Tombstone epitaph., 1915-01-10
ALFALFA ON DRY LAND
Prepare Soil One Year Before the
 Seed Is SoWn.
Deep Flowing ls Important and It Is Essential That Moisture Should Be Conserved to Greatest
 Extent Practicable.
CBy PROF. THOMAS sHAwJ

.CBy PROF. THOMAS SHAw) Alfalfa may be grown in nine-tenthS Of the land in the northwestern states. providing the land is properly pre- pared, the right kind of seed is sown, and the seed is properly put into the ground and the plants suitably cared for.
 The preparation of the soil should begin one year before the seed is sown when the plants are sown on dry land. The object sought is. first. to clean the land. and second. to con- serve the soil moisture as far as this may be possible. These objects may be secured by carefully summer fal- lowing the land when it does not blow, or by growing a clean. cultivated crop on it. and by growing a corn crop where the soil does not blow.
 Before blowing the land for the sum- mer fallow or the cultivated crop, not less than a dozen good loads of farm yard manure should be applied to the land. which ought to be plowed deep ly. Deep blowing is important, except on light, sandy land. It is essential that the land shall be kept clean and that the moisture shall be conserved Tn 1t to the greatest extent practica- oie. Whether the land is summer fal- lowed or a cultivated crop is grown. It should not be again plowed before sowing the seed. In the early spring, however, it ought to be disked. but not deeply, and then narrowed The har. row may be used further at intervals before the seed is sown. This main. tains dust mulch and destroys weeds that may sprout.
 The seed sown should be northern grown. Turkestan. Grimm and what Is called Northern Montana are all good Northern Montana is another name for northern grown All of these are good when they can be ob tained true to name, and all are suf fciently hardy.
 The seed should be sown with the drill and without a nurse crop. It should be buried from one to two inches. When thus sown it comes up evenly. When sown broadcast it is not buried evenly. and if dry weather follows the stand will be uneven. |, the drill will not SOW the seed alone it may be mixed with something. as dry soil. free from grit, or wheat bran
 Where the rainfall is not more than 15 inches in year, six pounds of good seed on well-prepared land is enough Where the rainfall is not more than IS to 19 inches. 1t may be better to SOW seven or eight pounds. If the plants are too many for the moisture in the land, the roots will not gc down sufficiently. and the yield of hay will be correspondingly reduced.
 The plants may be narrowed, fl necessary, when from five to si, inches high. if weeds are present oi if the tops of the plants should lose color. the mower should be run over the ground with the cutterbar set sc high as not to clip the crowns of the plants. What is thus mown should be left on the land to mulch the same Before the arrival of winter the planti will be high enough from the subse Quent growth to hold the snow thai falls for winter protection.
 When the plants are one year old they may be disked lightly with profit to the crop. Every year subsequently the crop should be disked more or less severely in the early spring and under some conditions after each cutting The disking loosens and aerates the soil and allows the moisture to pene trate more deeply. The harrow should follow the disk.
 It is probable that seed will be grown by sowing the alfalfa in rows from 90 to 42 inches distant, and cultivating as for corn when thus sown, two or two and half pounds of seed per acre should be ample.