The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits: Its Uses as a Forage and FertilizerCoburn, F. D. (Foster Dwight)
History
The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits: Its Uses as a Forage and Fertilizer
Coburn, F. D. (Foster Dwight)
Alfalfa
If a spring sowing is to be made on wheat ground, the land will be
helped by a liberal dressing of manure immediately after the harvest,
and by plowing and harrowing at once; then sowing about the last of
August to rye or wheat for fall and winter pasturage, and to prevent the
soil from leaching or washing. In the spring the land should be disked
and harrowed for alfalfa, keeping in mind the point emphasized in the
preceding paragraph. Instead of the rye or wheat, cowpeas may be sowed
after the wheat harvest; thus both fertility and bacteria will be added
to the soil, and the farmer have a valuable pasture crop for pigs or
lambs. If the season is extremely favorable, a hay crop may be cut in
early October.
If potatoes are to precede a spring sowing of alfalfa, more than usual
care should be taken to keep the field clean of weeds. Some farmers do
well by sowing millet with the last cultivation of potatoes, leaving the
potatoes in the ground until after the millet is harvested, and when the
crop is dug the land is free from weeds. Then it may be harrowed or
disked and seeded to rye for winter pasture. Some plow the potato ground
in the fall and sow to wheat or rye. Certainly if weeds are present the
ground should be plowed as soon as the potatoes are dug. The idea is to
secure a fine seed bed and have the ground free from weeds, the great
curse of the American farm. All things considered there is probably no
crop which leaves the soil in finer physical condition for
alfalfa-sowing than millet, and none that is more unsatisfactory for a
like purpose than sorghum or Kafir corn that was planted in hills or
rows.
A clover sod for a spring sowing should be plowed in September or
October, disked or harrowed, and not infrequently a light sowing of rye
for winter pasture is feasible. In early spring use disk and tooth
harrows on the land. It is excellent if a liberal application of rotted
stable manure is plowed under with the clover sod. Usually it is better
to follow clover with a corn or potato crop before seeding to alfalfa.
FALL SOWING
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