The Ordway new era., 1914-01-02

flous water, and. second, to admit air.
If the ground it water-logged and the
air spaces between the particles of
soil are filled, the atmospheric oxy-
gen is necessarily driven out and the
plant will either smother or be very
weak or aenemic. Again. drain tile
are necessary in order to CORY off
standing water which not only rots
the roots, but is apt to keep the
ground too cold, especially in the
early spring. Drain tile are also ex-
tremely beneficial in admitting air to
the soil. 1t is practically useless to
attempt to raise alfalfa on the prairie
lands of Mississippi valley unless the
ground is thoroughly tile-drained.
Alfalfa requires rich soil. and the
richer it is. the better. 1t especially
requires large amount of humus or
arganic matter. There is no fertili-
ger that has ever been devised or ever
will be that will excel barnyard man
ure. The manure should be we'll
rotted and applied as a top dressing
after the ground is plowed and thor
oughly disced in. If manure cannot
be obtained, some heavy cover crop
should be plower under while in
green state several months before
the seed is planted in order to in
sure complete rotting.
If the soil is deficient in phos-
phorus, is should be applied either in
the form of raw rock phosphate made
in compost with barnyard manure
and permitted to stand for several
months before tits used, or in the
form of bone meal or acid phosphate.
Most soils usually contain sufficient
amount of potash, but it is apt to
be dormant. If such is the case. lime
will make it available In the case
of peaty soils. it will be beneficial
to apply small amount of potash,
either in the form of kainit or some
other commercial form. Wood ashes
make spledid fertilizer for alfalfa.
and the farmer will find it profitable
to save all his wood ashes and dis
tribute them as top dressing after
plowing.
Alfalfa. through the medium of bac-
terra which form on the roots in little
nodules. in some mysterious way has
the power to gather nitrogen from
the atmosphere and deposit it in no.
dulles which, when broken up. become
a part of the soil. If there are no
nodules on the alfalfa roots, nitro
gen is not gathered and the plant does
not thrive. Practically all of the
lands west OF the Missouri river are
naturally inoculated. but few east of
what might be termed the western
states are inoculated. Hence, it be-
comes necessary for the farmer TO
provide the culture, otherwise his ef-
forts to raise alfalfa are apt to be in vain.
1t is not uncommon for the farmer
to report that he has sown seed, Sc
cured good stand, found the no.
dulles on the roots and had not pre-
viously inoculated his soil. 1t is very
evident that the incubation was pro-
vided in some way, probably in the
seed, as is the case in some instances.
Many plans of incubation have
been tried and many of them have
proven to be failures. Cultures have
been furnished by the government
and by individuals, some with good
results and some have proven inne-
ffective- The writer has experimental
quite extensively. Seed has been sown
without incubation. and in each case
proven failure. Govcrnmet prepra-
tons have also been used with vary
ing success. The best and surest
plan has been to sow on the ground
and Immediately narrow in three or
four hundred pounds of soil from an
alfalfa field which was thoroughly
While opinions differ, the
writer firmly believes that the bac-
terra upon the wild, sweet clover
(Melilotus Alba) is identical with that
found on the alfalfa. In any event,
where soil from wild. sweet clover
has been applied, the results have
been all that could be desired. u.s.
lally apply four or five hundred
pounds to the acre. 1t is my GUS
tom to dig up wild, sweet clover
roots together with the soil and dis
tribute the mass evenly over the
field with manure spreader. This
should be done on a cloudy day or
after the sun has gone down at night,
ior the reason that the hot sun de-
'troys or materially wcakens the vi
tality of the bacteria. AS soon as the
distribution is made, it should be
1isced or narrowed in, preferably