When alsike seed is sown on drained sloughs, the aim should be to reduce the excess of coarse vegetable matter, if present, and to secure a smooth surface, such as will facilitate the easy mowing of the crop. More especially should this be the aim if the alsike is sown to produce hay. This can be most easily and speedily done by growing on it some reducing crop, as flax or rape, and then smoothing the surface by implements best suited to such work, as, for instance, some form of plow leveler. =Sowing.=--The time at which alsike clover may best be sown is the same as that for sowing the medium red variety; that is to say, the early spring. (See page 75.) Since it is hardier than the medium red variety, the danger is less that spring frosts will destroy the plants after they begin to grow. As with medium red clover, it may also be sown at sundry times, from the opening of spring until the late summer when the opportunity offers, and when the conditions for growth are favorable. For instance, there may be seasons when alsike clover, and, indeed, any kind of clover, will succeed along with a catch crop sown for pasture or to provide soiling food. But it should not be sown in the autumn unless where the winters are mild, or the young plants will not survive their rigors. Alsike clover is more commonly sown with a nurse crop. As with medium red, the crops with which it may be best sown are the small cereal grains, as winter rye, barley, wheat and oats, favorable in the order named. But it may also be sown with flax, with rape, and with grain crops that are to be cut for soiling or to be grazed down. The method of sowing alsike clover is virtually the same as that followed in sowing medium red clover (see page 78); that is to say, it may be sown by hand machines, with a grass-seeder attachment to the grain drill, or with the ordinary tubes of the grain drill and along with the grain. The seed is very small, and, consequently, may not admit of being buried so deeply as medium red clover, but in the open soils of the prairie it will sometimes succeed as well sown along with the grain as when buried less deeply, but in many soils the roller will provide a sufficient covering. Especially is this true in climates that are moist. Alsike clover has special adaptation for being sown along with timothy and red top on slough soils, and soils made up of rich deposit. It matures about the same time as these grasses. They support the slender stems of the alsike, and in doing so prevent lodging more or less. This greatly improves the quality of the hay. The more numerous the plants in those mixtures, the finer also will be the quality of the hay. If but two varieties are wanted in the mixture, ordinarily these two should be alsike clover and timothy. Both furnish hay of excellent quality; hence, when the proportion of alsike is not too large, such hay sells readily to dairymen who have to purchase fodder.