Preparing The Soil
Category:
ALFALFA
The preparation of the soil called for by the
mammoth clover is virtually the same as that required when preparing a
seed-bed for the medium red variety. (See page 74.) Clay loam soils,
whatsoever their color, cannot easily be made too fine and smooth, and
the same is true of sandy loams. Stiff clays should be made so fine as
to contain ample loose mold to germinate the seed readily, and yet they
ought not to be made so fine that they will readily run together under
the influence of a soaking rain. Usually, such soils are seldom made too
fine, but sometimes they are. The aim should be to firm sandy soils,
especially when light enough to lift with the wind, and to leave them
more or less uneven on the surface when the seed is sown.
In many States the ground should be plowed in the fall for spring
sowing, and in yet others it should be plowed in the spring. Conditions
of soil and climate govern this feature of the work. Usually, however,
the longer the soil is plowed and then properly worked on the surface
before receiving the seed, the finer, cleaner, firmer and moister it is
likely to be, and the larger the store of the available fertility to
promote the growth of the young plants. Because of this, after
cultivated crops, the ground is not usually plowed or otherwise stirred
on the surface.
When the soil is low in fertility, it may be necessary to fertilize it
before a crop of mammoth clover can be successfully grown. For such
fertilization, farmyard manure is very suitable. When soils are low in
the content of humus, before a good crop of clover can be grown, it may
be necessary to supply humus. But few soils are so deficient in
fertility that they will not grow clover if supplied with humus.
Farmyard manure supplies both humus and fertility, but in its absence, a
crop of rye buried in the soil will insure a stand of clover. In other
instances it may be necessary to follow with some kind of a crop that
has much power to gather plant food, as corn of some hardy variety, and
to graze or otherwise feed it from the land.
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Place In The Rotation
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