secured at the first.

Should the alfalfa fields be spotted, because in places the nurse crop
lodged and smothered the plants, or because excessive moisture destroyed
them on the lower portions of the field in an abnormally wet season,
the renewing process is simple indeed. It consists in disking those
parts so thoroughly as to destroy all vegetation that may have become
rooted on them, and sowing seed in the usual way without a nurse crop.
But should the low places be such as to hold an excess of water at any
time of the year under normal conditions for days in succession, even
though it should not rise to the surface, the attempts to make alfalfa
grow successfully on these will prove abortive.

When weeds and grasses crowd the crop, the plan of disking the fields to
destroy these is becoming quite common, especially in the West. The work
is usually done in the early spring. In doing it, disk harrows are
driven over the field, usually two ways, the second disking being done
at right angles to the first. The disks are set at that angle which will
do the least injury to the plants, and that will at the same time do the
work effectively. This can only be determined by actual test in each
instance. Some of the crowns of the plants will be split open by the
disk, which some authorities claim is an advantage in that it tends to
an increase in the number of the stems produced, an opinion which is by
no means held in common at the present time, and yet there are
localities where it has certainly proved advantageous. Occasionally, a
plant will be cut off. There can be no doubt, however, that such
disking, when necessary, does tend to clean the land and also to
strengthen growth in the alfalfa crop, on the principle that cultivation
which does not seriously disturb growing plants is always helpful to
them. The frequency of such diskings will depend on the needs of the
crop. Some advocate disking every spring, some every other spring, and
some not at all. That plan which disks the ground only when it is
necessary to keep the weeds at bay would seem to be the most sensible.
This would mean that sometimes, as where crab grass has a firm hold,
disking may be necessary at least for a time every spring. In other
instances it would be necessary only every second or third season, and
in yet other instances not at all. However, some growers in dry areas
advocate disking frequently, as, for instance, after some of the
cuttings of the h