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Improving Heavy Land For Alfalfa

Categories: Grains and Forage Crops

My land is very heavy, red loam, and crusts over very hard in dry

seasons. I would like to know if it would be best to use barnyard

compost over the surface as a mulch, or would it be best to use plain

straw for that purpose?



A very heavy soil can be brought into better surface condition for

alfalfa by plowing in stable manure as soon as possible after the fall

rains, in order that the manure may have opportunity to become

disintegrated and mixed with the soil by the time for alfalfa sowing,

which is from February to April - whenever the heavy frosts of the

locality are over. For a small piece, you might get a better stand by

using a light mulch of disintegrated coarse manure or even straw,

scattering it after the sowing, but for a large acreage this would

involve too much labor. It is not desirable to work in much manure or

other coarse stuff at the time of sowing the seed, but you can make a

light surface application after the plant has made a start.



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