The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1916-08-30
Farm Garden
Pract heal Alfalfa Growing.

Practical Alfalfa Growing.
The time for the farmer to think Of
fall seeding Of alfalfa is here again.
Each August witnesses a larger acre
age OF this valuable hay seeded in
Iowa. In choosing piece of ground
to seed alfalfa the following points
should be considered: the texture,
drainage and fertility Of soil; the need
OF inoouiation apd' condition of soil
in refetHnee to AGILITY
The a0il should be deep, open and
easily worked. It is absolutely essen
tiat that the ground be we'll drained,
either naturally or by the use of tile.
To secure The best, results, piece OF
ground that is reasonably fertile
should be- chosen Many very good
stands of alfalfa have been secured
without incubation. This, however,
is more than likely due to the fact that
the soil already contained bacteria.
Where the ground or seed is not inoc-
ulated it often results in a complete
failure to secure stand.
Il In well drained soils there is not
usually the trouble found with acid
ple of soil should be tested for acid
ity. The litmus test is most common
and is very easy to conduct. A hand
full OF soil taken few inches beneath
the surface is wet thoroughly and
pressed into ball This is cut into
halves and a piece of blue litmus pa.
per placed between the halves which
are pressed together again. This is
left stand IL minutes, then removed
and examined. If the blue litmus has
changed to red color, the soil is acid
and in need of lime.
AfteI the piece Of ground has been
chosen, the preparation Of seed bed,
the lining and manuring of soil, the
incubation of soil or seed, the time
and method of seeding and the kind
Of seed must be considered. The
ground may either be summer fallOw.
ed, or be used for some crop such as
winter. wheat. red clover or oats cut
for hay and removed early. In either
case the ground should be first pillow.
ed. and then should be narrowed thor.
oughly. Following this the ground
should be disced and narrowed thor:
oughly every 10 days or two weeks,
or at least after every rain until seed.
ed. the purpose being to maintain a
good mulch SO as to keep sufficient
moisture in the ground to insure germ
nation Of seed. The rolling Of ground
previous to seeding also tends to make
the seed bed more firm.
! TO secure the best results, especial
" in soils of only medium fertility,
the application of good manure, at
the rate of 8 to IL tons per acre is
recommended The lime Should be
applied after blowing and disced in
thoroughly.
The incubation may be done in two
ways, either by inoculating the soil
or the seed. II there is an alfalfa field
or q sweet clover patch near, which
has good vigorous plants, and has
an abundance of tubercules on the
roots, soil may be secured and spread
as uniformly rs possible over the field
at the rate of 800 pounds or more per
acre. THIS should be applied III the
evening and Immediately narrowed In
to prevent the germs being killed by
the SUM-
A great deal of work has been done
in developing pure bacterial culture
for inoculating alfalfa seed. Many III
these cultures have given quite gen.
eral success and should be used on
the seed If soil containing bacteria is
not available.
The ground should be seeded about
the middle 1of August and when pos.
sible Just before a rain. The seed
should be drilled in from one-half to
one and one-half inches deep. 1t is
recommended that the field be gone
over twice, once each way, seeding
half the seed each time where uni
form stand is desired. Some authori-
ties vary as to the amount of seed to
SOW per acre, but 20 pounds is constd.
cred the. safest amount.
4; The common American type or va.
riety of seed is recommended for
Iowa. Although not quite so hardy as
some varieties such as,the Grimm. but
IL is cheaper in price and has given
as good results Care, should be tax.
"a tos!make sure the kind of seed de.
s1fed ii secured.
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