better and
heavier, also quicker, cutting the fol-
lowing spring. 1t should be disced
at least twice each season with a
regular alfalfa harrow. Whenever
1t turns yellow or looks like it is
not thriving, if it has made any start
at the crown at all, the old crop
should be cut off, After the new
crowns once start the top crop will
not mature any further than let it
interfere with the next growth. It
will do any field of alfalfa good to
top dress it with lime, also bone
rock, and harrow it in, if it is not
thriving and doing we'll Alfalfa
should never be narrowed or cut
while wet.
1t should not be pastured under
any circumstances the first year. At
ter 1t comes into the second year.
there is no better pasture for hogs.
but it should never be grazed too
close or very long at time, as the
young crowns will be injured. Chick
ems should never be allowed to run
on young alfalfa until after the
crowns have gotten a good start.
You can get many times more good
reed by cutting and feeding the all
falta to the live stock and fowls than
you can by pasturing or grazing it.
1t a poor stand of alfalfa is secured
on any piece of land the first year,
cut and treat it just the same as if
you had good stand during that
season. Then in September cover
the field with lime and scatter some
OF the dirt from the spots where a
good stand has been secured on the
barren spots. Re-p1ow this field
croSsWlse with a small scooter:
narrow it good and re-seed this same
piece of land in September. You
Will not lose single cutting. and
1t Will enable you to catch up all
the vacant spaces and by early spring
you will have solid sod A great
many people make mistake in blow
ing up a field that has poor stand
on 1t. This should never be done.
Inc same field should be replanted
after thorough preparation. A small
scooter being used for this work will
not destroy many of the plants. It
Will distribute the inocuIated soil
and enable you to succeed with if.
where otherwise you probably would
not
The best way to cure alfalfa is af-
ter the dew is all off of the field in
the morning, cut the alfalfa and in
the afternoon, rake it into wind rows
with side delivery rake. If the
weather is good it can be cooked in
the field in tall cocks about feet
high and 4 feet through. In about
one or two days afterward, if the
weather is favorable, by opening up
these cocks and letting them air a
few hours before hauling into the
barn, it can be cured bright and
green in this way. The safest and
usrest way to cure it with all the
leaves on it is to haul it directly to
a large shed or barn in three or four
hours after it has been cut; but the
Hoor of this barn should be made of
heavy wire fencing or of 1x3 strips
placed 4 or 5 inches apart, SO that
the air can circulate through the hay.
If it is placed on a close floor where
no air can circulate through it this