The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-04-26
ALFALFA SEED BED
VERY IMPORTANT
CONTINUED From Page One)

high lined soils to get real
start. At the meetings wer are
holding throughout the stat, we
have from half a dozen to as high
as 100 farmers tell their methods
of putting in alfalfa and sweet
clover.
Some carelessly and seemingly
with pride, say they can get good
stand of alfalfa any old way. At
once one of their good farmer
neighbors will speak up and say,
"some day you will find that your
stand of alfalfa will dry out be-
fore it gets past the danger stage. "
We can't take a chance with this
most valuable of al crops. All of
the important things should be
done in preparing the seedbed and
in seeding the alfalfa. Then it
makes one of the surest crops that
we can seed in our soil. The drain
age should be proper, and the fer
tility sufficient to produce a good
crop of any other average farm
crop. The soil sho@ld have suffi-
cient lime it in, or we should ap-
Lily lime to it ourselves. The seed
must be inoculated and not seeded
over an inch deep. Then the land
should be rolled with SON, kind of
corrugated roller q. fore and after
seeding, whel. er it be Nth a
broadcast seeder, a wheelbarrow
seeder, a grain drill or by hand"
This is the way the most successful
growers seed alfalfa in Minnesota.
l have found in every commun-
ity, some that have had cups and
downs" with alfalfa for Is years.
On farms where the alfalfa patches
are not large enough to warrant
the buying of a corrlget: roller,
SON. farmers have mace one.
Sorae use corrugated briige cul-
verung material, IL to 70 inches
in diameter, 8 to 10 feet long,
filling it with sand, or sand and
sawdust; others ION the smaller
sizes, fill it with cement, or on the
larger ones, partly fill it with ce-
ment. Still others use corrugat-
ed form to make cement rollers.
Most farmers find that where
they are putting in from 10 to Is
acres of alfalfa and from Is to 20
acres of sweet clover every year,
they can we'll afford to uuy one of
these corrugated land rollers. They
can get just as good stand of
alfalfa with seven or eight pounds
of alfalfa seed as they used to get
using Is to, 20 pounds of seed.
Albert Johnson of Aitkin coun-
ty, says he saved $500 per acre
in seed by using a mulcher and
packer in putting in his alfalfa,
and he is also using this same ma
chine on his corn ground and when
preparing the seedbed for other
crops, since the use of it on his al
falfa has proven of such great val
ue on his soil and seeded.
Now, take a look at the little
seed. See how small it is. Nature
has put hard coat on it because
it is hardy, but there isn't enough
plant food in that little seed to
send its shoots very far up through
the soil so it can get light, sun
shine and air. Nor is there enough
p ant food in tue seed to send it's
roots very faI Ii the ground to get
moisture and plant food. So this
is the reason Rhy this seed bed
should be mellow, free from clods
and air spaces and firmeu down,
compact, AMI this is what you want
to keep in r"Ld in preparing your
seedbed for alfalfa.
In 1923, I found dozens of
fields of alfalfa that the farmers
told me had had a good stand when
the seed first came up, but later
had died out. When l asked them
if they had firmed their seedbed
down with corrugated roller, they
said, "No."
| have yet to find man who
used a properly prepared seed bed
and firmed the seedbed down be-
fore and after seeding, who didn't
get the seed in over an inch deep,
but what got a good stand of al
falfa. Of course, if the seed or the
soil was not inoculated with the
bacteria for alfalfa, just as soon
as the alfalfa plants use UP what
soluble nitrogen was in the top
few inches of the soil, the alfalfa
turned yellow and died out. But
: that's not the fault of the seedbed
preparation. That's entirely an
other step in the successful plant
ing and caring for essentials of all
falfa and will be treated in later
issue.
! have found good stands of al
/falfa where practically every kind
of nurse crop has been used and
seeded either early in April or
seeded alone as late as September.
Weather conditions have a great
deal to do with the success or fail
ure of alfalfa in any of these
months.
A pretty sure way of getting a
good stand of alfalfa is to use an.
old cornfield of clay loan that has
not been fall plowed. Disc this up
early in the spring so it will be
free from weeds, sow light nurse
crop, and firm down with Al corru-
gated roller. Then sow eight to
ten pounds of good Grimm or
Cossack alfalfa seed which has
been inoculated. This should be
sown broadcast or drilled. If
broadcast, then harrow. Roll with
a corrugated land roller. The
same method is used on potato
ground mr. wharo c,,ror hoo+c h,ro